Replicated data

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IBM® Runbook Automation uses filtered replication to exclude certain documents from the replication.

The following artifacts are replicated bidirectionally, between both configured sides via Apache CouchDB replication:
  • Draft Runbooks
  • Published Runbooks
  • Runbook executions in finite states (success/failure)
  • Automations
  • Group associations of runbooks
The following artifacts are excluded from the replication and must be configured individually on both sides by an administrator:
  • API keys
  • Settings (for example, approval, runbook expiration, or grouping features)
  • Integrations to other Automation Types (Ansible®, Script, Alert trigger)
If API keys are used, they require manual creation on both sides.
Settings and configuration of integrations to other automation types are excluded from the replication as those are potentially specific to each side.
Example: Ansible Integration with RBA is configured in a replicated setup.
  • RBA Side A is configured to contact Ansible Side A.
  • RBA Side B is configured to contact Ansible Side B.
  • RBA Side A and Side B are replicated.
In the given example, Runbook Automation always communicates with the correct Ansible side, even if artifacts like runbooks are equal on both sides due to the replication.
The following artifacts are not replicated, but do not require additional efforts by the administrator:
  • Runbook executions in non-finite states (In progress/paused)
  • Automation execution in running state
  • Runbook edit locks

Runbook and Automation executions in non-finite states are not replicated in order to keep artifacts that capture ongoing processes stable without causing replication conflicts. Furthermore, this behavior prevents RBA from resuming actions that are targeted toward one side to be run on another side by accident.

If a runbook is edited by the user interface, RBA stores a lock file to prevent other users from editing the same runbook concurrently. Due to the nature of asynchronous replication, the lock mechanism does not reliably work between two independent clusters, for that reason they are excluded from the replication.