Run your first runbook
Before you begin
Procedure
- Click Library.
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Select a runbook and click the menu overflow icon
and select Preview runbook to find out what a runbook consists of:
- Procedure
- The Procedure section displays the runbook steps. For more information about the runbook elements, see Edit a runbook.
- Information
- The information tab provides descriptive details of the runbook and contains the following fields:
- Description: shows a description of the runbook.
- Runbook ID: ID of the runbook which can be used to identify the runbook using the Runbook Automation HTTP REST Interface.
- Created by: the user who created the runbook.
- Last modified at: the date and time the runbook was last modified.
- Last modified by: the user who last modified the runbook.
- Type: indicates the runbook type, that is manual, semi-automated, or fully automated.
- Tags: categorization tags associated with the runbook.
- Versions
- Shows all draft, published, and archived versions of the runbook. You can also see the user that created each version and the creation date.
- Select one of the runbooks and click Run.
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The Run runbook page opens, which consists of a procedure description
and a Details and Information section.
Details contains the following collapsible sections:
- parameters – displays a list of the parameters used.
- automations – displays a list of the automations used.
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In the parameters section you are requested to enter parameter values.
Click the information icon to see a description and a reference to where this parameter is used
within the runbook. Enter the parameter values, for example host1 for the
parameter
HOSTNAME
and click Start runbook.Note:- In some cases, you might not know the parameter value when starting the Runbook. For example, the parameter could be determined by a runbook step during the runbook execution. In this scenario, as soon as the parameter value is known, go back to the parameter section and enter the parameter value. To apply the value click Update parameters. The Update parameters button is only displayed if the parameter value has been entered.
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In any step of a runbook, you can select the parameter section of the runbook in the Details. You might need to first expand the section if it is collapsed. The parameter can then be changed to a new value. To apply the new value click Update parameters (the Update parameters button is only displayed if the parameter value has been changed). As soon as a parameter has been used by a Runbook step, it cannot be changed.
- Follow the instructions in the runbook and proceed to the next step by clicking Next step.
- If the step contains a command, use the Copy button within a command to copy the command to your clipboard. Open a command-line window and paste the command.
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If the step contains an automation, click on the automation and select
Run to run the automation. Note: If running the automation is not
appropriate in a particular situation, then you can also choose to proceed without selecting Run. If
you select Run, the automation output is displayed in a text box. If an
automation produces JSON output, the JSON document is automatically formatted for better
readability. Select More info to see description, parameter values, and type
information. If the automation type is Client-side, then the label of the Run button is replaced with Launch. Clicking this button launches the URL from the Client-side automation in a new browser tab. You can review the resulting URL in the automation output area and launch it again by clicking the displayed URL hyperlink.
- You can pause or cancel the runbook by clicking Pause or Cancel. Pause temporarily suspends the execution of the runbook. You can pick up later from where you stopped. You can use Pause to handle long running automations, for example automations that take longer than 10 minutes. The automations that are in progress continue while you pause the runbook. If you cancel the runbook you are prompted to select a reason. This feedback is helpful to the author of the runbook.
- After you completed all steps, click Complete at the end of the runbook. Provide a rating, a comment (both optional), and a final assessment of the runbook. You are taken back to the Library page.
- The Execution page provides the Runbook executions table. Here you can find all the runbooks that were executed with information such as Status, Start time, Version, Comments, and if the runbook is automated. Filters such as user, runbook status, runbook type and runbook name can be applied. For more information, see Activities.