Create a runbook

Edit online

Document your existing operational procedures using the runbook editor. Share the knowledge and experience that you documented in a runbook with your team members.

Before you begin

You must have user access as an RBA Author or RBA Approver to access the Library page.

About this task

Runbooks are created for one of the following reasons:
  • Operators document their daily tasks in documents. Runbooks allow you to document and store these procedures in an ordered manner. When a runbook is published the knowledge can be shared between all operators.
  • As a special case, create reusable runbook assets to combine those sequences of steps that otherwise would have to be repeated over and over again, and add them to your runbook as nested runbooks.
  • A new set of events has occurred and a couple of skilled operators work out a new procedure to solve the issue that caused these events.

Procedure

  1. Click Library.
  2. Click New runbook. The runbook editor opens. For more information about how to use the editor, see Edit a runbook.
  3. Provide data to describe the runbook. Make sure that you use a Name for the runbook that describes what problem this runbook solves.
    Restriction: Avoid using commas in runbook names. Runbook names containing commas cannot be filtered in the Library or on the Executions page.
  4. (Optional): Provide a Description. The description contains information about specific situations that this runbook solves. Operators use the description to decide if a runbook meets their requirements.
  5. (Optional): Add Tags. These help to filter a large amount of runbooks, as well as group runbooks with the same content.
  6. Start adding steps to the runbook. Click Add manual step, Add automatic step, or Add nested runbook step.
  7. Click inside the editor and describe the first step of your procedure. Use commands, parameters, automations, or GOTO elements to distinguish between different types of elements within a runbook. Remember to always create a new step if you start to describe a new task that the operator can run.
  8. When all steps have been documented, click Save draft > Save draft & close.
  9. Test the runbook. Search for your runbook in the Library dashboard. Click Run to test the execution of the new runbook. Modify the runbook if necessary.
  10. Publish your runbook.
    1. Click Edit to open the runbook editor.
    2. Click Publish. The runbook is now available to all operators.
    Note: Runbooks are limited to a size of 1 MB. This relates to runbook metadata and its content (including embedded images). Attempts to create or edit runbooks in a way that exceeds this limit will result in an error.