Customizing Workflow Components

This chapter contains the following sections:

Creating a Compound Task

A compound task is a workflow that functions as a single task. A compound task, like any other task, is atomic: its component tasks are hidden.

You create a compound task by saving a workflow as a compound task when you create or edit the workflow. Do this, for example, if you find yourself building the same series of tasks into several different workflows.

You can define a simple workflow and save it as a compound task, then define another workflow that incorporates the compound task. You can use this pattern to define increasingly complex workflows.

To save an existing workflow as a compound task, do the following:


Note

To create a new compound task from scratch, see Creating a Workflow.

    Step 1   Choose Orchestration.
    Step 2   On the Orchestration page, click Workflows.
    Step 3   Select a workflow to save as a compound task.
    Step 4   Click Edit.
    Step 5   Check Save as Compound Task.
    Step 6   If you want all of the workflow's task outputs available as output of the compound task, click Publish Task outputs as Compound Task outputs.
    Step 7   Click Next.
    Step 8   On the Add User Inputs screen, click Next.
    Step 9   On the Add User Outputs screen, click Submit.

    The new compound task is available in the Compound Task folder when you open the Workflow Designer.

    Example: Creating a Compound Task

    This example demonstrates repeating a workflow task for elements in a list.

    Before You Begin

    Create the example workflow as described in Example: Creating a Workflow.

      Step 1   Navigate to Policies > Orchestration.
      Step 2   Click the Workflows tab.
      Step 3   Locate and select the PowerCycleVM workflow you created in Example: Creating a Workflow.
      Step 4   Click Edit.
      Step 5   In the Edit Workflow Details window, check the Save as Compound Task check box.
      Note   

      None of the tasks has an output, so ignore the Publish Task Outputs as Compound Task outputs check box. The workflow has nothing to do with system startup of Cisco UCS Director, so ignore also the Always execute during System initialization check box.

      Step 6   Click through to the Edit Workflow Output page.
      Step 7   Click Submit.
      What to Do Next

      Include the custom task in other workflows. For example, you can put this task before the Completed (Failed) task of workflows that modify to remotely hosted VMs. Then, the VM restarts if a modification fails.

      Creating Custom Approvals

      You can create custom approval tasks that allow approvers to enter input values at the time of workflow execution.

        Step 1   Choose Orchestration.
        Step 2   On the Orchestration page, click Custom Approval Tasks.
        Step 3   Click Add.
        Step 4   On the Add Inputs screen, complete the following fields:
        Name Description

        Approval Task Name

        The name of the approval task as it appears in the Workflow Designer.

        Approval Task Description

        A description of the approval task (optional).

        Step 5   Click Add Input Field.
        Step 6   Under the User Input heading for the new input field, complete the following fields:
        Name Description

        Input Label

        The label for the input (supplied by the approver of the task).

        Input Description

        A description of the input.

        Input Type

        A drop-down list containing the data type of the input.

        Optional Input

        If Optional Input is checked, the administrator must provide a default value for the input. The approver is not required to provide input.

        Step 7   Repeat the previous two steps to add as many inputs as needed.
        Step 8   Click Submit.
        What to Do Next

        You can now include the custom task in a workflow.

        Creating Custom Inputs

        You can create custom input types to use as workflow inputs. Custom input types are based on an existing input type. They are defined by filter criteria or by a selection set that further narrows the possible values of the input.

          Step 1   Choose Orchestration.
          Step 2   On the Orchestration page, click Custom Workflow Inputs.
          Step 3   Click Add.
          Step 4   On the Add Custom Workflow Input screen, complete the following fields:
          Name Description

          Custom Input Type Name

          The input name.

          Input Type

          clicking this button brings up a list of existing input types. From the list, choose an input type on which to base your input type.

          Filter

          Depending on your choice of input type, one or more of the following filter types is available:

          • Input Filter—A text field. Type a text filter string.

          • Input List—A list of values (LOV). Choose which existing values are valid instances for this input.

          • Input LOV—Define a list of allowable name-value pairs for the input.

            Note   

            The Label field and Value field descriptions should match.

          • Input Range—A text field. Type a range of valid character values.

          • Validated Input—Choose a validator type from the table.

          Step 5   Click (+) Add.
          Step 6   Click Submit.

          The new input type is added to the Custom Workflow Types page. The new input type is available for selection when defining workflow and task inputs.

          Orchestration Global Variables

          Global variables are variables that you can use within Cisco UCS Director Orchestrator to expose several types of variable system information in two places:

          • In task input variables inside a workflow, where you can access such information as:

            • Workflow inputs and task outputs

            • Service request IDs

            • VM information such as ID, name, IP address, and power state

          • In VM names, where you can access such information as:

            • User information such as group and user IDs

            • Configuration information such as catalog and system profile

            • Deployment information such as cloud name and location

          You can also define your own global variables and make them available in workflows.

          Orchestration Variables

          Global variables are variables that can be accessed by any workflow task during workflow execution. When you create a Cisco UCS Director workflow, you can use variables in any of the workflow's task, user, or admin input values. An input field can contain any combination of text and variables. During execution of the workflow, Cisco UCS Director Orchestrator substitutes the variables' values into each task's inputs before executing the task.

          Variables from the following four categories are available:

          Input and Output System Variables
          Input and output variables are simply the inputs and outputs of a workflow at runtime. These inputs and outputs can be captured and used to build inputs to tasks in the workflow.
          Service Request Global Variables
          Service request global variables provide information about the service request containing the current running workflow.
          Virtual Machine Global Variables
          For workflows executed in the context of a Virtual Machine (VM), VM global variables contain information about the VM.
          User-Defined Global Variables
          You can create user-defined global variables that are available to any task in any service request. Unlike system-supplied variables, user-defined global variables can be modified and deleted.

          The following sections describe the various types of variables.

          Input and Output System Variables

          Any workflow-level input or previous task output can be used as a variable in a subsequent task. For example, consider a workflow that has two inputs labeled Enter Disk Size and Max Snapshots. Suppose that the workflow has two tasks with IDs task1 and task2 (arranged so that task1 executes first). Any input values to task1 or task2 that takes free-form input can use the following two variables:

          • ${Enter Disk Size}

          • ${Max Snapshots}


          Note

          System variables consist of a dollar sign ($) followed by the variable name in curly braces ({}). A workflow level input can be used as a variable by including the label associated with the user input in the variable definition.

          Also the second task, task2, can use the output of task1. If task1 has two output variables, OUTPUT_VOLUME_NAME and OUTPUT_VOLUME_SIZE, then task2 can use the following variables to capture their values in its inputs:

          • ${task1.OUTPUT_VOLUME_NAME}

          • ${task1.OUTPUT_VOLUME_SIZE}


          Note

          The variable name for a task output is the task name, followed by a period, followed by the task output name: ${taskName.outputName}.

          Service Request Global Variables

          In addition to workflow inputs and task outputs, the following variables representing service requests are available:

          • ${SR_ID}—The ID of the current service request

          • ${PARENT_SR_ID}—The ID of the service request that is the parent of the current service request.(Available only if the current service request has a parent.)

          For the full list of VM system variables, see List of VM Macros and VM Annotations.

          Virtual Machine System Variables

          For workflows that are executed in the context of a VM, more VM system variables are available. VM system variables cannot be used in a non-VM context workflow.

          For the full list of VM system variables, see List of VM Macros and VM Annotations.

          User-Defined Global Variables

          You can create, clone, modify, and delete global variables. Global variables are available to any task in any workflow in Cisco UCS Director.

          User-defined global variables can be used only in generic text input types.


          Note

          It is possible to delete a user-defined global variable that is used by a task in an existing workflow. When such a workflow is run, any task with a missing global variable runs without resolving the variable and might cause unanticipated results. It is up to administrators to ensure that service requests do not contain deleted global variables.

          Creating Global Variables

          To create a global variable, do the following:

            Step 1   Choose Orchestration.
            Step 2   On the Orchestration page, click Global Variables.
            Step 3   Click (+) Add.
            Step 4   On the Add Global Variable screen, complete the following fields:
            1. In the Name field, enter a unique name for the global variable.
            2. In the Description field, enter a description of the global variable (optional).
            3. In the Value field, enter a value for the global variable. This is the text that is inserted when the global variable is used in a task.

            User-defined global variables have the following restrictions:

            • A global variable Name may not contain any of the following 19 characters: "%&'*+,./:;<=>?^|}{

              A global variable Description or Value may contain any character.

            • A global variable Name, Description, or Value may contain spaces, but may not start or end with a space. Space characters are stripped from the beginning and end of a name, value, or description.

            • A global variable Value may contain only static text. Global variable values containing other global variables (nested global variables) are not evaluated at runtime.

            • Global variables are usable only in generic text type inputs.

            Step 5   Click Submit.

            Cloning Global Variables

            To clone a global variable, do the following:

            Before You Begin

            You have created a global variable. See Creating Global Variables.

              Step 1   Choose Orchestration.
              Step 2   On the Orchestration page, click Global Variables.
              Step 3   Choose the global variable you want to clone. You can choose a system-defined or a user-defined global variable.
              Step 4   Click Clone.
              Step 5   On the Clone Global Variable screen, complete the following fields:
              1. In the Name field, enter a unique name for the global variable. You must change the global variable's name.
              2. In the Description field, enter a description of the global variable (optional).
              3. In the Value field, enter a value for the global variable. This is the text that is inserted when the global variable is used in a task.

              User-defined global variables have the following restrictions:

              • A global variable Name may not contain any of the following 19 characters: "%&'*+,./:;<=>?^|}{

                A global variable Description or Value may contain any character.

              • A global variable Name, Description, or Value may contain spaces, but may not start or end with a space. Space characters are stripped from the beginning and end of a name, value, or description.

              • A global variable Value may contain only static text. Global variable values containing other global variables are not evaluated at runtime.

              • Global variables are usable only in generic text type inputs.

              Step 6   Click Submit.

              Editing Global Variables

              To modify a global variable, do the following:

              Before You Begin

              You have created a global variable. See Creating Global Variables.

                Step 1   Choose Orchestration.
                Step 2   On the Orchestration page, click Global Variables.
                Step 3   From the User Defined folder, choose the global variable you want to edit.
                Step 4   Click Edit.
                Step 5   On the Edit Global Variable screen, complete the following fields:
                1. You cannot change the Name field of an existing global variable.
                2. In the Description field, change or add a description of the global variable (optional).
                3. In the Value field, change the value for the global variable. This is the text that is inserted when the global variable is used in a task.

                User-defined global variables have the following restrictions:

                • A global variable Name may not contain any of the following 19 characters: "%&'*+,./:;<=>?^|}{

                  A global variable Description or Value may contain any character.

                • A global variable Name, Description, or Value may contain spaces, but may not start or end with a space. Space characters are stripped from the beginning and end of a name, value, or description.

                • A global variable Value may contain only static text. Global variable values containing other global variables are not evaluated at runtime.

                • Global variables are usable only in generic text type inputs.

                Step 6   Click Submit.

                Deleting Global Variables

                To delete a global variable, do the following:

                  Step 1   Choose Orchestration.
                  Step 2   On the Orchestration page, click Global Variables.
                  Step 3   From the User Defined folder, choose the global variable you want to delete.
                  Step 4   Click Delete.
                  Step 5   On the Delete Global Variable screen, click Delete.

                  VM Annotations

                  VM annotations represent information about a VM. You add these variables to a VMware system policy if you choose to define VM annotations in that policy. The output from these variables displays in the Annotations field of the VM in VMware vCenter.

                  For the full list of VM annotations, see List of VM Macros and VM Annotations.

                  List of VM Macros and VM Annotations

                  The syntax that you use for VM macros can be different from the syntax used for VM annotations. In addition, more variables are available for VM macros than for VM annotations. The following table shows the correct syntax for VM macros and for VM annotations. If a cell contains N/A, the variable is not available in that context.

                  For information about the variables that you can use in the VM Name Template and VM Host Name Template fields of the system policy, see the Cisco UCS Director Administration Guide.


                  Note

                  This table does not include a complete list of CloupiaScript macros. For information on using CloupiaScript macros, see the Cisco UCS Director CloupiaScript Cookbook.

                  Variable

                  VM Macros for Orchestration Workflows

                  VM Annotations for System Policies

                  VM name

                  ${VM_NAME}

                  ${VMNAME}

                  VM IP address

                  ${VM_IPADDRESS}

                  N/A

                  VM state (can be either on or off)

                  ${VM_STATE}

                  N/A

                  VM state details (can be either power-on or power-off)

                  ${VM_STATE_DETAILS}

                  N/A

                  ESX server or host node that hosts the VM

                  ${VM_PARENT}

                  N/A

                  Cloud used for VM provisioning

                  ${VM_CLOUD}

                  ${CLOUD_NAME}

                  Type of cloud

                  N/A

                  ${CLOUD_TYPE}

                  VM hostname

                  ${VM_HOSTNAME}

                  N/A

                  Short VM hostname

                  ${VM_HOSTNAME_SHORT}

                  N/A

                  VM hostname and domain

                  ${VM_HOSTNAME_DOMAIN}

                  N/A

                  Name of the group to which the VM belongs

                  ${VM_GROUP_NAME}

                  ${GROUP_NAME}

                  Full name of the group

                  N/A

                  ${FULL_GROUP_NAME}

                  ID of the group

                  ${VM_GROUP_ID}

                  N/A

                  Name of the parent group, if one exists

                  N/A

                  ${GROUP_PARENT}

                  ID of the catalog used to provision the VM

                  ${VM_CATALOG_ID}

                  N/A

                  Name of the catalog used to provision the VM

                  N/A

                  ${CATALOG_NAME}

                  VM ID

                  ${VM_ID}

                  N/A

                  Service request ID for the VM

                  ${M_SR_ID}

                  ${SR_ID}

                  Comments from the user who requested the VM

                  ${VM_COMMENTS}

                  ${COMMENTS}

                  Virtual data center name

                  ${VM_VDC_NAME}

                  N/A

                  Virtual data center ID

                  ${VM_VDC_ID}

                  N/A

                  Type of VM

                  ${VM_TYPE}

                  N/A

                  Scheduled termination of the VM

                  ${VM_SCHED_TERM}

                  N/A

                  Location specified in the account

                  N/A

                  ${LOCATION}

                  Cost center for the VM

                  N/A

                  ${COST_CENTER}

                  Current time in milliseconds converted to a unique ID for the VM

                  N/A

                  ${UNIQUE_ID}

                  User who requested the VM

                  N/A

                  ${USER}

                  Full name of the user who requested the VM

                  N/A

                  ${FULL_USER_NAME}

                  Appcode from the catalog

                  N/A

                  ${APPCODE}

                  Name of the system policy associated with the application category

                  N/A

                  ${PROFILE_NAME}

                  Name of the user who initiated the request

                  N/A

                  ${INITIATING_USER}

                  Simple name of the user who initiated the request

                  N/A

                  ${INITIATING_USER_SIMPLE_NAME}

                  Email address of the user who submitted the request

                  N/A

                  ${SUBMITTER_EMAIL}

                  The ID of the user who submitted the request

                  N/A

                  ${SUBMITTER_USERID}

                  First name of the user who submitted the request

                  N/A

                  ${SUBMITTER_FIRSTNAME}

                  Last name of the user who submitted the request

                  N/A

                  ${SUBMITTER_LASTNAME}

                  The role of the user who submitted the request

                  N/A

                  ${SUBMITTER_ROLE}

                  Name of the group to which the user who submitted the request belongs

                  N/A

                  ${SUBMITTER_GROUPNAME}

                  The ID of the group to which the user who submitted the request belongs

                  N/A

                  ${SUBMITTER_GROUPID}