Using Service Requests

This chapter contains the following sections:

Viewing Service Requests

You can view details of a service request, including its progress through the workflow, the service request log, objects created by the service request, and input and output of the service request workflow. To view service request details:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Organizations > Service Requests.

Step 2

On the Service Requests page, click Service Requests.

Step 3

Choose a service request.

Step 4

Click View Details. The Service Request Status screen appears.

Step 5

Choose among different aspects of the service request to examine:

  • Workflow Status—Which tasks have succeeded or failed, which task (if any) is currently running, name of the user who initiated the request, user input values for the workflow, and user output values for the workflow.

    Note

     

    • User input and output details for Pre- and post-provisioning workflows are not displayed for a compound workflow, when you publish a standard service request in a catalog.

    • User input and output details are not displayed for a compound workflow that is associated with a parent workflow. Only user input and output details for the parent service request is displayed.

  • Log—Debug, information, warning, and error messages generated by the workflow tasks.

    Note

     

    You can export the log file by clicking Export. The file will be downloaded in your local system.

  • Objects Created and Modified—Details about objects created by the workflow, including the owning tenant, the account, and other information.
  • Input/Output—Input and output of each workflow task. See Viewing Service Request Input and Output.

Step 6

Click Close.

Viewing Service Request Input and Output

The Input/Output screen in the Service Request dialog displays a list of the values for each task in the workflow at the time of approval. There are four types of input or output that may be visible:

  • Administrator input.

  • Task input.

  • Task output.

  • Mapped input or output. In the case of a mapped input (or output), the name of the corresponding source (or target) output (or input) is shown in the Input/Output column. For example, a task input mapped to the EMAIL_ADDRESSES output from task SendEmail_94 would display SendEmail_94.EMAIL_ADDRESSES in the Input/Output column.


Note

The input and output values for a service request are viewable even if the underlying workflow has been deleted. However, in this case the input values cannot be edited.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Organizations > Service Requests.

Step 2

On the Service Requests page, click Service Requests.

Step 3

Click a service request. The Input/Output table appears.

Step 4

Click Input/Output. The input and output values of all the tasks in a workflow are accessible from this screen. The types of outputs appear in the Input/Output column.

Step 5

Click an arrow next to a folder icon in the left column to expand a task.

The type, name, and value of each of the task's inputs and outputs are displayed in the table.

Rolling Back a Service Request

You can undo all or part of an executed workflow by using the Service Request Rollback feature. See Rollback.

You can roll back most workflow tasks that executed successfully. Exceptions:

  • Some tasks are designed such that they cannot be rolled back.

  • Rollback can be disabled for a task within a particular workflow. See the following discussion.

Any changes made by tasks that are not selected for rollback (for example, creating virtual resources) are not undone (for example, the virtual resources are not removed). If you choose to roll back an entire successful service request, all its workflow tasks are rolled back (with the previously listed exceptions).


Note

You can roll back a service request even if the underlying workflow has been deleted.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Organizations > Service Requests.

Step 2

On the Service Requests page, click Service Requests.

Step 3

Choose the service request that corresponds to the workflow that needs to be rolled back.

Step 4

(Optional) View the assets affected by the workflow. To view the workflow assets:

  1. Click View Details.

  2. Click Objects Created and Modified.

    The list shows all the objects created or modified by the workflow.

  3. Click Close.

Step 5

Click Rollback Request.

Step 6

Initially, all tasks that can be rolled back are checked. Uncheck any tasks that you do not want to roll back.

Tasks for which rollback has been disabled (see Configuring a Task in a Workflow) are unchecked. Checking these tasks to request their rollback results in an error when you submit the workflow rollback. If this happens, uncheck any tasks with disabled rollbacks and submit the workflow rollback again.

You can roll back subtasks at any level in the workflow's hierarchy of compound tasks. The Task Name column in the Rollback Service Request dialog displays the ancestry of each listed task.

Step 7

Click Submit.

After the roll back is complete, and if an email policy is associated with the workflow, then an email notification on the roll back is sent to the configured recipients.

What to do next

Rollback workflows start with Rollback in the Catalog/Workflow Name column of the Service Requests page. Right-click a rollback service request and choose View Details to examine its status.

Rolling Back Details of a Service Request

From 6.9 and later, you can see the rollback details of service requests. To view rollback details of a service request:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Organizations > Service Requests.

Step 2

On the Service Requests page, click Service Requests.

Step 3

Select the service request to view the rollback details.

Step 4

Choose More Actions.

Step 5

From the drop-down list, select View Rollback Details. A page opens with the details.

Note

 
If the selected service request does not have any rollback service requests, then Rolled back SR ID is displayed as 'Not Available'.

Scheduling Rollback Service Requests

From the Release 6.9 and later, you can schedule the rollback of a service request at a particular date and time. To schedule a rollback service request:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Organizations > Service Requests.

Step 2

In the Service Requests page, select Rollback Schedules from the downward arrow on the top right.

Step 3

Click Add icon.

The New Rollback Schedule page opens.

Step 4

In the Select Service Request ID area, enter the service request ID in the Enter Service Request ID field.

Step 5

Click Next.

Step 6

In the Schedule Rollback page, enter the details in the fields according to the information given in the table below.

Name Description
Schedule Name field Name for the new schedule.
Description field Description for the new schedule.
Select Tasks tab Select the task for which you want to schedule the rollback.
Skip Approvals check box

Check—When checked, during execution, the service request requires no approval.

Uncheck—When unchecked, during execution, the service request requires approval from the user who created the service request.

Abort rollback, if any rollback task fails Select the check box if the scheduled rollback must be aborted on failure of any task.
Schedule by Date and Time field Select the date and time when the rollback should happen.

Step 7

Click Submit.

After the rollback schedule is completed, the following message is displayed:

Rollback scheduled successfully

Note

 
As part of the scheduled rollback service request, the first task will be an approval task. For more information, see Approving and Denying Service Requests.

Note

 

The Cisco UCS Director does not allow you to schedule a rollback request for a task for which a rollback schedule is already created. If you attempt to do so, the following error message is displayed:

Cannot Schedule {task name} Since rollback is already scheduled.

Viewing Rollback Schedules

You can view the details of rollback schedules, including workflow name, scheduled time, selected tasks, skip approval selection status, and rollback service request Id. To view the rollback schedules:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Organizations > Service Requests.

Step 2

In the Service Requests page, select Rollback Schedules from the downward arrow on the top right.

A list of rollback schedule is displayed.

Step 3

To view the details of a rollback schedule, perform one of the following:

  • Double-click the rollback schedule.

  • Right-click the rollback schedule and select View.

  • Click the rollback schedule and click the View icon.

The Rollback Schedule Details page displays the following information:

  • Workflow Name

  • Scheduled Time

  • Selected Tasks

  • Skip Approvals (Selected or Unselected)

  • Rollback Service Request Id

Resubmitting a Service Request

You can resubmit all or part of a failed or cancelled service request.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Organizations > Service Requests.

Step 2

On the Service Requests page, click Service Requests.

Step 3

Click a failed or cancelled service request.

Step 4

(Optional) Change user input values for the workflow before resubmitting the service request. You must have administrator privileges to change user inputs before resubmitting a workflow.

Note

 

Only user workflow inputs can be changed. Admin inputs and task inputs cannot be changed before resubmitting.

To change the input values:

  1. Click View Details.

  2. Click Input/Output.

  3. Enter new values for any of the inputs.

  4. Click Close.

Step 5

Click Resubmit Request. The Resubmit Service Request dialog appears.

Step 6

Select a subtask from the Resubmit Step drop-down menu. The workflow will be resubmitted beginning with this task.

You can select any task up to and including the subtask that caused the workflow to fail.

Note

 

You can select nested compound tasks at any depth for the resubmitted task.

Important

 

If a task failed inside any loop task or outside of a completed loop task, in order to avoid mismatch in the iteration value and incorrect workflow execution, it is recommended to resubmit the service request from the failed task or rollback the service request and execute the workflow again.

Step 7

(Optional) If all approvals succeeded before the workflow failed, bypass the approval tasks by checking Skip approvals if already approved.

Step 8

(Optional) To reset a loop, check Reset Loop and enter an Index number.

Note

 

This option is available only when Service Request is executed with the loop task.

Step 9

Click Submit.

Note

 

After you submit a failed service request, it is executed after a gap of about 20 seconds.

Approving and Denying Service Requests

A workflow can include an approval task that requires a user, usually an administrator or someone with budget authority, to approve the workflow before it completes. To deal with workflows requiring your approval, do the following:

Before you begin

A service request has been submitted with an Approval task that requires approval of a user ID that you own.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Organizations > My Approvals.

Step 2

On the My Approvals screen, choose an approval with status Pending in the My Approval Status column.

Step 3

(Optional). To view the service request details, click View Details.

Step 4

Choose what to do with the request:

  • To approve the service request and allow the workflow to resume execution, click Approve.
  • To deny the request but leave it in your approvals list in a rejected state, click Reject.

    Note

     

    If you reject an approval, the workflow continues with the On failure path from the approval task. The On failure path can be used, for example, to execute an email task to notify a user that the approval was rejected. Or, it can execute another approval task, giving a different user an opportunity to approve the task.

  • To deny the request and remove it from your approvals list, click Cancel Request. The workflow stops in a failed state at the approval task.

If you selected Approve or Reject, the Service Request screen appears. Continue to the next step.

If you selected Cancel Request, the Cancel Service Request dialog appears. Skip the next step.

Step 5

(Optional). Enter a comment in the Comment field of the Service Request screen.

Step 6

Click the button corresponding to your chosen action (Accept, Reject, or Cancel Request) to complete the action.

What to do next

To see the status of any workflow in your approval list, click View Details.

To see the status of a workflow that you cancelled or a workflow not in your approval list, choose Organizations > Service Requests from the main menu.

Deleting Service Requests

You can delete archived service requests from Cisco UCS Director. The deleted service requests are removed permanently from Cisco UCS Director.

You can enter archived service requests to delete in one of two ways:

  • By selecting the service requests on the Archived Service Requests screen and clicking Delete Requests.

  • By clicking Purge Requests and entering the IDs of the archived service requests.

Both methods result in the permanent removal of the specified service requests. The only difference is the method of data entry.

You can delete only archived service requests. For information about archiving service requests, see the current release of the Cisco UCS Director Administration Guide. Because active service requests cannot be archived, you cannot delete service requests that are in progress, or that contain child service requests that are in progress.

You also cannot delete a service request that has a rollback that is in progress or that has failed. For example, say that you submit a rollback for service request (SR) 100 that generates a rollback service request SR 101. You cannot delete SR 100 while SR 101 is in progress. Furthermore, you cannot delete SR 100 if SR 101 fails.

To delete service requests, do the following:

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Organizations > Service Requests.

Step 2

On the Service Requests page, click Archived Service Requests.

Step 3

You can either enter service request IDs using the keyboard or choose service requests from the Archived Service Requests report.

To enter service request IDs, skip to the next step. To choose service requests instead, do the following:

  1. Choose all the service requests that you want to delete.

    Note

     

    Select multiple items as you would in any other application on your system. For example, in Windows, hold down the Ctrl key to choose more items or Shift to choose a range of items.

    When you choose one or more service requests, the Delete Request icon appears.

  2. Click Delete Request.

  3. On the Delete Request screen, click Delete.

Step 4

To enter service requests, do the following:

  1. Click Purge Requests.

  2. In SR IDs on the Delete Request screen, enter the IDs of the service requests that you want to delete . Use hyphens to indicate ranges of IDs and commas to separate ranges or individual IDs; for example: 101-111, 113, 116-118.

  3. Click Delete.

Locking a Service Request

You can lock a service request to prevent archiving of the service request.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Organizations > Service Requests.

Step 2

On the Service Requests page, click Service Requests.

Step 3

Choose one or more service requests that you want to lock.

  1. To lock a service request, choose the service request and click Lock/Unlock.

  2. Click Submit.

    Note

     

    To unlock the service request, click Lock/Unlock and click Submit.

Step 4

To lock more than one service request, do the following:

  1. Click Lock/Unlock.

    The Service Request(s) Lock/Unlock screen comes up.

  2. Click the Lock radio button and click Lock to prevent archiving of the service requests.

Note

 

To unlock more than one service request, choose the service requests, click the Unlock radio button and click Unlock.