Manage Action Engine Workflows

Note:

Action engine workflow is a Beta feature.

See Understanding Action Engine Workflows for more information on action engine workflows.

You can add new workflows from the Configuration > Action Engine page of the Paragon Insights GUI. You can manage exisiting action engine workflows, and action engine workflow instances from the Monitor > Action Engine page.

Add an Action Engine Workflow

Follow these steps to add an action engine workflow:

Click Configuration > Action Engine.
The Workflows page apprears.
Click plus (+) icon to add an action engine workflow.
The Add New Workflow page appears. The General tabbed page is displayed by default.
Enter the following information in the General tabbed page :
1. Enter a name for the action engine workflow in the Name text box.
2. Enter a description for the action engine workflow in the Description text box.
3. Select an entry task from the Entry Task drop-down list.
  
  Note:
  You have to add a task before you can select the task from the Entry Task drop-down list. To add a task, see Step 4.
  
  An entry task is the first task that is executed when you run an action engine workflow.
4. Select an exit task from the Exit Task drop-down list.
  
  Note:
  You have to add a task before you can select the task from the Exit Task drop-down list. To add a task, see Step 4.
  
  An exit task is the last task (for example, a clean up task) that is executed at the end of an action engine workflow sequence.
Click Tasks to view the Task tabbed page.
Click (+) to add a task.
Enter the following information:
1. Enter a name for the task in the Name text box.
2. Enable or Disable the Parallel toggle button.
  
  Enable the Parallel toggle button to run all steps in a task simultaneously.
3. Follow these steps for Paragon Insights Release 4.1.0:
  1. Click (+) to add a new step.
    
    The Add Step overlay page appears.
  2. Enter a name for the step in the Name text box.
  3. Enter a value for Command Tag and Command Field in the CLI Command Settings section.
  4. Click Ok to confirm
  Follow these steps for Paragon Insights Release 4.2.0:
  1. Click the (+) icon to add a step.
    
    A row is added to the Steps section.
    
    In the row that is added,
    1. Enter a name for the step in the Name text box.
    2. Enter a description for the step in the Description text box.
    3. Select dependencies from the Dependencies drop-down list.
    4. Select a step type from the Type drop-down list.
  2. Click Edit Commands to add a new command.
    
    The ADD/EDIT COMMANDS pop-up appears.
    
    Enter the following information:
    1. Click +Add New Command to add a new command.
      
      The New Command section appears in the ADD/EDIT COMMANDS pop-up.
    2. Enter a value for the command tag in the Command Tag text box.
    3. Enter a value in the Commands list box. You can select more than one command.
      
      Click X to remove the command that you selected.
    4. Enter a value in the Arguments list box. You can select more than one argument.
      
      Click X to remove the argument that you selected.
    5. Enter a value in the Device list box. You can select more than one device.
      
      Click X to remove the device that you selected.
    6. Enter a value in the Device Group list box. You can select more than one device group.
      
      Click X to remove the device group that you selected.
    7. Enter a value in the Environment list box.
    8. Select an output from the Output Type list box.
    9. Enable or Disable the Ignore toggle button.
      
      Enable the Ignore toggle button to ignore steps.
    10. Set repeat parameters in the Repeat field.
      
      You can determine if you want to repeat a failed step or not.
    11. The default delay value displayed is 10 seconds.
      
      After you have set repeat parameters to repeat a step that has failed, there is a delay of 10 seconds before the step is repeated again.
    12. Click OK to confirm.
      
      The new command is added.
  3. Click Edit Conditions to add new conditions.
    
    The ADD/EDIT CONDITIONS pop-up appears.
    
    Follow this procedure to set conditions to run a step:
    1. Enter the conditions in the Conditions text box.
    2. Select a condition type from the Conditions Type list box.
    3. Enter a description for the condition in the Condition Description text box.
    4. Click OK to confirm.
      
      The new conditions are added
  4. Click Edit Inputs to add new inputs.
    
    The ADD/EDIT INPUTS pop-up appears.
    
    Enter the following information:
    1. Click the (+) icon to add new input.
    2. Enter a name for the input in the Name field.
    3. Enter a value for the input in the Value field.
    4. Click OK to confirm.
      
      The operation is successful message is displayed in the ADD/EDIT INPUTS pop-up.
    5. Click Close to close the ADD/EDIT INPUTS pop-up.
  5. Click Edit Output to add new outputs.
    
    The ADD/EDIT OUTPUT pop-up appears.
    
    Enter the following information:
    1. Click the (+) icon to add new input.
    2. Select a name for the output from the Name drop-down list.
    3. Enter a description for the output in the Description text box.
    4. Enter a value for the command tag in the Command Tag field.
    5. Select output type from the Output Type drop-down list. See Table 1.
    6. The field displayed depends on the output type that you have selected. See Table 1.
      
      Table 1: Output Type and Corresponding Fields
      Output Type
      
      Field
      
      Grok
      
      Pattern
      
      XML
      
      XPath
      
      JSON
      
      JQ path
      
      Artifact
      
      Path
      
      Regex
      
      Pattern
      
      Result
    7. Click OK to confirm.
      
      The operation is successful message is displayed in the ADD/EDIT OUTPUT pop-up.
    8. Click Close to close the ADD/EDIT OUTPUT pop-up.
4. Click the √ icon to add this row to the Steps section.
Click the Arguments tab.
On the Arguments tabbed page, click the plus (+) icon to add a new argument.
Enter the following information:
- Enter a name for the argument in the Name text box.
- Click Ok to confirm.
Do any one of the following:
- Click Save to save the action engine workflow.
- Click Save & Deploy to save and deploy the action engine workflow.
You have now added and deployed an action engine workflow. To monitor the action engine workflows that you have added, see Monitor > Action Engine.

Table 1: Output Type and Corresponding Fields
Output Type	Field
Grok	Pattern
XML	XPath
JSON	JQ path
Artifact	Path
Regex	Pattern
Result

Run an Action Engine Workflow

After you add an action engine workflow from the Configuration > Action Engine page of the UI, you can run the action engine workflow by following these steps:

Click Monitor > Action Engine.

The Workflows Monitor page apprears.
Select the action engine workflow you want to run by selecting the check box next to the name of the action engine workflow.
Click Run Workflow.

The Run Workflow <workflow name> pop-up appears.
In the Run Workflow <workflow name> pop-up that appears, you can:
- View the list of preconfigured arguments for the action engine workflow.
- Configure additional arguments.
  
  To configure additional arguments:
  1. Click (+).
    
    The Additional Arguments fields that you can configure are displayed.
    1. Enter a name in the Name text box to identify this additional argument.
      
      The name you enter must be in the [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*$ regular expression format. This format states that the first character of the name can start with a-z or A-Z. The name cannot start with a number or a special character. However, you can use numbers, _, and - within the name. Maximum length is 64 characters.
    2. Select an additional argument type from the Type drop-down list.
      
      Available options: string, list, password, device, device-group, network-group
    3. Select a value from the options available.
      
      The options you can choose from depend on the additional argument Type that you have selected. You can add one or more than one arguments.
Click OK to confirm settings and run the action engine workflow.

Stop an Action Engine Workflow Instance

You can stop an action engine workflow instance that is currently running.

Note:

You cannot resume (restart) an instance that you have stopped.

To stop an instance:

Click Monitor > Action Engine.

The Workflows Monitor page appears.
Click a action engine workflow to view the instances listed under it.
Select the instance that is currently running by selecting the check box next to the name of the instance.
Click Stop to stop the instance.

Resume a Suspended Action Engine Workflow Instance

You can resume (restart) an action Engine workflow instance that has been suspended. To resume a suspended instance:

Click Monitor > Action Engine.

The Workflows Monitor page appears.
Click an action engine workflow to view the instances listed under it.
Select a suspended instance by selecting the check box next to the name of the instance.
Click Resume to restart the instance.

Filter Action Engine Workflow Instances

To filter action engine workflow instances within an action engine workflow:

Click Monitor > Action Engine.

The Workflows Monitor page appears.
Click Filter, and then click Add Filter from the Filter drop-down list.

The Add Criteria pop-up appears.
Enter the following information in the Add Criteria pop-up.
1. Select the field that you want to apply the filter to, from the Field drop-down list .
2. Select the conditions that you want to apply to the field, from the Condition drop-down list .
3. Enter start and/or finish time that you want to apply to the filter, in the Value text box.
Click Add to apply the filter.

Delete an Action Engine Workflow

To delete an action engine workflow:

Click Configuration > Action Engine.

The Workflows page appears.
Select the action engine workflow you want to delete by selecting the check box next to the name of the instance.
Click the Delete icon.

The Delete Workflow pop-up appears.
In the Delete Workflow pop-up that appears, click Ok to delete the action engine workflow.

Manage Action Engine Workflows

Related Documentation