Key concepts and terminology

Server Automation provides automation functionality that you can use to automate IT processes. To automate your workflows using Server Automation, you use an Automation Plan. The Automation Plan contains steps, one for each distinct phase in the automated workflow. When you execute an Automation Plan, an action is created for the plan. Child actions will then be created for each of the steps in the plan as the plan is processed.

Some of the most important Server Automation terms are described here:

Automation Plan: A Server Automation container that controls your automated workflow (automation flow). Automation Plans contain one or more steps. Each step is a Fixlet, Task, or Baseline that is executed against the endpoints that you specify.

Automation Plan Engine: The Server Automation component that processes your Automation Plans and therefore your automation flows. You must install the Automation Plan Engine before you can automate your workflows by running Automation Plans.

Default values: When you create or edit an Automation Plan, you can save default values for parameters and targets. This allows you to execute the plan quickly at runtime and also facilitates easy reuse of plans.

Failure step: When you create or edit an Automation Plan, you can add a single corresponding failure step for each step in the Automation Plan. A failure step can be a Fixlet, Task, or Baseline. If a step action fails and the Automation Plan contains a failure step for the failed step, the system identifies and runs the failure step action. You can target a failure step to run on either all the endpoints for the corresponding step action or only on the endpoints that returned a failed status for the step action.

Step failure behavior: Use the step failure behavior feature when designing your Automation Plan. The step failure behavior feature provides you with the ability to control the flow of the Automation Plan on endpoints. It gives you the ability to define the behavior that occurs when steps in your Automation Plan fail on some or all endpoints.

Step failure threshold: Setting a step failure threshold allows you to specify the percentage of failing targets that determines the success or failure of the step. The step failure threshold enables you to manage the success or failure of each step in your Automation Plan, based on the percentage success and failure rate of the step on the total number of target endpoints.

Management extender: Before you can use the Virtualization functionality, you must install a management extender to communicate with the VMware vCenter or ESX host. Before you install the management extender, you must enable the license for Virtual Endpoint Manager.

Sample plans: Out-of-the-box automation plans for common automation scenarios to help you get up and running quickly. To use a sample plan, you create a copy of the sample plan and then edit the copy to specify target endpoints and parameters.

Sequential processing: You can design your Automation Plans to process your automation flows in a straight sequence, where each step is processed after the prior step. This is known as a sequential plan.

Parallel processing: You can design your Automation Plans to process your automation flows in parallel, where multiple steps are processed simultaneously. This is known as a parallel plan.