AAI Integration for Automic Automation

Automic Automation Intelligence (AAI) for Automic Automation allows you to put the runtime information of executions from different Clients in multiple Automic Automation systems into a single view. This means that you can see running executions (and possible failed ones) of more than one Automic Automation system in a single interface, without having to switch from one Automic Web Interface to another.

This page includes the following:

Overview

The Automic Connector establishes the communication between Automic Automation and Automic Automation Intelligence. It is a stand-alone component. As such, it runs in its own process space, has its own installer and writes its own log files. It consists of two main parts:

The universal connector framework, which handles the communication between the Automic Connector and AAI. It also triggers the Connector to fetch job definitions and events (executions) from the Automation Engine.
A mapper, which extracts job definitions and events (executions) from the Automation Engine and translates them into a format that Automic Automation Intelligence can process.

Therefore, it is recommended to install the Automic Connector near the Automation Engine.

The Connector uses the AE REST API and Automic Automation Intelligence to periodically extract job definitions and executions (current and historical runs) from Automic Automation and import them into AAI.

It has different settings that can be modified at any time. For example, you can define the following behaviors:

The interval in which the job definitions and events (executions) are fetched. You can set the interval for fetching both individually.
Upon starting, how far back should the Connector look the first time it fetches information.
How far forward should the Connector look, thus gathering information on planned start times.

Once the Automic Connector is installed and running for the first time, it reaches to Automic Automation Intelligence and registers itself. It also reads either job definitions or events (executions) from Automic Automation, translates them into the relevant format and passes the information to the framework, which then passes the information to Automic Automation Intelligence.

Each Automic Automation Client that you want to add to your AAI environment requires its own scheduler. Several schedulers can be linked to one Connector. However, only one Connector can be linked to an Automic Automation Intelligence environment.

Setup and Configuration

Before adding an Automic Automation instance to your Automic Automation Intelligence system, you must have Automic Automation Intelligence up and running. For more information, see Installation Guide.

The Automic Connector Connector has to be installed as well. You can find the relevant installation files (AAI Automic Connector 2.0) for Windows and UNIX at https://support.broadcom.com/.

Important! For performance reasons, it is recommended to install the Automic Connector near the Automation Engine, not near Automic Automation Intelligence.

Also, you can secure your Connectors using TLS 1.2 based secure connections. For more information, see Two-Way Certificate-Based Authentication over TLS 1.2.

Installing the Automic Connector on Windows

To install the Automic Connector on Windows:

Log into the Broadcom support site. You require a Broadcom account to log in.
Go to Enterprise Software > Product Downloads > Automic Automation Intelligence and download the relevant version of the AAI Automic Connector.
Run the automic-connector.exe file to setup the installer.
Follow the instructions in the setup wizard.

You can define a destination directory, if you want to create a Start Menu folder and / or shortcuts for all users.

When you are done with the wizard, you can find the Automic Connector folder in the directory that you defined.

The Connector starts as a Service (automic-connector).

Note: You can use the services.msc to start and stop the service.
Configure the aai-server section of the application.yml file located in the Automic Connector installation directory. This allows you provide the Connector with the relevant AAI connection information.

Make sure you define the following parameters:
- uri: Point to the AAI endpoint
  
  If located on the same host, you can use http://localhost:8080. Otherwise, use the server name in the URL.
- username: define the user name
- password: define the password
- domain: JAWS by default
Example
```
connector-settings:
  aai-server:
    uri: http://localhost:8080
    username: admin
    password: password
    domain: JAWS
    license-key: <none>
```
Restart the Connector service (automic-connector) after changing the application.yml file.

Note: You can use the services.msc to start and stop the service.

Once you have installed the Connector, you have to add Automic Automation schedulers to your Automic Automation Intelligence environment. To do so, go to System > Schedulers in your web interface (http://servername:8080/aai/web/v2/) and follow the steps in the dialog to add an Automic Automation scheduler. For more information, see Adding an Automic Automation Scheduler.

If the process was successful, the new schedulers are listed with all the schedulers available in your system.

Notes:

You must add a new Automic Automation scheduler for each Automic Automation Client that you want to integrate into your AAI environment.
You can add the Automic Automation schedulers in AAI before installing the Automic Connector. However, you will not be able to use them until the Connector is up and running.

Installing the Automic Connector on UNIX

To install the Automic Connector on UNIX:

Log into the Broadcom support site. You require a Broadcom account to log in.
Go to Enterprise Software > Product Downloads > Automic Automation Intelligence and download the relevant version of the AAI Automic Connector.
Before installing the Automic Connector, create the /var/log/connector-framework directory:

mkdir /var/log/connector-framework

chmod 777 /var/log/connector-framework
Run rpm -i to start the installation, for example:

rpm -i automic-connector-2.0.0.x86_64.rpm
Set up your AAI server credentials before starting the service using the following command:

cd /opt/broadcom/automic-connector

sudo -u automic-connector ./configure-automic-connector.sh
Start the service using the following command:

sudo systemctl start automic-connector
Verify the service by running the following command:

sudo systemctl status automic-connector

Configure the Connector to point to your AAI installation. To do so, run the configure script:

cd /opt/broadcom/automic-connector

sudo -u automic-connector ./configure-automic-connector.sh

Follow the prompts to enter the AAI URI.

Example

This example shows the Connector installed on the AAI server, running HTTP and on the default port. The Connector name can be freely defined and shows up in the UI when adding the scheduler.

[sudo -u automic-connector ./configure-automic-connector.sh
*** CONFIGURING CONNECTOR ***

Backing up configuration file to: application.yml.bak...
...Configuration file backed up to: application.yml.bak.

Please enter the following configuration parameters.

Enter AAI server URI (e.g., "https://localhost:4443"): http://localhost:8080
Enter connector name: automic
Enter host name: localhost
Enter connector key password (will not echo, required for HTTPS):
Enter AAI server username (required for HTTP): admin
Enter AAI server password (will not echo, required for HTTP): password
Enter connector domain: JAWS

If the installation ended successfully you see the following:

Verifying AAI server connectivity (please stand by)...2020-12-08 23:54:55,708 INFO [ApiCallerUtil] Attempting HTTP connection to AAI

...AAI server connectivity verified.

Saving connector configuration to: application.yml...
...connector configuration saved to: application.yml.

*** CONNECTOR CONFIGURED ***

Use the systemclt command to start the service:

systemctl start automic-connector

You can also use the systemclt command to stop or to restart the connector, or to get its status. For example:

systemctl stop automic-connector

systemctl restart automic-connector

systemctl status automic-connector

If the process was successful, the new schedulers are listed with all the schedulers available in your system.

Notes:

You must add a new Automic Automation scheduler for each Automic Automation Client that you want to integrate into your AAI environment.
You can add the Automic Automation schedulers in AAI before installing the Automic Connector. However, you will not be able to use them until the Connector is up and running.

Additional Information

Log file location

/var/log/connector-framework/connector-framework.log

tail -f /var/log/connector-framework/connector-framework.log
greps for process status

ps -eaf | grep connector
Uninstall the connector

rpm -e automic-connector-2.0.0.x86_64

rm -rf /var/log/connector-framework

rm -rf /var/log/automic-connector

rm -rf /opt/<Connector Install Dir>

Supported Automic Automation Objects

The Automic Automation integration into Automic Automation Intelligence supports the following objects:

File Transfers (JOBF)

File Transfer objects let you exchange any file from one system to another. The transfer can be structured, thus enabling the exchange of files with packed and binary fields in heterogeneous system environments.
Jobs (JOBS)

An Automic Automation Job executes commands on computers or in enterprise business solutions (SAP, PeopleSoft, Oracle Applications, etc.). These solutions differ from each other; therefore, specific Job templates are available for each of them. Jobs are always assigned to Agents and they always need a Login object that submits the necessary credentials to the target system (Agent).
Job Groups (JOBG)

A Job Group is a container for other objects. It helps you manage the execution of the individual objects it contains. Job Groups can be stand-alone objects that you execute manually or you can insert them in Schedules or Workflows.
Workflows (JOBP)

Workflows serve as containers for objects that must be executed in a specific sequence and with specific parameters. An object that is inserted in a Workflow is called task. A Workflow can also be embedded in another Workflow. By linking the tasks in a Workflow, you establish the sequence of the executions.
Schedules (JSCH)

Schedule objects allow you to design time and event-driven task management. They are frames where you collect tasks that you want to execute automatically at regular intervals. Schedule objects determine scheduling parameters, such as the periodicity with which the tasks are executed and the times at which they start. They also let you modify the properties of the tasks that they contain. Such changes apply to the tasks only when processed within that particular Schedule; the objects themselves are not affected.
Scripts (SCRI)

Script objects let you write and reuse scripts that provide internal processing instructions. The scripts in Script objects are executed in the Automation Engine itself, and not on target systems.

Important! All objects that are related to an execution which should be monitored by AAI must be available in the system. Otherwise, the Connector cannot generate some events and it does not send them to AAI. Renaming or deleting objects can cause that the Connector cannot generate all events. If you need to rename an object, you can duplicate it and rename the copy. This ensures that the original object remains unchanged as part of past executions while allowing you to use the copy with a different name, as needed.

For more information, please refer to the Automic Automation documentation at docs.automic.com.

You can use those Automic Automation objects to carry out the following actions in Automic Automation Intelligence:

Create (SLA) for different jobstream setups (simple, complex and/or with external dependencies)
Locate a possible bottleneck in a jobstream (critical path)
Create dashboards