Rapid Automation

The Broadcom term Rapid Automation (RA) refers to a generic technology that includes and processes various agent solutions in conjunction with the Automation Engine. Rapid Automation Agents make the functions of a Rapid Automation solution accessible.

This page includes the following:

Overview

Broadcom offers several Rapid Automation solutions, including: 

  • RA Banner Agent
  • RA Business Objects Agent
  • RA FTP Agent
  • RA Hadoop Agent
  • RA Hyperion EPMA Agent
  • RA Hyperion ESSBASE Agent
  • RA Hyperion FDMEE Agent
  • RA Hyperion FM Agent
  • RA Hyperion Planning Agent
  • RA Informatica Agent
  • RA JD Edwards Agent
  • RA JMS Agent
  • RA Oracle E-Business Suite Agent
  • RA Oracle Retail Agent
  • RA Web Service REST Agent
  • RA Web Service SOAP Agent

If you are interested in using a Rapid Automation solution, please contact our Broadcom team .

Note: This integration capability, like all integrations of the Automic system, can support service orchestration workflows. Such workflows orchestrate automated processes that run across multiple platforms, domains, and applications to deliver a specific IT service. For more information, see About Service Orchestration.

RA Agents

To deploy a Rapid Automation agent solutions successfully, you have to carry out the following two steps:

  1. Install the RA Core agent in Automic Automation. You can use the agent for an on-premises Automic Automation system or an Automic Automation Kubernetes Edition environment. For more information, see Installing the Agent for Rapid Automation.

  2. Load the RA solution into the AE database using either the AE.DB Load utility or the system/ra-solutions/ endpoint of the AE REST API, see RA Solutions.

The RA Core Agent can only get one RA solution from the AE database. That means that, even if you have loaded different RA solutions to the AE database, the RA Core Agent gets only one. The same applies to different versions of the same RA solution. Therefore, if you intend to use several RA solutions, keep in mind that each solution and/or each version of the same solution requires its own RA Core Agent.

Example

If you have installed only one RA Core Agent and it gets the RA REST solution from the AE database, it becomes the RA REST Agent and there is no RA Core Agent available anymore.

If you have installed two RA Core Agents and both get the RA REST solution from the AE database, they both become RA REST Agents.

If you then proceed to load the next version of the RA REST solution into the AE database, the version is overwritten. The next time the RA REST Agents start, they have the version of the updated RA REST solution.

An Agent object must be created in system client 0000 before the RA agent is put into operation. Use the supplied agent template for this purpose. An Agent object contains the Connection objects that should be used for logging into applications, databases, etc. Create these Connection objects by using the supplied templates.

When the RA Agent starts, it checks whether the RA solution has already been stored locally. If not, it requests the RA solution's JAR file from the Automation Engine. The RA Agent unpacks it in the cache folder as specified in the cache_directory= parameter of the [RA] section of the INI file of the RA Core agent (see Agent RA Core INI file). The name of the created subfolder is the RA solution object's latest modification date. While starting, the system checks whether this timestamp complies with the AE database's timestamp. If they differ from each other because a later version has been loaded to the AE database, the RA Agent retrieves the JAR file and replaces the local RA solution.

Agent Guides

The documentation for the RA Agents is available at https://docs.automic.com/documentation.

RA Solutions

Each RA solution has its own individual function but there are some similarities in all Rapid Automation solutions. The corresponding RA agent requires specific settings. Therefore, an RA solution includes a template for the Agent object that should be used. Connection data can be specified in one or several Connection objects defined for that particular RA solution. The RA solution also includes the required object templates. The same is true for Job objects. Each RA solution includes one or several job types that can be used to call the relevant functions.

Note: The contents of agent, Connection and Job objects depend on the particular RA solution.

RA solutions are supplied as JAR files and can be loaded to the AE database either by using the AE.DB Load utility or the system/ra-solutions/ endpoint of the AE REST API.

Using the AE.DB Load Utility

The AE.DB Load utility (see AE DB Load) reads the JAR file and creates the following objects in system client 0000:

  • RA Solution object in the folder RA_SOLUTIONS
  • Template for the Agent object in the folder TEMPLATE
  • One or several templates for Connection objects in the folder TEMPLATE
  • One or several templates for Job objects in the folder TEMPLATE

The utility AE.DB Load automatically enters the new templates into the variable UC_OBJECT_TEMPLATE, see UC_OBJECT_TEMPLATE - Object Types and Templates.

The following object types are available with the following naming structures:

  • RA Solution

    The name of the RA Solution

  • Agent:

    AGENT.name of the RA Solution

  • Connection:

    CONN.name of the RA Solution.technical name of the connection

  • Job

    JOBS.name of the RA Solution.technical name of the job type

Note: You must use the .jar Loader (ucybdbld.jar). Loading with the utility using the binary executables (ucybdbld.exe for Windows or ucybdbld for Unix) in batch mode is not possible.

Example

java -jar ucybdbld.jar -B -C0000 -X<path><RA_Solution>.jar

The utility AE.DB Load can also be used to load later versions of an RA solution. The former version is automatically replaced in the AE database.

Tip: If any of the RA-specific pages is missing in the AWI after you have loaded a solution, log out and in again to get them displayed.

You can delete an RA solution from the AE system by deleting the corresponding RA solution object in client 0000 (folder: RA_SOLUTIONS). The object including its entries is not moved to the Recycle Bin but is completely removed from the AE database.

Using the AE REST API

The system/ra-solutions/ endpoint of the AE REST API provides an alternative for loading the RA solution. This endpoint allows you to do the following:

  • List all RA solutions installed

  • Install and/or upgrade an RA solution

  • Upload an RA solution

  • Get information on an RA solution

More information:

RA Jobs

RA jobs include object type-specific pages.

Note: Login object are not supported for most RA jobs. Login data is stored in either the Agent or Connection object. For more information, see the Agent Guides.

RA Jobs in Workflows

You can change one or several RA values and then store the Workflow in the latest versions the following RA Agents:

  • RA Banner Agent
  • RA FTP Agent
  • RA Informatica Agent
  • RA Oracle E-Business Suite Agent
  • RA Oracle Retail Agent

Note that subsequent RA value changes that you might make directly in the Job object will no longer affect the properties of the task as part of the Workflow. This means that the RA values in the workflow properties overrule the settings in the Job object as long as the task runs within this Workflow. It is irrelevant whether you have only changed one value in the Workflow properties or all of them.

Setting and Reading Job Attributes

For attributes that are also available in other Job objects (such as the archive keys or cost centers), you can set or read the same job name (see Attributes for All Job Types) via script using :PUT_ATT and GET_ATT. You can also change these attributes with the AEDB Change utility. For more information, see Keys that modify Rapid Automation attributes.

Job attributes are documented for most agents in the Agent Guides. Additionally, you can retrieve the attribute names including their values by running the following command in the AE database (replace the JOBNAME by the job's actual object name):

select OCV_VName,ocv_value from OCV,oh where OCV_OH_Idnr=OH_Idnr and oh_name='JOBNAME'

Note: You can also use a SQLI-type VARA object to run this command.