Runbooks Pages

The various Runbooks pages are for working with the different runbook An automated workflow that executes a series of steps or tasks in response to a triggered event, such as the detection of anomalous behavior generating an incident, a lifecycle event, or a manually executed runbook. types in your configuration. See runbook definition.

• Incident Runbooks: Automated investigations that execute in response to triggers A set of one or more indicators that have been correlated based on certain relationships, such as time, metric type, application affected, location, or network device.. See trigger definition.

• Lifecycle Runbooks: Runbooks that track the status The current state of an incident or runbook, indicating its progress through investigation and resolution workflows. of ongoing incidents A collection of one or more related triggers. Relationships that cause triggers to be combined into incidents include application, location, operating system, or a trigger by itself. and execute actions when the incident status changes.

• On-Demand Runbooks: Investigations that you execute manually rather than automatically.

• Subflows: Sequences of runbook nodes Individual components that make up a runbook automation, each performing a specific function such as data queries, transformations, logic, integrations, or visualizations. that execute discrete actions and that are saved as independent reusable components for inclusion in other runbooks. See subflow overview.

Access these pages at any time by clicking the corresponding item in the Navigation pane at the left of the Riverbed IQ Ops window.

Each Runbook page lists all the runbooks (or subflows) of that type that exist in your configuration (built-in and custom), enabling you to edit existing ones, create new ones, import and export them via JSON file, and delete any that you no longer need.

Filtering the List of Runbooks

You can control which runbooks are listed by choosing a filter; each filter shows how many runbooks it comprises:

• All Runbooks: Show all existing runbooks. This is the default.

• Automation Allowed: Show only those runbooks that have been enabled to be mapped to trigger types. See trigger definition.

• Created By Me: Show only those runbooks created and saved using the current user account.

• In Error: Show only those runbooks marked with an error state. These runbooks cannot be be set to Active, and cannot be executed until all errors are corrected.

• Built-In: Show only those Runbooks provided by Riverbed IQ Ops Application An entity type representing software applications deployed in the customer environment that are monitored for performance and anomalies..

Working On an Existing Runbook

For any runbook, click on its row or click the > at its left to show its definition as a sequence of nodes. Doing this also makes several controls available:

• Edit: Open the runbook in the Runbook editor to change it.

• Export: Write the runbook definition to JSON file.

• Duplicate: Make a copy of the runbook.

• Delete: Use with caution. This will prompt you for confirmation, then will permanently remove the runbook from the system. There is no undo, once the runbook is deleted.

Creating a New Runbook

Two controls reside at the top of the page:

• New: Open the Runbook Editor to create a new runbook.

• Import: Create a new runbook by importing a JSON file of a previously exported runbook definition.

Runbook List Columns

These fields are shown for each runbook on the Runbooks page. For each column, you can sort by it, and you can click on the Funnel icon to search or filter by a value.

• Runbook: The runbook's name. This may be user-defined, or auto-generated if no user has renamed it.

• Description: A brief, user-defined explanation of what the runbook is used for.

• Trigger: The type of trigger that launches the runbook.

• Entity Type: For on-demand Runbooks only, the type of network object for which the Runbook will execute.

• Built-In: A checkmark is shown if the Runbook is provided by Riverbed IQ Ops.

• Last Updated: The timestamp from when the Runbook was most recently saved.

• Last Updated By: The username of the account that saved the most recent change to the Runbook.

• Allow Automation: For all Trigger types mapped to the Runbook, toggle the Runbook On to enable it or toggle it Off to disable it. This control is inaccessible if the Runbook has any errors.
  A Runbook must be On to be mappable to a Trigger type in the Automation page; if it is Off, it will not be listed in the Edit Mapping dialog as available to be mapped. If a Runbook is Off, it will not execute when a mapped Trigger fires, but an Incident A collection of one or more related triggers. Relationships that cause triggers to be combined into incidents include application, location, operating system, or a trigger by itself. still will be created; this can be useful if you want to modify the Runbook and do not want it to execute in an experimental or unvalidated state. Custom Runbooks are Off by default.

• Run button: For on-demand Runbooks only, execute the Runbook now. The Runbook's output A document containing data sets generated by the execution of a runbook, including output of queries and reports from point products, as well as output of analysis or other runbook nodes. will be listed on the Runbook Analyses page.

• ... pop-up menu: Additional controls for managing Runbooks. Most are also available from other places when working with Runbooks.

  • Export: Output the Runbook definition to a JSON file that can be imported subsequently to create a new Runbook.

  • Edit: Open the Runbook in the Runbook Editor to change it.

  • Duplicate: Copy the Runbook.

  • Delete: Use with caution. This will prompt you for confirmation, then will permanently remove the Runbook from the system. There is no undo, once the Runbook is deleted.

  • Test Run: Execute the Runbook's Logic A runbook node category that adds conditions to branch the runbook, enabling conditional execution paths based on data and context. immediately, without having to wait for a corresponding Trigger.

  • Preview Output: Show what data the Runbook will generate after it executes in response to a Trigger.