Adding services to workflows

With IAG configured and your gateway services registered, you can now use the Itential Platform to orchestrate these services through intuitive workflows that simplify complex network operations.

Building a workflow with services

Workflows are the heart of the Itential Platform's orchestration capabilities. They enable you to visually connect multiple automation tasks into coordinated processes without writing code. You can orchestrate operations across systems, run scripts, transform data, and build in decision points - all through a visual interface. This orchestration capability helps you build end-to-end processes that simplify complex network operations.

The following procedures provide a high-level overview for adding a service to a new workflow. For additional guidance, see the following topics:

• For more information on variable sources, see Variable Types.
• For more information on workflows, see Creating & Running Workflows.
• For more information on tasks, see Configuring & Managing tasks.

Step 1: Add the Run Service task to your canvas

1. Open Itential Platform in your browser.
2. Select Studio from the Design collection in the left-side navigation menu.
3. Click the plus (+) icon on the Studio homepage.
4. Select Workflow in the type dropdown in the Create dialog.
5. Enter a name for your new workflow.
6. Click Create. The workflow opens in the Canvas.
7. In the Task Palette, expand the GatewayManager section and find the Run Service task.
8. Drag the Run Service task onto the canvas between the Start and End nodes.
9. Create connections by drawing transitions from Start to the Run Service task, and from the Run Service task to End.

Figure 1: Run Service task

Step 2: Configure the Run Service task

Double-click the Run Service task to open the task panel.

From the Run Service task panel, you can specify the gateway cluster and gateway service on that cluster that you want to include in your workflow.

When you select a service with decorators attached, the task extracts the expected input variables from the decorator and lists them as input parameters. For more information on decorators, see Using Decorators.

Set input parameters

You can supply input parameters through a key-value form or as a JSON code block.

Key-value form (default): The task panel displays input parameters in a key-value form where you configure each variable defined in your decorator individually. You can configure the variable source (static, job, or task) and specify static key-value pairs.

Figure 2: Key-value form in task configuration panel

JSON code block: To define input parameters as a single JSON code block, select JSON Code Block under Parameters in the task panel.

Figure 3: JSON code block in task configuration panel

Define gateway cluster and service variables

You can use the Gateway Cluster ID and Service Name fields to specify which gateway cluster and service you want to run, or you can define the Gateway Cluster ID and service as input variables that receive data from elsewhere in the workflow.

To use as variables:

1. Enable the Gateway Cluster ID & Service: Use as Variable toggle at the top of the task panel.
2. Define the source for the gateway cluster ID and service variables as static, job, or task to determine how these values will be passed to the Run Service task.

Figure 4: Use as Variable toggle in task configuration panel