Triggering Lifecycle Manager Actions

Although they most commonly trigger workflow execution, automations can be used in conjunction with many other platform assets, including Lifecycle Manager (LCM) actions.

On this page, learn:

• Why LCM actions benefit from automation.
• How to automate LCM actions.

Prerequisite Reading

You should be familiar with the following concepts before proceeding:

• Automations
• Triggers
• Lifecycle Manager Overview
• Lifecycle Manager Resources

Why Automate LCM Actions?

Lifecycle Manager actions are used to create new instances, update instance properties, and delete existing instances. For example, you might automate these actions based on a schedule or in response to an API request.

Example – Automation Use Case

Organization A has decided to manage its network intrusion detection system (NIDS) via LCM. It has created the following resource model and an accompanying instance to represent the NIDS:

{
    "$id": "docs-nids",
    "description": "Schema defining the possible values within instances of resource model 'docs-nids'",
    "type": "object",
    "required": ["hostname","ipv4"],
    "additionalProperties": true,
    "properties": {
        "hostname": {
            "type": "string"
        },
        "ipv4": {
            "type": "string",
            "format": "ipv4"
        },
        "definitionsLastUpdated": {
            "type": "string",
            "format": "date-time"
        }
    }
}

Updates to the NIDS library of attack definitions are published daily by the software developer. Organization A has developed an update action that checks the developer's website for these definitions and, if present, downloads them to the NIDS, updating the definitionsLastUpdated property in turn. Due to the repetitive nature of this action, Organization A has decided to assign it to an automation, from which it will be executed by schedule trigger.

Creating a Lifecycle Automation

To begin automating LCM actions, you must first create a Lifecycle automation. These, like all automations, are created from the Operations Manager home page:

1. Click the Create + button located at the top of the side navigation menu. The Create Automation modal will open.

2. Select Lifecycle from the automation type drop-down menu.

3. Enter a name and description for the automation into the relevant fields.

4. Click the Create button located at the bottom-left corner of the modal. You will be redirected to your newly created automation.

   Figure 1: Create Automation Modal
   
   
   

5. Select the LCM resource to be automated from the Resource drop-down menu.

6. Click the Save Changes button located at the bottom-left corner of the Automation Properties panel.

Figure 2: Lifecycle Automation

Adding Triggers to a Lifecycle Automation

Lifecycle triggers generally follow the same conventions as workflow triggers, with a few notable exceptions.

Action and Target Selection

Each trigger type is used to run the actions of the selected resource against that same resource's instances or instance groups. You must choose what action will be executed via the Action drop-down menu on the Create Trigger panel.

Figure 4: Action Drop-down Menu

The available actions correspond to the create, update, or delete actions you have defined for the Resource Model in Lifecycle Manager. The behavior and targeting options vary depending on the action type you select. For more information on Lifecycle Manager Actions, see Types of Actions.

Create Actions

When you select a create action:

• Platform 6 automatically generates the instance name when the action executes
• You cannot specify an instance description during the create process
• You cannot assign the instance to an instance group during creation, but you can add it to a group afterward through Lifecycle Manager
• The target selection is not applicable since you're creating a new instance rather than acting on an existing one

Update Actions

When you select an update action:

• You can specify either a target instance or instance group to update
• Use the target selection options described below to determine which instances receive the updates
• All properties defined in the Resource Model schema can be modified through the update action

Delete Actions

When you select a delete action:

• You can specify either a target instance or instance group to delete
• Use the target selection options described below to determine which instances are removed
• Deleted instances are permanently removed from Lifecycle Manager

Target Selection Options

After selecting your action, you must designate a target instance or instance group for update and delete actions. The different trigger types have varying levels of flexibility in how they handle targeting:

• Schedule and event triggers must have their target pre-determined as part of their configuration. This target will not change unless the trigger is later edited, or something to that effect.
• Manual and API triggers can select their target at runtime. To do this, toggle the Choose target at runtime switch on the Create Trigger panel. When enabled:
  • Manual triggers will prompt you to supply your target information via the Run Automation panel
  • API triggers must query the desired target directly via the targetType and targetIdentifier parameters; see the note below for more information

Figure 5: Choose Target at Runtime

Input Forms (Manual and Schedule Triggers)

By default, lifecycle automations derive user input forms from the model of their associated resource. If you do not wish to use an LCM-derived input form, pre-constructed forms can be selected as normal.

Figure 6: Action Form from Lifecycle Manager

Trigger Cards

Lifecycle trigger cards contain the following additional properties:

Figure 7: Lifecycle Trigger Card