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RBA [Run Book Automation] tools will have a big impact on end-to-end automation and running IT operations as a business and providing consistent, better quality services at optimal cost." David William, Gartner
Run Book Automation Defined
The way we do business today is altering the level of automation and integration required within IT operations. Traditional automation methods, namely job schedulers, run and monitor batch jobs. Although job scheduling comprises an important function in a production-computing environment, it is not well suited to automate operational processes or run book procedures, as they provide little to no integration with surrounding systems.
Run Book Automation (RBA), a relatively new market, provides the orchestration, integration and automation of operational processes across multiple data, departmental, and application silos. This is done through IT-defined workflow that integrates the people, process and technologies involved in operational procedures.
Due to the recent recognition of this market, some companies have attempted to accomplish the equivalent of what is now known as RBA, by running lengthy scripts with a job scheduler, but this technique is costly, unreliable, and error prone.
While scripts and schedulers work well for small tasks, they rarely scale to handle complex environments. They also lack sophisticated dependencies and reporting that allow users to keep audit trails of processes. As process requirements grow, and more functionality is added, the result is a complex mix of scripts, programs, and utilities that only a few people actually understand. More concerning is that home-grown scripts can quickly turn into a full-time programming commitment as well as a time-consuming and costly management burden.
Using Run Book Automation Software for Job Scheduling Tasks
Run Book Automation solutions include many of the features and capabilities users rapidly integrate and require in a job scheduler, while also providing more advanced functions.
Automation software can automate any administrative, maintenance or business workflows without the processes, such as restarting services, rotating logs, backing up data, deleting need for programming temporary files, and e-mailing files. It can also run several jobs on multiple machines, or scripts." modify accounts, query databases, upload data and filter/read/send e-mail.
In addition to standard enterprise requirements like load balancing, failover, failure routines, error handling, and logging, Run Book Automation Software also provides integration, orchestration, and workflow.
Integration
Integration is a key component in Run Book Automation software, as it provides the ability to query, modify, collect, parse, and pass data between systems and products. Unlike ?econnector' products which simply transfer data between systems, Run Book Automation software uses data to make decisions, to dynamically configure task parameters with relevant run-time data, and to update systems such as configuration management databases and service desk applications with process information. This gives IT organizations the ability to update one or all systems with detailed information on a process. It also ensures help desk staff, and level 1-2-3 support staff has access to problem status.
Orchestration
Run Book Automation software also requires intelligent orchestration capabilities so it can initiate actions within 3rd party systems. The orchestration engine works in conjunction with integration capabilities to read results of these actions to determine next steps and to log/report on each step within the process. This is paramount for tracking change requests and maintenance procedures that interact with multiple systems and impact service availability. If a change request or maintenance procedure goes wrong, IT needs to determine the exact point of failure immediately.
Workflow
Workflow not only provides visual insight as to the nature of a process, it also delivers conditional logic and dependencies support needed to automate complex process. Workflow also enables branching capabilities, useful for creating incident management routines that handle a range of errors and conditions. The main workflow can define the expected process, while branches are used for exception cases, error handling and escalation routines.
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