Key benefits    

Fast turn-key deployments Provision NetApp storage for key apps, including Vmware, Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, Citrix etc..

Follow best practices Ensure adherence to best practices with workflows tailored to follow your organization’s standards  

Endless customization to meet your organization’s needs Automate processes while following your specific requirements and integrating with your key internal IT systems

Low cost of management Process design is done using

GUI and without writing and maintaining expensive custom code.

THE CHALLENGE

Manual processes are expensive and error-prone Most storage management tasks such as provisioning, migration, decommissioning are performed manually. Examples for such tasks, include setting up storage for: a) virtualization environments b) databases c) mail servers d) home directories e) custom applications

Long provisioning cycles keep consumers waiting In many cases it takes days to

week to provide storage for an application. This includes selecting the resources, provisioning and updating the internal systems. Errors in configuration Even well-trained personnel may make mistakes in performing manual steps that could result in outages, delays and waste of time and money

Not fully utilizing the power of smart storage To fully leverage the power of the storage it has to be optimized for the specific application at hand. Frequently, the best practices are not followed and advanced features are not used.

Software

OnCommand Workflow Automation Provide fast and reliable service to storage consumers by automating key storage management processes. Customize these processes to meet the needs of your organization while following NetApp best practices.

The Cloud promise is delayed Cloud requires high-level of automation and cannot rely on manual processes. Many IT groups are being challenged by management to meet the self-service and IT automation goals which drive the business

WHY CURRENT APPROACHES FAIL

Custom software development Many organizations turn to in-house software engineers or partners to write custom code for automation. These approaches often prove expensive to operate and slow to adapt to the changing needs of storage consumers. Lastly, the total cost of ownership of custom software make it an ineffective solution in most cases

Rely on data-center orchestration solution Although orchestration solutions prove to be beneficial for end-to-end automation, they lack a comprehensive storage component to meet customer process needs. As seen in other domains such as monitoring, an expert storage solution is required in order to address storage automation requirements

“Do nothing” approach is expensive Costs include people time, inability to deploy cloud and self-service environments and mistakes that stem from manual operation.

THE SOLUTION Workflow Automation platform Workflow Automation is a software solution that enables a storage operator with “1-click” automation for key storage workflows.

Examples for such workflows include:

1) Provision, migrate or decommission a storage for databases or file systems

2) Set-up a new virtualization environment, including storage switches and datastores

3) Set up storage for an application as part of an end-to-end orchestration process

Workflows are defined to meet your requirements These workflows can be defined by the storage architect to precisely follow the organization’s requirements and NetApp’s best practices

Typical requirements include:

1) Naming conventions 2) Setting unique options for

storage objects 3) Selecting resources 4) Integration with internal

CMDB, Ticketing apps

Workflows are defined by your storage teams Defining workflows in Workflow Automation is a task that can be performed by your storage teams if they participate in Workflow Automation training. That enables you to

keep control on developing and maintaining automation and avoiding custom software or scripting development that have huge cost of ownership.

Audit and control the operation Workflow Automation provides full history of all executed workflows and their results enabling control of who executed what and when for audit and troubleshooting purposes.

Set flexible execution options Workflow Automation enables multiple execution options:

1) By the storage operator using the built-in portal

2) By the storage operator scheduled for a later date, either weekend or next change window

3) Triggered by an Orchestration tool using Web Services

Unify automation across OnCommand deployments Workflow Automation can leverage information in multiple OnCommand deployments to assure the automation process can be executed across environments and datacenters.

Extend the platform when needed In case Workflow Automation does not include a pre-canned building block that exactly match your needs, you can always add another building block to the system on your own or by collaborating with the NetApp field.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION Integrated software solution Workflow Automation is a software solution that is part of the OnCommand family. It integrates with Operations Manager to collect data about the environment and with the arrays to send execution commands.

Built in portal The built-in portal enables the storage operator to select any of the workflows that are available for execution, enter the user input parameters and let Workflow Automation do the rest.

The Audit screen Enables the operator to track execution and identify and troubleshoot any issues.

The Designer The Designer screen is available only to storage architects. It enables the construction and modification of workflows using the Designer GUI. The architect selects the list of Workflow Automation Commands which will perform as the workflow steps, identifies the different execution options and defines the resource selection options to complete the workflow.

Once defined, the architect can test the workflow and make it available to the storage operator.

Building blocks Workflow Automation building blocks include various NetApp related actions such as Create volume, Create vFiler, Create Qtree, in addition to

virtualization related actions like create datastore and various others that are used to set up VLANs on Nexus switches and updating records in ticketing systems. The Workflow Automation building blocks also aid a corporation in prioritizing the resources it would like to leverage.

 

Figure  1:  Portal  used  to  launch  pre-­‐defined  workflows  

EXAMPLE: DATASTORE CREATION OVERVIEW In an organization that uses virtualization technologies it is sometimes required to add new datastores to the ESX cluster. The storage architect defines the criteria, naming convention and various options for optimal resource selection and operation of the storage. The example below show how the operator is responding to a requirement for datastore creation.

Step 1 – Click to “Submit”

Step 2 – Fill-in required parameters Enter the input parameters to the workflow as defined by the storage architect who defined the process. Then, choose whether to execute immediately or schedule for the next change window.

Step 3 – Review execution status Enter the audit screen to investigate past execution statuses and troubleshoot issues.

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EXAMPLE: Workflow modification Overview From time to time the storage architect may want to alter the workflow’s options or logic. To do so, they will open the designer, in which they will define the workflow steps and options.

 

 

 

 

 

Workflow Automation (WFA) FAQ

Q1: What kind of workflows can I create? All storage-centric workflows, including provisioning, migration, decommissioning Q2: Is it possible to define naming conventions and other specific options? Yes, you can customize the workflow to meet your organization’s needs

Q3: Is it possible to define specific criteria for selecting where to provision? Yes, you can customize the resource selection algorithm to your organization’s needs

Q4: Can WFA integrate with internal IT systems? Yes, Workflow Automation provides various ways to connect to internal systems for collecting information needed to determine resource selection as well as for opening tickets etc.

Q5: Does WFA have multi-vendor support? No, it supports only NetApp and other non-storage vendors such as virtualization platforms

Q6: Can WFA be configured to support multi-datacenter processes? Yes, WFA can consult multiple DFM installation and access arrays across multiple datacenters

Q7: Who can create a workflow? Any certified person, including a storage architect or NetApp PS

Q8: What kind of RBAC does WFA have? WFA supports LDAP and internal users and allows roles for guest, operator, architect and admin