Different action time in automation plan

Usage and Config Server Automation
1

Hi all,
Im trying to create new automation plan with 8 steps:

  1. Each step must run in different time, but all of them is part of one plan.
  2. One of the steps will run several times.
  3. How to add “Post Action message” to users before restart.
    I need some help to understand how to achieve it.
    Some one any ideas?

Julia

2

Hi Julia,

1 : SA supports scheduling at the plan level but not at the step level if thats what you’re looking for. You might be able write custom fixlets to wait for set times and use these to achieve the same effect.
2 : You would need to add the step multiple times to a plan to achieve running it several times.
3 : I guess you’re referring to functionality like available on the messages tab when taking action in Bigfix. This functionality isn’t available from the SA UI, though not sure whether it could be coded in via actionscript…

Cheers,
Martin

1 Like
3

Hi Martin , thanks for replay
You might be able write custom fixlets to wait for set times and use these to achieve the same effect - can you explain your self or give me an example.

Julia

4

Hi Julia,

Theres probably a few ways, I know we’ve “dos timeout /t” in some test fixlets internally to wait on an endpoint.

Theres probably other action commands that might achieve similar objectives depending on your scenario, e.g.
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSPMR3_9.2.0/com.ibm.tivoli.tem.doc_9.2/Platform/Action/c_action_lock_until.html
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSPMR3_9.2.0/com.ibm.tivoli.tem.doc_9.2/Platform/Action/c_pause_while.html

Cheers,
Martin

1 Like
5

Can you explain this requirement more? Are the times random, or specific?

1 Like
6

Hi
time is specific: 12:00; 16:00; 22:00

7

You can write relevance to cause things to be only relevant during a specific time range, but it won’t work to have it only be relevant at a specific time.

So you could have relevance that would cause it to run between 12:00-14:00 and 16:00-18:00 and 22:00-24:00.

It would run as soon as possible, but you have to have a time range because if it is too short, the client may not figure out it should run it in time and it would miss the window.

8

Hi
its perfect to me time range
can you give me some examples?
Thanks

9

Hi Mairt,
i tried to work with action lock until “” “” but i didnt understand where to put it
do i need to create new task or… Can you help me with it?

Tnx,
Julia

10

Hi Julia,

If you’re talking about adding logic into a plan, then yes, you create a new task of fixlet with the logic required, then add that into the plan, target it as required, and then take action.

Cheers,
Martin

11

Hi Martin,
i did it and it fails
i create task in the action i copy the syntax

action lock until "{now + 3*hours}" "{now}"

Julia

12

Hi @juliac,

So looks like you’re using the correct syntax there (according to this documentation), so perhaps the issue is down to the success criteria you’ve set for the task. Any more info on the failure itself?

Can you let us know what relevance and success criteria you used for the task?

  • Is it a task? (where success would come by just executing all the lines of action script)
  • Is it a fixlet (where success would only come if the relevance for the fixlet evaluates to ‘false’ after it has been run)

You could also take a look at fixlets #295 and #296 on the BES Support site as examples… these set the lock time to ‘indefinitely’, but the relevance of them should be useful at least.

Cheers,
Paul.

13

Hi Paul_Curran,
for the test i didt create any relevance
in the plan take action only on specific servers

Julia

14

Hi @juliac

Hmm… yeah, that looks like it should work - relevance of true and success-on-completion.

You could go into the client logs on the machine and see if there’s any more information there?

<BES Client Root Dir>\__BESData\__Global\Logs

Also maybe create a copy of fixlet #296 in BES Support, and replace the action script with what you’ve tried here and see if you get the same result:

Fixlet256.jpg798×570 53.7 KB

Cheers,
Paul.

15

Hi Paul,
this is what i found in the client logs
"At 13:57:25 +0300 - actionsite (http://BesServer:52311/cgi-bin/bfgather.exe/actionsite)
Command failed (Relevance substitution failed) action lock until “{now + 3hours}" “{now}” (action:1796)"
I did what you recommend, but the same error in the client log
14:24:37 +0300 - actionsite (http:////BesServer:52311/cgi-bin/bfgather.exe/actionsite)
Command failed (Relevance substitution failed) action lock until "{now + 3hours}” “{now}” (action:1801)

Julia

16

Ah - okay. Try this:

action lock until "{now + 3*hour}" "{now}"

(Note: “hour” instead of “hours”)

1 Like
17

ill try
will update you