Orchestrator can tie disparate tasks and procedures together by using the Runbook Designer graphical user interface to create reliable, flexible, and efficient end-to-end solutions in the IT environment.

You can carry out the following tasks using Orchestrator:

·     Automate processes in your data center, regardless of hardware or platform.

·     Automate your IT operations and standardize best practices to improve operational efficiency.

·     Connect different systems from different vendors without having to know how to use scripting and programming languages.

An Orchestrator runbook is the sequence of activities that orchestrate actions on computers and networks. You can initiate Orchestrator runbooks in MDT using the Execute Runbooktask sequence step type.

Note   The Execute Runbook task sequence step is not included any MDT task sequence templates. You must add the Execute Runbook task sequence step to any task sequences you create.

To configure the Execute Runbook task sequence step type to run Orchestrator runbooks

1.   Edit task_sequence_name (where task_sequence_name is the name of the task sequence to which you want to add the task sequence step) for:

·     LTI as described in Configure the Task Sequence Properties Task Sequence Tab

·     ZTI using Configuration Manager 2012 as described in Configuring ZTI Task Sequence Steps in Configuration Manager 2012

·     ZTI using Configuration Manager 2007 R3 as described in Configuring ZTI Task Sequence Steps in Configuration Manager 2007 R3

2.   Add a new task sequence step based on the Execute Runbook task sequence type for:

·     LTI on the Task Sequence tab (In the task sequence hierarchy, click Add, click General, and then click Execute Runbook.)

·     ZTI in the task sequence hierarchy (Click Add, point to MDT, and then click Execute Runbook.)

3.   On the Properties tab, configure the settings listed in Table 171 based on the requirements of your organization, and then click OK.

Table 171. Configuration Settings on the Properties Tab of the Execute Runbook Task Sequence Step Type

Setting

Description

Name

Type a name for the task.

Description

Type a description of the task—for example, runbook_name (where runbook_name is the name of the Orchestrator runbook that this task sequence step will run).

Orchestrator Server

Type the URL for the Orchestrator web service, which includes the server name. The Orchestrator web service can use either Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or HTTP over Secure Sockets Layer (HTTPS). The Orchestrator web service defaults to port 81.

The Orchestrator web service supports multiple runbook servers. By default, a runbook can run on any runbook server. A runbook can be configured to specify which runbook servers should be used to run the runbook.

Note   The Orchestrator web service supports the ability to run a runbook on a specific runbook server. This feature is not supported in MDT.

Specify the URL in any of the following formats:

·     servername. When using this format, the URL defaults to:

http://<servername>:81/Orchestrator2012/Orchestrator.svc

·     servername:port. When using this format, the URL defaults to:

http://<servername:port>/Orchestrator2012/Orchestrator.svc.

·     http://servername:port. When using this format, the URL defaults to:

http://<servername:port>/Orchestrator2012/Orchestrator.svc.

·     https://servername:port. When using this format, the URL defaults to:

https://<servername:port>/Orchestrator2012/Orchestrator.svc.

·     http://servername:port/Orchestrator2012/Orchestrator.svc. When using this format, MDT assumes that you are providing the fully qualified URL, because the value ends with .svc.

·     https://servername:port/Orchestrator2012/Orchestrator.svc. When using this format, MDT assumes that you are providing the fully qualified URL, because the value ends with .svc.

Runbook

Click Browse, and then select the name of the Orchestrator runbook that this task sequence should run.

Note   To successfully browse for Orchestrator runbooks, install the ADO.NET Data Services Update for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Automatically provide runbook parameter values

Select this option to automatically provide the Orchestrator runbook input parameter values( which assumes that the runbook parameter values are task sequence variables). For example, if a runbook has an input parameter named OSDComputerName, then the OSDComputerName task sequence variable value is passed to the runbook.

Note   This option works only for input parameters that are valid task sequence variable names and do not contain spaces or other special characters. Although spaces and other special characters are supported as Orchestrator parameter names, they are not valid task sequence variable names. If you need to pass values to parameters with spaces or other special characters, use the Specify explicit runbook parameters option.

The other option is Specify explicit runbook parameters.

Note   The values provided for the runbook input parameters to the Orchestrator web service are formatted as XML. Passing values that contain data that is or resembles XML-formatted data may cause errors.

Specify explicit runbook parameters

Select this option to explicitly provide the Orchestrator runbook input parameters.

You must configure the following settings for each input parameter that the Orchestrator runbook requires:

·     Name. This is the name of the input runbook parameter.

Note   If you change the parameters for an existing Orchestrator runbook, you need to browse (reselect) for the runbook again, because MDT only retrieves the parameter list when initially adding the Orchestrator runbook.

·     Value. This can be a constant or a variable, such as a task sequence variable or an environment variable. For example, you can specify a value of %OSDComputerName%, which will pass the value of the OSDComputerName task sequence variable to the runbook input parameter.

Wait for the runbook to finish before continuing

This check box controls whether the task sequence step will wait for the runbook to finish before proceeding to the next task sequence step.

If this check box is:

·     Selected, then the task sequence step will wait for the runbook to finish before proceeding on to the next task sequence step.

When this check box is selected, the task sequence step will poll the Orchestrator web service for the runbook to finish. The amount of time between polls starts at 1 second, then increases to 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 seconds between each poll. Once the amount of time reaches 64 seconds, the task sequence step continues to poll every 64 seconds.

·     Cleared, then the task sequence step will not wait for the runbook to finish before proceeding to the next task sequence step.

Note   This check box must be selected if the runbook returns output parameters.

 

If the Orchestrator runbook returns parameters, the values of the return parameters are set to corresponding task sequence variable names. If an Orchestrator runbook return parameter name contains spaces, the ZTIExecuteRunbook.wsf script will strip the spaces from the parameter name when creating the corresponding task sequence variable name.

Note   If a runbook return parameter name contains other special characters, the return parameter may be ignored or generate errors.

For example, if a runbook return parameter has a name of OSD Computer Name, then the corresponding task sequence variable name OSDComputerName and the value in the return parameter will be saved in the OSDComputerName task sequence variable.

Note   The Wait for the runbook to finish before continuing check box must be selected if the runbook returns output parameters.

Related Topics

Configuring MDT Deployments