Whenever a smart link is created in a runbook in System Center Orchestrator 2012, it invokes the next step in the runbook as soon as the previous task runs successfully.

Configuring Links

You can modify the link condition properties by double-clicking the link.

To connect a smart link to a different activity while preserving the properties that have been configured

  1. Right-click the link, and then click Detach.

  2. Click the target activity where you want to connect the link.

Use the following procedure to enable or detach smart links.

To enable or detach a smart link

  1. Right-click the smart link, and then click Enable or Detach.

  2. Click Enable to create a smart link as a solid line.

  3. Click Detach to create a smart link as a dashed line.

General Tab

From the General tab in the Link Properties dialog box, you can create the Name and Description properties for the smart link.

Note
Creating a smart link name and a smart link description is not required.

To add a smart link label from the Runbook Designer

  1. From the Runbook Designer toolbar, select the Options menu and select Configure to open the Configuration dialog box.

  2. Click the box next to Show link labels.

  3. Click Finish.

  4. To view the smart link name, right-click a smart link, and select Properties from the menu.

  5. On the General tab, go to the Name box.

Include and Exclude Tabs

Orchestrator enables you to configure conditions for passing data to the following tasks in the runbook, according to criteria that you specify. These criteria are configurable in the Link Properties.

Link conditions enable you to build branching capabilities into your runbooks. For example, a runbook must stop a database server before backing it up. If the database server stops correctly, the runbook starts the backup application. If the database does not stop correctly, an email is sent to the administrator to escalate the issue.

The Include tab specifies the conditions that enable data to flow to the next task in the runbook. The Exclude tab specifies the conditions that cause data to be excluded from the next task in the runbook.

Important
The rules on the Exclude tab supersede the rules on the Include tab.
Important
The rules on each tab are joined by using an or condition. Only one of the conditions on a tab must be true for the entire tab to be true.

Use the following procedure to add or remove a link condition.

To add a smart link condition

  1. Right-click a smart link, select Properties from the menu to open the Link Properties dialog box.

    Important
    To change the values that make up the rule, you need to select each underlined portion of the smart link condition.

  2. Click the listed activity in the condition to open the Returned Data dialog box.

  3. Check the Show common Returned Data box.

  4. To change the result in the link condition, click the returned result that is underlined, such as success to open the Results dialog box.

    You can select the success, warning, or failed result.

  5. Click Finish.

To remove an smart link condition

  1. From the Link Properties dialog box, select either the Include tab or Exclude tab.

  2. To highlight the condition you want to remove, click to the right of the link condition with the word or, and then click Remove.

  3. Click Finish.

Options Tab

From the Options tab in the Link Properties dialog box, you can specify different link colors on your branches to make them easier to read. For example, you can select green for the Pass branch and red for the Fail branch to identify the difference.

Use the following procedure to configure the smart link options.

To configure the link options

  1. Click Color, and then click the color of the smart link.

  2. Click Width of the smart link line in pixels.

  3. In the Trigger delay box, type the number of seconds that you want the smart link to wait before invoking the next step in the runbook.

  4. Click Finish.