In Orchestrator, every runbook generates a log when it is running. The Runbook Designer enables you to view both real-time log information and historic logs.

The Log pane displays the real-time log of the runbook. The log displays when the runbook was started, and the activity that is currently running has the running label beside it. The log enables you to determine if there are any problems with specific activities in your runbook.

For additional help, please refer to the on-line documentation for System Center 2012 - Orchestrator.

Historic Log

The Log History tab in the bottom of the Runbook Designer displays all completed runbooks. The time that the runbook started and ended is displayed at the top of each log entry. The result of each completed activity is displayed for each entry.

Use the following steps to troubleshoot your runbook.

Troubleshoot Your Runbook

  1. From the Runbook Designer, go to Log pane at the bottom, and then select the Log History tab.

    Select a run session, and double-click to open the Runbook Details dialog box.

  2. From the Activity name column, select an activity, and then double-click the activity to open the Details dialog box.

  3. Review the activity Name, Type, Status, Start Time, and End Time.

  4. Review the Published Data box for the published data that the activity published when it ran.

  5. Click the Down Arrow button to view the details of the next activity in the runbook, and click the Up Arrow button to view the details of the previous activity.

Configuring Runbook Log Options

The Runbook Designer enables you to add entries for activity-generated or common published data items to the runbook log and the data store, or to exclude them.

Caution
By default, logging options are disabled. Be aware that adding these items to the log increases the size of the data store.

To configure runbook log options

  1. In the Connections pane of the Runbook Designer select Runbooks or one of the folders under this node.

  2. Right-click the tab for the runbook above the design workspace and select Properties to open the runbook Properties dialog box.

  3. Click the Logging tab.

  4. To add published data items that were generated by activities in this runbook to the log and data store, select the Store Activity-specific Published Data check box.

  5. To add common published data items to the log and data store, select the Store Common Published Data check box. The following items are added to the log:

    • Activity Name

    • Activity Type

    • Activity ID

    • Activity End Time Year, Month, Day, Weekday, Hours, Minutes, Seconds

    • Activity Duration

    • Previous Activity

    • Previous Activity Name

    • When one or both logging options are selected, the Activity Start Time, Activity End Time, Activity Status, and Error Summary Text are added to the log.

  6. Click Finish.

Purging the Runbook logs

If the number of log entries is allowed to grow indiscriminately, it can result in excessive storage requirements for the Orchestrator database. In order to maintain the health and performance of the database, you should regularly purge old log entries. This can be performed on either a scheduled or manual basis.

To manually purge the Runbook logs for all runbooks

  1. Right-click Management server and select Log Purge.

  2. Set the Log Purge Options to specify the log entries that you want to keep.

  3. Click Purge Now.

To manually purge all Runbook log entries for a single runbook

  1. In the Connections pane, select the Runbooks folder.

  2. In the center pane, select the tab of the runbook.

  3. In the Log History pane, select the Log History tab.

  4. Click the Recycle Bin icon at the top of the pane.

  5. When prompted if you’re sure that you want to purge the logs, click Yes.

To delete a specific set of Runbook log entries for a single runbook

  1. In the Connections pane, select the Runbooks folder.

  2. In the center pane, select the tab of the runbook.

  3. In the Log History pane, select the Log History tab.

  4. Select a single log entry or use the Ctrl and Shift keys to select multiple entries.

  5. Click the red Delete icon at the top of the pane.

  6. When prompted if you’re sure that you want to delete the selected entries, click Yes.

Automatically purging the Runbook logs

You can schedule the Runbook logs to be purged on a regular basis and select different options to specify the frequency of this process and how many entries to retain. By default, Runbook logs are automatically purged with the following settings.

Setting Default Value

Frequency

Run every 1 day

Time

Start at 1:00 AM

Retain

Keep last 10,000 entries

You can continue to use these defaults or change the settings using the following process in the Runbook Designer.

To change the automatic Runbook purge settings

  1. Right-click Management server and select Log Purge.

  2. Ensure the Schedule Log Purge option is selected.

  3. Select the number of days between running the purge process and a time to run the process.

  4. If you do not want to delete all entries, set the Log Purge Options to specify the log entries that you want to keep.

  5. Click Finish.