Archived - How do I create, edit or delete a configuration task?

To create a new configuration management task

To view configuration management tasks

To edit a configuration management task

To delete a configuration management task

The Configuration Management page is where you can create, edit or delete a configuration task.

To create a new configuration management task:

1. In the Main Menu, click Administration.
2. Click Configuration Management.
   
   
   
   
3. On the Configuration Management page, click the Tasks tab.
   
   
   
   
4. Click New at the bottom left of the browser to open the New Task window. This window has two tabs, General and Advanced.

General tab:

1. In the General tab, enter the Name and Description for the task in the respective fields, and specify the task's context in the Context drop down field (either a device or a port).
2. A configuration task consists of steps. You can add as many steps to the task as you want via Add... to the right of the Steps field.
   
   
   
   
   1. The Add Step window will open, which also allows you to add a custom step via New Step....
      
      
      
      
      • Note, you can also configure steps under the Steps tab of the Configuration Management page. 
3. Once you have added steps, you can configure the individual steps in the task using the Remove, Move Up and Move Down buttons to the right of the Steps field.
   
   
   
   
4. Specify the parameters for the task via New... to the right of the Parameters field. You can also Edit and Delete parameters here. The New Parameter window will open, where you can set the parameter's:
   • Name - must be a valid Groovy variable name, and must be unique for each task.
   • Description.
   • Data Type - String, Integer or Float.
   • Default Value - when it is specified, then it must be a valid Groovy expression. When it is not specified, ENA assigns a null to the variable.
   • Password Field - tick the box if you want to asterisk characters as you enter them. If not ticked (which is the default), the characters are not masked.
   • Always Prompt - tick the box so that ENA will always prompt the user to enter a value. If not selected (which is the default), ENA does not prompt for a value unless the default value is not set.
5. If you want Configuration Manager to handle the task as a configuration monitor task, tick the Configuration Monitor Task box. Configuration monitor tasks:
   • do not appear in the Task Permissions dialog. Instead, if a user has the Configuration Monitor tool permission, then they will implicitly have permission to run and view the history of all related configuration monitor tasks.
   • cannot be scheduled.
   • must be defined on each server on which they will be used.

 Advanced tab:

1. In the Job Timeout (seconds) field, specify the time in seconds assigned for Entuity to execute the task before the task will timeout and terminate. The default is 300 seconds (5 minutes).
2. Choose the method of connecting to the object in the Connection Method field:
   • use cli access parameters - use the connection method defined in the credential set.
   • use connection parameters - prompt the user for credential details before executing the task.
   • none - ENA does not require a connection to complete the task, e.g. SNMP Get/Set only tasks.
3. Specify if you want ENA to raise a Config Mgmt Job Succeeded or Config Mgmt Job Failed event upon completing a job, by ticking the Raise Event on Completion box.
4. Specify if you want ENA to retain the conversation data between the script engine and the device for each task, by ticking the Collect Diagnostic Data box.
   • Script Engine retains the conversation data between itself and the device for each task (which can be turned off in entuity.cfg). There is a limit (configurable in entuity.cfg) of the total size of these diagnostic data that can be stored in Script Engine's log file (which is entuity_home\log\expect.log).
5. Enter which object against which you want the task to legitimately run in the Filter field.
   • Object filter specifies the object against which the task can legitimately run, e.g. you can filter on the device SysOid: 
     simple; device.sysOid==”1.3.6.1.2.1.1.3” ||
     device.sysOid==”1.3.6.1.2.1.1.4”
     
     • In multi-server environments, if the selected object is on a remote server, the filter is sent to the remote server for evaluation. The result is returned to the central server.
     • For context menus, a filter is evaluated when you open the menu, so if the selected object does not meet the filter then the context menu task is not displayed.
     • For scheduled jobs, the filter is always evaluated when the scheduled job is run.
6. Specify if you want the task to be run from the context menu by ticking the Show on Context Menu box.
7. Specify if you want the task to be run from the View-level context by ticking Show on View Selection box.
8. Specify if you want the user to confirm the running of the job by ticking the Confirm Execution box.
9. You can enter in the Selection Limit field the maximum number of objects that can be selected when running the task from the context menu. This option is only available when you have ticked the Show on View Selection box.
   • If the limit is set to 1, the task is only available from the context menu when 1 object is selected.
   • If the limit is set to N, the task is only available from the context menu when N or fewer objects are selected.
10. When you have defined your task's settings, click OK to save, otherwise click Cancel.

To view configuration management tasks:

1. In the Main Menu, click Administration.
2. Click Configuration Management. On the Configuration Management page, click the Tasks tab.
3. The tasks table lists all your system and custom configuration management tasks. The table details the following information:
   
   

   Column Name	Column Description
   Name	string to identify a task, which must be unique on the selected server (case insensitive comparison).
   Description	task description.
   Category	if the task is system or custom.
   Configuration Monitor	if Yes, the task is a configuration monitor task. If No, the task is a configuration management task. Configuration monitor tasks: -do not appear in the Task Permissions dialog. Instead, if a user has the Configuration Monitor tool permission, then they will implicitly have permission to run and view the history of all related configuration monitor tasks. -cannot be scheduled. -must be defined on each server on which they will be used.
   Context	context in which the task can run, i.e. Device or Port.
   Steps	number of steps in the task.
   Schedules	number of scheduled jobs for this task.
   Last Run Time	timestamp of the last execution of the task.
   Last Run Status	if the task has an associated job that is running, then Last Run Status indicates the current state of jobs associated with the task. e.g. 2 in progress, 3 queued. This is also a hyperlink to the Job History tab. if the task does not have an associated job that is running, then Last Run Status shows the state of the previously completed job, i.e. Succeeded or Failed.

To edit a configuration management task:

You can only edit a custom configuration management task.

1. Select your preferred task and click Edit at the bottom of the page.
2. The Edit Task window will open with the same fields as described above when creating a new task.
3. When you have edited your task's settings, click OK to save your changes, otherwise click Cancel.

To delete a configuration management task:

You can only delete a custom configuration management task

1. Select your preferred task or tasks and click Delete at the bottom of the page.
2. A deletion confirmation message will appear. Click Yes.