Why Workflow Automation is Essential!

The final post in the X4 Series! In this series we’ve developed PowerShell scripts to do all the below:

SVM-CreatorX4.ps1

Schedule-CreatorX4.ps1

Vol-CreatorX4.ps1

Synchronize-VolumesX4.ps1

Synchronize-CifsX4.ps1

Synchronize-NFS.ps1
Synchronizing Quotas - Part 1/3

Synchronizing Quotas - Part 2/3: Quotas-Acquire.ps1

Synchronizing Quotas - Part 3/3: Quotas-Recover.ps1

To complete the package we’d need a set of scripts to automate DR Testing (failover/failback), and invoke/recover from actual DR. When you start to plan the DR scripts by stringing elements together, you start to realise that - no matter how much fun PowerShell is ... - being able to pick from a catalogue of commands and smaller workflows will help massively, and any custom functionality we want that’s not available out the box, we can use our PowerShell skills (or Perl, or ...) to add it to the command set.

And this brings us to why NetApp OnCommand Workflow Automation is an Essential Tool for being able to efficiently manage your environment. As an example DR workflow, I’ve quickly strung together the following flow charts for a DR Test Failover/Failback. Achieving this in PowerShell would be no mean feat - WFA is there is make life easier, so let’s use it!

Example DR Test Failover/Failback Flow Charts

Flow Chart: Stage 1 - Prepare for DR Test

Flow Chart: Stage 2 - DR Test Failover

Flow Chart: Stage 3 - Prepare for DR Test Failback

Flow Chart: Stage 4 - DR Test Failback