Hi,
There are a few approaches, you can return a comma delimted string however this can be limiting if you want additional snapshot properties or require a third party orchestrator to interperet the output as an object with multiple properties.
If the volume contains a high number of snapshots (255 maximum) it's possible that you might also run into issues with a maximum string length of the WFA return paramater. I can't find any documentation that defines the maximum string length of a WFA return paramater but i would assume there is a limit (perhaps 1024 characters???). It's possible you might reach that limit if returning comma delimited strings in a single WFA return paramater for 255 snapshot names
Also if you are selecting a snapshot name (for the basis of creating a clone) then you might want to return additional properties of each snapshot such as it's creation date (rather than relying on the snapshot name to be an accurate definition of the snapshots actual creation date). WFA limits the return paramater data types to strings, integers or booleans. There is a workaround to this limitiation and that is to return a URL (which links to an XML or JSON file that your WFA command code will dynamically create and save to the the 'log-download" directory in .XML file format). EG
C:\Program Files\NetApp\WFA\jboss\standalone\deployments\log-download.war\$WfaJobID.xml
Using this method WFA can set a single return paramater URL than can be interpreted by other applications or ochrestrators as an object (not a string).
You can then have any other process read the content of the URL return parameter via https from the WFA server.
This can be useful if you wanted a list of volume snapshots on an ad-hoc basis and don't requrie a schedule datasource that enumerates snapshots for all clusters and all volumes. If you only want to list a single volumes snapshots on an occassional basis then it's rather inefficent to configure a WFA datasource that is constantly requesting all volume snapshots unnecessarily from all clusters. Why not just request a list of the volume snapshots when and if you actually need them?
Here is some example code for you. It will
- enumerate snapshots (matching a snapshot naming pattern) for a specified cluster, vserver and volume
- create the results as an XML file
- return the URL to the XML file to be read or downloaded.
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True, HelpMessage="The cluster name or IP Address")]
[String]$ClusterName,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True, HelpMessage="The Vserver name")]
[String]$VserverName,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True, HelpMessage="The Volume name")]
[String]$VolumeName,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$False, HelpMessage="The snapshot pattern to match")]
[String]$SnapShotPatternMatch,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True, HelpMessage="The hostname or IP Address of the WFA server")]
[String]$HostName,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$False, HelpMessage="The port number of the WFA server")]
[String]$PortNumber,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True, HelpMessage="The site name hosted on the WFA server")]
[String]$SiteName,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$False, HelpMessage="The Protocol used by the WFA server")]
[ValidateSet("http","https")]
[String]$Protocol
)
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#'Enumerate the WFA install path from the registry
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[String]$registryPath = "hklm:\system\currentcontrolset\services\na_wfa_srv";
Try{
[System.Object]$result = Get-ItemProperty -Path $registryPath -ErrorAction Stop
[String]$wfaExeSpec = $result.ImagePath.Split("/")[0].Trim() -Replace("""", "")
[String]$wfaServicePath = $wfaExeSpec.SubString(0, $wfaExeSpec.LastIndexOf("\"))
[String]$installPath = $wfaServicePath.SubString(0, $wfaServicePath.LastIndexOf("\"))
Get-WFALogger -Info -Message "Enumerated WFA installation Path from Registry key ""$registryPath"" as ""$installPath"""
}Catch{
Get-WFALogger -Error -Message $("Failed Reading Registry Path ""$registryPath"". Error " + $_.Exception.Message)
Throw "Failed Reading Registry Path ""$registryPath"""
}
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#'Connect to the cluster.
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Connect-WFACluster $ClusterName
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#'Enumerate WFA envrionment variables.
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Int]$jobId = $(Get-WfaRestParameter "jobId")
[String]$userName = $(Get-WfaRestParameter "userName")
[String]$workflowName = $(Get-WfaRestParameter "workflowName")
[Int]$workflowId = $(Get-WfaRestParameter "workflowId")
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#'Create the XML content in an array.
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Array]$lines = @();
[Array]$lines += "<?xml version=""1.0"" encoding=""UTF-8"" standalone=""yes""?>"
[Array]$lines += "<root revision=""0"" schemaVersion=""0"">"
[Array]$lines += " <cluster>"
[Array]$lines += " <cluster_name>$ClusterName</cluster_name>"
[Array]$lines += " <vserver>"
[Array]$lines += " <vserver_name>$VserverName</vserver_name>"
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#'Enumerate the volume snapshots.
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[String]$command = "Get-NcSnapshot -Volume $VolumeName -Vserver $vserverName -ErrorAction Stop"
Try{
$snapShots = Invoke-Expression -Command $command -ErrorAction Stop
Get-WFALogger -Info -Message "Executed Command`: $command"
}Catch{
Get-WFALogger -Error -Message $("Failed Executing Command`: $command. Error " + $_.Exception.Message)
%hrow "Failed enumerating snapshots for volume ""$VolumeName"" on vserver ""$VserverName"""
}
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#'Add the snapshot property values to the XML content.
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Array]$lines += " <volume>"
[Array]$lines += " <volume_name>$VolumeName</volume_name>"
[Array]$lines += " <snapshots>"
ForEach($snapShot In $snapShots){
If($SnapshotPatternMatch){
If($snapShot.Name -Match $SnapShotPatternMatch){
[Array]$lines += " <snapshot>"
[Array]$lines += " <snapshot_name>" + $($snapShot.Name) + "</snapshot_name>"
[Array]$lines += " <created>" + $($snapShot.Created) + "</created>"
[Array]$lines += " </snapshot>"
}
}Else{
[Array]$lines += " <snapshot>"
[Array]$lines += " <snapshot_name>" + $($snapShot.Name) + "</snapshot_name>"
[Array]$lines += " <created>" + $($snapShot.Created) + "</created>"
[Array]$lines += " </snapshot>"
}
}
[Array]$lines += " </snapshots>"
[Array]$lines += " </volume>"
[Array]$lines += " </vserver>"
[Array]$lines += " </cluster>"
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#'Add the WFA job variables to the XML.
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Array]$lines += " <wfa>"
[Array]$lines += " <workflow_name>" + $workflowName + "</workflow_name>"
[Array]$lines += " <workflow_id>" + $workflowId + "</workflow_id>"
[Array]$lines += " <job_id>" + $jobId + "</job_id>"
[Array]$lines += " <username>" + $username + "</username>"
[Array]$lines += " </wfa>"
[Array]$lines += "</root>"
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#'Create the XML file.
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[String]$fileSpec = "$installPath\jboss\standalone\deployments\$SiteName.war\$jobId.xml"
Try{
Out-File -FilePath $FileSpec -Encoding ASCII -InputObject $lines -ErrorAction Stop
Get-WFALogger -Info -Message "Created file ""$fileSpec"""
}Catch{
Get-WFALogger -Error -Message $("Failed Creating file ""$fileSpec"". Error " + $_.Exception.Message)
Throw "Failed Creating XML file ""$fileSpec"""
}
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#'Add the volume snapshot names as a comma delimited string.
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If($PortNumber){
[String]$url = "$Protocol`://$HostName`:$PortNumber/$SiteName/$jobId.xml"
}Else{
[String]$url = "$Protocol`://$HostName/$SiteName/$jobId.xml"
}
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#'Add WFA return parameters
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Get-WFALogger -Info -Message "Adding WFA retun paramater URL`: $url"
Add-WfaWorkflowParameter -Name "URL" -Value $url -AddAsReturnParameter $True
#'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: the above code reads the WFA installation path from the registry so it's not hard coded to the default "C:\Program Files\NetApp\WFA" so it will work if a custom install location is used.
Example output (filtered to return all snapshots matching the pattern "daily")
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<root revision="0" schemaVersion="0">
<cluster>
<cluster_name>cluster1</cluster_name>
<vserver>
<vserver_name>vserver1</vserver_name>
<volume>
<volume_name>volume_001</volume_name>
<snapshots>
<snapshot>
<snapshot_name>daily.2017-03-31_0010</snapshot_name>
<created>03/31/2017 11:10:00</created>
</snapshot>
<snapshot>
<snapshot_name>daily.2017-04-01_0010</snapshot_name>
<created>04/01/2017 11:10:00</created>
</snapshot>
</snapshots>
</volume>
</vserver>
</cluster>
<wfa>
<workflow_name>get_volume_snapshots</workflow_name>
<workflow_id>133</workflow_id>
<job_id>44116</job_id>
<username>admin</username>
</wfa>
</root>Return parameter:
https://XX.XX.XX.XX/log-download/$WfaJobID.xml
I can send you an example workflow if you like. Hope that gives you some ideas. Let me know if you have any questions.
/Matt
If this post resolved your issue, help others by selecting ACCEPT AS SOLUTION or adding a KUDO.
