anyone done integration between WFA & snapcreator?

[pwl]

not got a particular use for it, but wondered if any integration (ie workflow calling snapcreator, or maybe even vice-versa as well) has been done?

[pwl]

this has been sitting here for about a month with no response, so i'm going to guess the answer from this group right now is "no"

[smurphy]

I'm a +1 for this request...

[hland]

Could you briefly describe what kind of integration you're looking for? What are the use cases?

Since I was sitting right next to the inventor of SnapCreator back in the early days I guess I have a good insight into both, SnapCreator and WFA and I might work on this (together with the father of SnapCreator, Keith Tenzer). I'd just like to make sure I understand use cases and the level of integration that is actually needed.

Thanks

Hendrik

[pwl]

as above - no particular use case, but wondered if any integration had been considered yet.

things that come to mind are:

- using WFA as a portal for web services-based activation of snapcreator (ie, being called from an enterprise orchestration tool)

- common understand between WFA & snapcreator about storage objects;  some generic way of ensuring variables passed around between the two systems have the same meanings, expected values, etc

- in practice, the ultimate goal might be to replace & extend the functionality of protection manager to include WFA provisioning and snapcreator protection

it's the sort of project probably best handled by solving a real need:  i mainly wanted to check in advance whether any work had been done.

good to know there's a capable resource out there, though

[smurphy]

Hendrik,

I'd like to know if WFA can send API commands to SnapCreator.  I'm working in an environment where an application consists of multiple databases and codesets.  The cloning needs to be performed in a specific order so that the entire application is consistent.  Requests for the application clone will be generated in HPOO which can connect with WFA to provide complete automation of the required steps.

sean.

[pwl]

I could be wrong, but i didn't think snapcreator had an API  (yet) -  i thought the only interfaces at the moment were CLI and GUI ?

when i originally posted this thread i assumed that someone might have created some scripts (perl/powershell) to execute snapcreator CLI commands...  it think that is still  the only way to achieve the integration.

if someone knows any more about an API for snapcreator 3.6 , please speak up...

[RONNIEMBENGTSEN]

I have a case where I am not sure if WFA is the right way to go.

I have a Setup with a SAP system running on top of a DB2 database. I have used snapcreatore to make backup of it. Now I want to make some kind of automated restore process. Restore of this system is kind of a complicated process.

The DB2 is running on a clustered RHEL with two nodes. So before doing the restore, the following things needs to be done.

shutdown sap

shutdown db2

disable rhel cluster

reconfigure snapcreator plugin (to point to physical node, instead of cluster)

snap restore luns

enable cluster

reconfigure snapcreator plugin (to again point to cluster, so backup will work)

startup db2

startup sap

I want to automated this process and is unsure if WAF is able to do all of this.

[yaronh]

Hi Ronnie,

I would be a little diplomatic in my reply here 🙂

I don't think we (Or anyone here) have all those requested actions encompassed as WFA commands coming out of the box.

With that said, WFA is a very extendable platform, and these can be integrated in WFA commands (Some singular, some may be bundled at your discretion) with various degrees of complexity.

Perhaps some of our community participants already created something like that. If not, and you plan to create it, we would certainly assist in looking at it, and help you bundle all this up.

Best,

Yaron Haimsohn

WFA Team

[RONNIEMBENGTSEN]

Hi Yaron,

I was not expecting WFA to support this out-of-the-box, but was looking to hear if anyone had tried something similar or thought it would be a too complex setup for WFA to handle.

How does WFA handle external systems. Can it be extended with custom (bash/shell) scripts, or is it extended by writing plugins?

If I can create an action in WFA and associate it with a shell script or command line on a remote host via ssh or something similar, I can easily see how I can create the whole workflow and control it from WFA.

I have not had time to create a WFA demo environment yet, so I am shooting blind at the moment, hopeing for some time this weekend.

I was also hoping to hear what other are doing in a complex case like mine, and learn from there experience.

thanks for you quick response.

- Ronnie

[pwl]

WFA commands are executed as perl  or powershell scripts.

If you can write it in perl or powershell, WFA can kick off the process.

so the short answer to your question is "yes, you can do this"

the long answer is "WFA is designed & intended to be an automation platform for netapp storage; in an enterprise context, WFA would usually be a subordinate component to an enterprise orchestration tool that would coordinate various infrastructure activities and provide a common interface to the end users."

for your example, i'd probably break it down like this:

enterprise> shutdown sap

enterprise> shutdown db2

enterprise> disable rhel cluster

wfa> reconfigure snapcreator plugin (to point to physical node, instead of cluster)

wfa> snap restore luns

enterprise> enable cluster

wfa> reconfigure snapcreator plugin (to again point to cluster, so backup will work)

enterprise> startup db2

enterprise> startup sap

the 'enterprise>' components would, in turn, probably call subordinate systems

remember the idea with all this orchestration is to *modularise* stuff as much as possible, so that you're not having to manage gigantic, complex processes, and can easily swap-out components if desired.

for example, if you changed from RHEL to SUSE, most of the components above could remain unchanged.

[adaikkap]

Here the same done by our EIA, Matt Robinson.

Snap Creator Pack for OnCommand Workflow Automation

Regards

adai

Message was edited by: Adaikkappan Arumugam