Understanding job actions

Jobs can support multiple actions to simplify configuration planning, approvals and verifications. This topic describes various types of actions that can be included in a job:

About span actions

• Assign Target: Allows the user to designate a target configuration for a device. After a Target is assigned, you can edit the Target in preparation for the Deploy to Active or Deploy to Stored action on the device.
• Commit: For devices supporting a Startup configuration, copies the Running configuration to the Startup configuration (for example, write memory) to ensure changes are applied at a device restart.
• Compliance Status: Allows the user to view compliance data for one or more devices reported for one or more rule sets.
• Deploy OS Image: Allows the user to deploy an OS image to one or more devices.
• Deploy to Active: Performs configuration changes to the Running configuration.
• Deploy to Stored: For devices supporting a Startup configuration, copies a configuration to the Startup configuration of a device.
• Mark as Trusted: Allows the user to designate the trusted (that is production, desired state) configuration for a device for discrepancy tracking (for example, current Running vs. Trusted Running, current Startup vs. Trusted Startup).
• Reboot: Reboot a device as needed to activate configuration changes.
• Refresh Device Status: Refresh the compliance violation, discrepancy, and configuration attribute profile status for a network span. For information about when to use this action, see Understanding when to refresh and Tips on when to force a compliance check.
• Remediate: Makes corrections to the in-violation compliance rules, based on the corrective actions of each rule.
• Scan Syntax: Allows the user to verify change scripts (for example, Templates and Rules) before applying the change to a device's configuration. The script is verified directly on the device without changing the device's configuration.
• Snapshot: Copies the device Running and Startup (as applicable) configurations to the configuration archive.
• Snapshot OS Image: Allows the user to copy the device's active OS image to the OS image library for loading to other devices in the future.

About endpoint actions

• Find endpoint: Allows a user to input an endpoint IP address and a bounding span within which to search. By clicking the status value on the Job details page, a results pop-up window displays the name of the managing switch and the port its using, the traceroute transcript, and a list of the devices traversed by the action.
  Quarantine endpoint: Allows a user to quarantine an endpoint according to a selected isolation level. The following isolation levels choices are available:
  • Disable Port
  • Block Endpoint
  • Remediate Endpoint
  • Remediate Endpoint via VLAN
• Unquarantine endpoint: Allows a user to undo the effect of an endpoint quarantine action.
• Endpoint Action Compatibility: Endpoint actions are supported when the router closest to the endpoint is running Cisco IOS, and the switches between the router and the endpoint are running Cisco IOS or COS. Both the router and all of the switches involved must be using the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP).

For additional information about endpoint actions, see Creating an endpoint quarantine job.

About notifications

• Log Event: log an event.
• Send Email: send an email message with an optional attached report.
• Send Trap: send a Trap to a management station.

About custom actions

Custom actions are scripts. BMC delivers a set of factory-installed custom actions (for example, Show, Get System Serial Number). You can also develop your own custom actions. The factory-installed actions can be used as examples for developing your own actions. Custom actions are written by using the TrueSight Network Automation system's XML scripting language. The XML scripting language is easy to learn and hides complex I/O operations so you can focus on the task at hand. Custom actions are most commonly used to:

• Execute show commands to collect device information for reporting and analysis.
• Get device information for use by a subsequent job span action.

For more information about custom actions, see Developing a custom action adapter.

About external script actions

An external script action runs a program installed on the server platform. TrueSight Network Automation is shipped without any default external script actions. You can install new ones through the Admin > Device Adapters facilities.

For more information about creating your own external script actions, see Developing an external script action adapter.

Supported span actions by vendor

The Mark as Trusted, Assign Target and Refresh Device Status actions are available for all vendors.

If a device does not support a span action, it is skipped when performing the action across a set of devices.