Creating an ARA Workflow Job

The ARA Workflow Job is a type of Workflow Job that you associate with the major process contained within the ARA Project module. During the creation of your ARA Workflow Job, you must specify values for the pre-defined input parameters that are received from the underlying BMC Atrium Orchestrator process.

For additional information and instructions for creating a Workflow Job, see the "Workflow Jobs chapter" in the BMC BladeLogic Server Automation User Guide. The following instructions focus specifically on the ARA Workflow Job.

Note:

• The input parameters in the ARA Workflow Job were defined by the inclusion of metadata in the names of parameters in the underlying BMC Atrium Orchestrator process. Due to limitations of this method, the two panels of input parameters, as well as the parameter fields on these panels, may appear in a random order that differs from the order described here.
• Input parameters for paths used by the SCM script must be formatted as NSH paths. An NSH path is a UNIX-like path, which may include a prefix that points to a different host from the one that the script is executing on. An NSH path has the following typical format (where [square brackets] indicate an optional part): [//hostname]/directory/file
   To access a file on a remote host, an RSCD agent must be installed and running on the remote host, and sufficient permissions must be defined for accessing the file.
   Due to limitations of the workflow, do not include spaces in any NSH path.

To create an ARA Workflow Job

1. Through the BMC BladeLogic Console, right-click a job folder (under Jobs) and select New > Workflow Job.
2. In the General panel of the Workflow Job Creation wizard, enter a name and (optionally) a description for the job, and specify the job folder where you want to store the job.
3. In the AO Process panel, select the ARA Deploy J2EE App (NC) process under the ARA Project module (within the Application Deployment folder).

4. In the Deployment Parameters panel, specify values for the deployment of the application to the Java EE application server environment. The following figure and table illustrate and describe the configuration of these parameters.
   

   Parameter	Description
   Application Deploy Job	The name of the Deploy Job to use for the deployment of the application to the Java EE application server after the application’s artifacts are successfully retrieved from the SCM system. For more information about preparing this job, see Preparing-the-Java-EE-Application-Deploy-Job.
   NSH Path to Copy Artifacts to	The path, in NSH format, to where you want to store copies of the application files after retrieval from the SCM system. The Application Deploy Job deploys the files from this location. If this path does not include a host name, then this path resides, by default, on the host specified in the next field. Your input for this parameter is passed on to the SCM script as the value of argument $2, as discussed in Preparing-the-SCM-script.
   Application Deploy Job Target	The host of the Java EE application server, to which you want to deploy the Java EE application. Due to limitations of the workflow, you can only specify a single target host in this field. If you want to deploy to multiple target hosts, you can specify multiple target hosts through the Deploy Job, as described in Preparing-the-Java-EE-Application-Deploy-Job.

5. In the next panel, the Repository Parameters panel, specify values for input parameters that pertain to the source SCM system. The following figure and table illustrate and describe the configuration of these parameters.
   

   Parameter	Description
   Optional SCM Script Arguments	An ordered list of values for optional arguments that appear in your script ($4 and on, as described in Preparing-the-SCM-script).
   NSH Path to Artifact List File	The path, in NSH format, to the Artifact List File that you created (as described in Preparing-an-Artifact-List-file). Your input for this parameter is passed on to the SCM script as the value of argument $3, as discussed in Preparing-the-SCM-script.
   NSH Path to SCM Script	The path, in NSH format, to the script that you prepared for accessing the SCM system (as described in Preparing-the-SCM-script).
   SCM Build ID	A string that identifies the exact revision of the application files. The exact type of information may differ, depending on your SCM system. For example: label name, build identifier, revision number, or artifact description. Your input for this parameter is passed on to the SCM script as the value of argument $1, as discussed in Preparing-the-SCM-script.
   Host to Execute SCM Script on	The server on which to execute the SCM script. The server must be equipped with a Cygwin-compatible version of the SCM tool client.

6. Step through all other wizard panels — Default Notifications, Schedules, Properties, and Permissions — as described in the "Workflow Jobs chapter" in the BMC BladeLogic Server Automation User Guide.