Using the workflow debugging function
by Daniel Langenhan
VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook - Second Edition
- VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook Second Edition
- VMware vRealize Orchestrator Cookbook Second Edition
- Credits
- About the Author
- About the Reviewers
- www.PacktPub.com
- Preface
- 1. Installing and Configuring Orchestrator
- 2. Optimizing Orchestrator Configuration
- Introduction
- Tuning the appliance
- Tuning Java
- Configuring the Kerberos authentication
- Configuring access to the local filesystem
- Configuring the Orchestrator service SSL certificate
- Orchestrator log files
- Redirecting Orchestrator logs to an external server
- Backup and recovery
- Control Center titbits
- 3. Distributed Design
- Introduction
- Building an Orchestrator cluster
- Load-balancing Orchestrator
- Upgrading a cluster
- Managing remote Orchestrators
- Synchronizing Orchestrator elements between Orchestrator servers
- 4. Programming Skills
- Introduction
- Version control
- Changing elements in a workflow
- Importing and exporting Orchestrator elements
- Working with packages
- Workflow auto documentation
- Resuming failed workflows
- Using the workflow debugging function
- Undelete workflows and actions
- Scheduling workflows
- Sync presentation settings
- Locking elements
- 5. Visual Programming
- 6. Advanced Programming
- Introduction
- JavaScript complex variables
- Working with JSON
- JavaScript special statements
- Turning strings into objects
- Working with the API
- Creating actions
- Waiting tasks
- Sending and waiting for custom events
- Using asynchronous workflows
- Scripting with workflow tokens
- Working with user interactions
- 7. Interacting with Orchestrator
- Introduction
- User management
- User preferences
- Using Orchestrator though the vSphere Web Client
- Accessing Orchestrator REST API
- Accessing the Control Center via the REST plugin
- Running Orchestrator workflows using PowerShell
- Using PHP to access the REST API
- 8. Better Workflows and Optimized Working
- 9. Essential Plugins
- 10. Built-in Plugins
- Introduction
- Working with XML
- Working with SQL (JDBC)
- Working with SQL (SQL plugin)
- Working with PowerShell
- Working with SOAP
- Working with Active Directory
- Working with SNMP
- Working with AMQP
- 11. Additional Plugins
- 12. Working with vSphere
- 13. Working with vRealize Automation
- Introduction
- Working with the vRA-integrated Orchestrator
- Automating a vRA instance in Orchestrator
- Configuring an external Orchestrator in vRA
- Adding Orchestrator as an infrastructure endpoint
- Adding an Orchestrator endpoint
- Integrating Orchestrator workflows as XaaS Blueprints
- Managing AD users with vRA
- Using the Event Manager to start workflows
This recipe showcases how to use the debug feature to find and resolve errors in a workflow. The debug function was introduced in version 5.5.
We just need a working Orchestrator, and you will need the rights to create new workflows and run them. We will work with the Orchestrator Client.
We need a new workflow, and to make things easier we reuse some old workflows, such as 00.00 BasicWorkflow and 05.03.01 Error Handling from the example package.
- Create a new workflow and add the
00.00 BasicWorkflowand05.03.01 Error Handlingworkflows (as shown in the following screenshot). - Bind all variables as required.
- Right-click on the first element of your workflow and select Toggle breakpoint. A blue ball appears on the left next to the element.
- You can debug a workflow either while still in edit mode or when you exit it. Choose one and click on Debug (the bug icon) to start the debug process.
- The debug process starts the workflow and will stop the execution on the first breakpoint. It will not execute the step the breakpoint is located on, but stops before it. Please note that you have access to all variables and logs during the debug process:
- While debugging a workflow, you have choices such as Cancel, Answer, Resume (F8), Step into (F5), Step over (F6), and Step return (F7). You can use the icons or the function keys to perform the said processing. See the How it works... section for more details.
- Use Step into to work through the workflow.
The debugging feature was introduced in vCO 5.5. Before this feature existed, debugging Orchestrator was quite a bit more complicated and mostly involved using logs to write checkpoints and display variable content. With the debugging feature, things are now fairly easy. The debugging feature ties in with the checkpoints that Orchestrator uses when it executes a workflow. Orchestrator writes all variable content to its database before it executes one step. These checkpoint variables are displayed in the debug process.
You can set multiple breakpoints in each script and advance to them directly using Resume (F8).
The following table shows all the actions you can take during debugging:
|
Action |
Description |
|
Cancel |
This stops the workflow execution. |
|
Answer |
This answers an interaction that the workflow has issued. |
|
Resume |
This resumes the workflow until the next breakpoint. |
|
Step into |
This steps into an element and starts debugging inside the element. This can also be used to go to the next element. |
|
Step over |
This will step over an element. The debugging will not enter the element. |
|
Step return |
This steps out of an element. The debugging will continue with the main element. |
When you use complex variables such as arrays or objects (for example, a VM), the content can be rather vast and won't be displayed in the Values section. In this case, have a closer look at the Variables screen. You will notice a small i icon before the variable value. Clicking on it will show you the content of the variable in a separate window. However, this doesn't work for all variable types. Properties and complex variables such as PowerShell output will not show up.
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