How to Run a Plan

This procedure describes how to run a plan by using the browser interface. You can also run plans by using the following command.

• pe.p.run – Runs a plan.

For a detailed description of this command, see Chapter 10, pe: CLI Commands for Running Plans, in N1 Grid Service Provisioning System 5.0 Command-Line Interface Reference Manual.

Before You Begin

Ensure that you have the installation information that will allow you to set the plan's variable settings.

To run a plan, you must belong to a user group that has Allow on Host Set permissions in the folder that contains the plan you need to run.

Steps

1. Go to the plan's Details page.

2. Click Run.

   The plan's Run page displays.

3. In the Plan Parameters area, select the variable settings for the component you plan to deploy.

   • If the variable settings have been established for this component, select the appropriate settings from the menu.

   • If the settings are not available from the menu, click Select From List.

     The Select Variable Settings From List window displays.

     • If you want to use another component's variable settings, click Import Set.

       The Import Variable Settings window displays.

       1. If necessary, navigate to the Folder that contains the component with the variable settings you want to import.

       2. Select the component version.

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          Note –

          Variable settings can vary between component versions.

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       3. Click Import Variable Settings.

          The imported variable settings display in the table.

       4. Click Select.

     • If you want to create new variable settings, select Create Set.

       The Select Variable Settings From List window displays.

       1. In the text field at the top of the table, enter the name of the new variable settings set.

       2. Select the component variable you want to change.

          The table cell is highlighted and a text field appears.

       3. Type the new component variable value.

       4. After updating the variable settings values, click Save.

          The new variable settings display in the table.

       5. Click Select.

4. Select where you plan to deploy the component.

   • To select a host, use the Target Host text field to type a host's name or click Select from List.

   • To select a target host set, use the Target Host Set menu.

5. In the Plan Variables area, configure the variables you want to set.

   Whether there are variables to configure depends on the contents of the plan.

6. In the Options area, select whether you want to perform a detailed preflight.

   The detailed preflight attempts to simulate every step of the plan that will run on the remote agent. The detailed preflight tests the following functions.

   • Resource installation

   • execNative calls

   • File transforms

   • File deletion, when uninstalling resources

   Running a detailed preflight increases the amount of time preflight takes.

7. (Optional) To limit the number of hosts running at the same time, type the number of hosts in the field provided.

   When a plan is run against several hosts simultaneously, all hosts must complete a step before any host can progress to the next step. If the number of hosts is too high, the network connection can time out between steps. For example, the time between Host A finishing step 1 and being pinged for step 2 might be too long and cause the network connection to time out.

8. (Optional) To limit the overall running time of a plan or limit the running time of native calls, type a number in the fields provided, and then select the time unit, such as minutes, from the menu.

   By limiting the run time of a plan or native call, you prevent a non-responsive host from tying up the progress of a running a plan.

   If you set up a notification rule to alert you to plan failures, when the plan times out you will be notified that the plan was unsuccessful.

   For information on setting up notification rules, see Configuring Email Notification in N1 Grid Service Provisioning System 5.0 System Administration Guide.

9. Select whether you want to deploy the component.

   • To run just the preflight test of the procedure, click Run Preflight Only.

   • To run the preflight test and then (assuming the preflight test finds no errors) to run the procedure itself, click Run Plan (Includes Preflight).