Benefits of Web Server Management Console

Posted on February 18, 2016

Do you have operators who need to monitor your Automate workflows, but they don’t need a full feature development tool? Do you have an administrator who wishes to check and manage AutoMate BPA workflows and users while they are offsite?

The solution: The Web Server Management Console (Web SMC). Network Automation’s Automate BPA Server Enterprise edition offers the Web SMC specifically for these purposes. The Web SMC utilizes IIS and allows users to access and manage the Automate BPA Server anywhere at any time via a web browser. IIS or Internet Information Services is a web server application created by Microsoft for use with Microsoft Windows platforms.

Note that IIS is not turned on by default when Windows is installed.  You can access the executable and installation instruction of the Web SMC by logging into your account. Once there, click on the “Web-Based SMC” link to download the zip file, which includes both the executable and installation instruction.

 

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server management console screen

Just like the desktop version of SMC, the Web SMC is a web-based interface for centralized management and administration, and allows you to graphically manage all elements of the Automate BPA Server including workflows, the Repository, users and agents. You can also access reports and calendars as well as configuring system settings and options.

 

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server management console screen

Web SMC Overview

Workflows Tab

Workflows are flow diagrams of IT and business processes that include information required for automated execution. Workflows are built by using one of the development tools called Workflow Designer. The Web SMC allows you to create, manage and manually run any workflows in Automate BPA Server. It is great for operators and administrators to monitor and check on the status of any workflow execution.

Note that the Web-SMC is designed for administration and management; it does not include any development capabilities.

The Workflows area of the Web SMC allows you to:

  • Create and name a new workflow
  • Organize workflows into folders
  • Manage and change workflow properties and security settings

  

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server management console screen

Repository Tab


The Repository is the storage area of all workflow-related objects: tasks, conditions and events. It allows you to reuse your previous work or code by saving everything in the Repository. Each time you create a new task or condition, it becomes part of the Repository.

The Repository area of the Web SMC allows you to:

  • Create and name a new sub folder
  • Organize repository objects into folders
  • Manage and change object properties and security settings

Users Tab

The Users tab allows you to manage user accounts in Automate BPA Server. Only administrators with permission can create new users and set passwords for secure system access. Administrators can also limit what users can do on the system by assigning the user a role.

The Users area of the Web SMC allows you to:

  • Create a new user or user group
  • Organize users and user groups into folders
  • Manage and change user/user group properties and security settings

 

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server management console screen

Agents Tab

Agents are the machines that execute Automate tasks; they also detect events and conditions that trigger workflows. An Agent has no graphical user interface and they receive instructions from the Server over TCP/IP to execute tasks.

The Agents area of the Web SMC allows you to:

  • Create subfolders
  • Organize agents/agent groups into folders
  • Manage and change agent/agent group properties and security settings

Calendar Tab

The Calendar tab allows you to look at both executed and scheduled events in a calendar format. You can filter the events by dates, status, as well as by repository folders. 

 

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server management console screen

Reports Tab

In the Reports tab, you can access detailed information about your automation processes and servers. You can generate different types of reports. For example, the Execution Events Report can be generated from the Web SMC to check which workflows and tasks have executed successfully or unsuccessfully.

 

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server management console screen

Options Tab

The Options tab of the Web SMC allows you to create and change settings, preferences and properties of the Server in your automation network. In addition, it also allows you to manage server and agent licenses.

 

Interested in Web SMC?

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