Executing a Runbook via SC Orchestrator web service

Question

Is it possible to launch a Orchestrator Runbook via the web service only? I know you can access the web service via, http://server01.contoso.com:81/Orchestrator2012/Orchestrator.svc, but is it possible to execute a runbook? If so what would be the correct syntax using the following GUID:247474a3-9f5f-411f-b877-4886262f230a.

Running System Center 2012 R2.

Thanks

Solution

Yes, you can send an HTTP POST message using an XML request payload that has the runbook ID and the parameter values. There are some examples available on the web, including this request example and this code example.

If you are able to use PowerShell, there is an Orchestrator Web Service PowerShell module that takes care of all the details for you and simplifies using the web service.

Comments

[Noah Stahl]

What environment are you looking to invoke the runbook from. Command line, code, other?

[Paul S.]

Ideally I was thinking of using a SharePoint list, with the required inputs, and kicking off the runbook. I don't want the runbook constantly polling Sharepoint, thus I want the run book to launch on demand. A way around this at the moment is using the Orchestrator Console website, and it seems to work, albeit, a little clunky and way more information than I want for end users to see.

[Noah Stahl]

OK. My first choice would be to have Orchestrator as the responsible party for performing actions by polling for requests, since you can provide extra error handling, retries, logging, etc. The overhead of polling is likely negligible -- have you seen evidence otherwise, or why the reason to avoid it? Barring that, I'd try to work with a SharePoint workflow to call the Orchestrator web service, although I haven't tried this personally. See e.g. msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/dn567558.aspx.

[Noah Stahl]

For an example of polling SharePoint list from Orchestrator runbook: automys.com/library/asset/…

[Paul S.]

Thanks Noah, I've already seen these articles. I'm just not sure how to make this work.