Workflows concepts

  • Latest Dynatrace
  • Overview
  • 1-min read

This page introduces the core concepts behind Workflows Workflows: what's Workflows Workflows, how you can build a workflow from tasks and reusable actions, how to trigger a workflow execution, and how to track it, and how triggers control the workflow runs. It also explains the concept of a simple workflow, how to monitor using the Execution view, and how to use EdgeConnect to reach non-public services from workflow tasks.

Workflows

Workflows Workflows is your entry point to manage and monitor workflows. The app interacts with the automation service via its REST API. The automation service is responsible for processing your workflows and keeping track of the executions.

A workflow

A workflow specifies a repeatable process by assembling a series of tasks.

  • The sequence of tasks is defined by their transitions, which allow for execution in series, in parallel, and with conditional paths.
  • Workflows can be edited and monitored in a visual graph.

Simple workflow

A simple workflow specifies a repeatable process with only one task.

  • Reduced functionality workflow with only one task, limited logging for executions, limited task options and conditions, and no JavaScript tasks allowed.
  • No additional costs for creating the workflow, as simple workflows don't consume workflow hours.

Task

Each step in a workflow is called a task.

  • A workflow keeps track of tasks and their order.
  • A task defines a unit of work (for example, Create Incident, Notify Ops in Slack, or Get error log count), including the conditions, retry behavior, timeouts and, most importantly, the input configuration required to achieve the work and provide a result to be used by subsequent tasks.

Action

An action is a generic, reusable function configured and triggered by tasks. For example, an action could be Create Jira Issue, while a task would execute the action with a specific configuration to Create Bug in Sample project.

  • Actions are the tools to be assembled in your workflows to fit your custom process.
  • Actions are provided out of the box by Dynatrace and partners and can be installed via Dynatrace Hub.

Execution

Workflows, tasks, and actions all define how work should be done. An execution represents a specific instance of running through that process.

  • An execution is triggered either by a schedule, by events, or manually via Workflows Workflows or the REST API.
  • Each execution of the same workflow might be different, depending on its parameters, inputs, and context.
  • Each run of a workflow can be found as an individual entry in the Executions table.

To list past and ongoing executions

To list all executions in your environment, select Executions in the Workflows app header.

  • To filter the table, you can specify a combination of
    • Keyword: a search string
    • Workflow: the name of the workflow as displayed in the UI
    • Execution state: Success, Running, Error, or Waiting
    • Trigger type: Manual, Schedule, or Event
    • Timeframe: a relative timeframe such as Last 2 hours or a custom timeframe with selectable From and To settings
  • To list executions of a particular workflow, find the workflow in the table and select More actions > View execution history in the Action column.

To list executions of the workflow you are editing, select Executions in the editor.

EdgeConnect

EdgeConnect allows you to reach your non-public services in workflow tasks. HTTP requests happening within any type of action or platform function can be proxied via EdgeConnect into the target network.

Any HTTP request (from your custom app, workflow, or an ad-hoc JavaScript code) that matches a defined host pattern is handled by an EdgeConnect instance you specify in the platform configuration. For more information, see Configure and deploy EdgeConnect.

Trigger

A trigger defines what starts a workflow execution. When creating a workflow, you'll be presented with a selection of trigger types. If in doubt, select the On demand option. The trigger node has a fixed position in the graph. You can't move a trigger in the graph.

There are three main types of triggers

  • On demand: you can start anytime by manually selecting Run or making an API call.
  • Event: you can configure which events to match in the ingest pipeline to trigger a workflow. For more information, see Event triggers for workflows.
  • Schedule: you can set up a schedule to trigger a workflow. The workflow runs according to a schedule at fixed times or intervals. For more information, see Workflow schedule trigger.
API triggered Workflow

An API call can always trigger a workflow independent of the trigger type.

On demand trigger

The On demand trigger is the default trigger. It's a manual trigger to run a workflow. The manual trigger means that, unlike other trigger types, Dynatrace won't trigger a workflow execution. As a user with the proper permissions, you select Run, or the workflow is triggered via API.

Enable/disable trigger

To enable or disable an event trigger, use the toggle in the upper-right corner of the trigger. When an event trigger is disabled, it won't run automatically, but you can still run it via the API. The status of a workflow trigger is also visible in the list or cards view of workflows.

Related tags
Dynatrace Platform