In RunBook Designer console, on the top bar you’ll notice three buttons:

Check Out: To be able to edit an existing RunBook, it must be checked out. The main purpose for that action is to prevent concurrent editing of the same RunBook by different users.

If someone else is already editing RunBook, we will notice a pop-up window informing that someone is already editing RunBook.

Check-In: After we finish editing, we can Check In RunBook and so that all our changes will be committed. And also other users can then edit RunBook.

Undo Check Out: If we click Undo Check Out button when editing the RunBook, all changes we made are reverted.

Testing RunBooks

Before we run Runbooks, we can test it with RunBook Tester and also easily debug each activity or entire RunBook. This is especially helpful for troubleshooting issues. But don’t be confused about terms, RunBook Tester will apply each activity changes to our current environment, that means it will not use a demo or isolated env.

Please also note that tester runs in the currently logged user context. The orchestrator Service account will not be used for testing purposes. So it would be better to open RunBook Tester as Administrator with the high-level security token.

When we click RunBook Tester from the toolbar, Tester starts and loads relevant RunBook

RunBook tester interface consists of five panes;

Run Time Properties: This is one of the mostly used pane. It displays resolved published data items. It’s important because if we use several published items for activities, we may want to see what data is carried between activities. Best way to see them in a clear way is RunBook Tester.

Design Time Properties: Displays design-time information for each activity. This is same with Activity details page.

Workspace: Displays active current Runbook. We can set a breakpoint for each activity.

The breakpoint will be marked with a red round on activity and tester will stop on it.

Log: Displays detailed information for each activity.

We can expand each entry to show details.

Resource Browser: Displays the counters, variables, computer groups, and schedules.

We can predefine each of them and make available for all RunBooks.

Computers Groups and global items can be added within Connections Node.

Let's add a computer set to use it within activities.

Now we can use Computer Group within an activity;

This activity will be performed for all computers which members of previously created Computer Group.

Starting Test

We can start our test with different options;

Step-Through: Runbook starts with first activity and after completion, it waits for our input. We can click the Step button to move one step forward. So we can view design-time properties for each activity easily.

Waits for my next click..

Starting RunBooks

To start a RunBook, firstly we must click Check In button to commit changes. Then just navigate related Runbook tab and click Run.

To stop, just click the Stop button on the Toolbar. We can track the activity’s success&failure progress on Log Pane;

All related events will be logged under Events Pane;

Also to track RunBook changes, In the RunBook Designer, select Audit History tab at the bottom and click individual items.

This is important if there are multiple Runbook designer users in your environment. You can track each Runbook change easily within Audit History.