CI architects and engineers develop and maintain the VxBlock Central Workflow Automation library based on CI best practices. New workflows are added regularly to this living library. Drop-down menus make complex orchestration simple, repeatable, and fast.

The library is built based on customer needs regarding time-consuming daily tasks. When we identify new use cases that represent a universal need for all customers, we can quickly add new workflows to the library. This innovation journey will continue to deliver operational innovation that delivers orchestration, automation, and life cycle management for all VxBlock customers.

As shown in Figure 9, the VxBlock Central Workflow Automation library includes workflows in the following categories:

• Compute/Host Management
• Storage Management
• Snapshot Management

Figure 10.  VxBlock Central Workflow Automation library

Compute/Host Management workflows—Allow rapid, on-demand provisioning of compute resources to quickly respond to business needs. This folder contains workflows that automate the provisioning of a new ESXi host cluster and the provisioning of multiple ESXi hosts to an existing cluster for multi-arrays across VxBlock Systems. The folder also includes workflows for provisioning bare-metal servers. Other capabilities include automation to move compute capacity between clusters. 

Storage Management workflows—Eliminate manual and repetitive storage management and administration tasks to help the operations teams rapidly provision storage resources. This folder contains workflows that allow administrators to easily scale up and down their existing storage infrastructure to meet growing needs of the business. 

Snapshot Management workflows—Help automate manual and repetitive administrative tasks such as creating and deleting snapshots of existing storage groups and LUNs.

All automation workflows are downloadable to licensed users from a digitally accessible library.