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Version: 25.x

Automation overview

Automation in Avantra means reducing the amount of human interaction needed to perform tasks that change a monitored system. This is distinct from Avantra's monitoring capabilities, where checks observe and report on system health, automation actively performs work: starting jobs, applying patches, refreshing systems, managing users, and more.

The automation engine is designed to give you out-of-the-box capability through pre-built templates, while also allowing you to design and deploy entirely custom automations, even without deep coding experience.

note

Automation functionality is only available with the Avantra Automation, Cloud and Enterprise Editions. For more information see the Avantra Editions Matrix.

What you can automate​

Avantra automation covers two broad areas:

SAP and OS automation templates: Pre-built, ready-to-run workflows for common SAP and operating system tasks, including kernel upgrades, system refresh, transport imports, user management, OS patching, and more. See Automation Templates for the full list.

Custom automations: Build your own workflows using built-in steps, JavaScript-based Step Library steps, Ansible playbooks, or combinations of all three. Workflows can be chained, looped, and parameterised to handle complex multi-system scenarios.

How it works​

Automation in Avantra is built around a few core concepts:

  • Workflows: A series of steps that perform a task. Workflows can include other workflows, making them highly reusable.
  • Steps: The individual units of work. Built-in steps handle common actions; custom JavaScript steps handle bespoke logic.
  • Namespaces: Every workflow and step belongs to a namespace, which controls permissions and grouping.
  • Parameter Types: Typed inputs and outputs that make steps configurable and reusable across different scenarios.

Running automations​

Workflows can be triggered in several ways:

  • Manually from the Avantra UI
  • On a schedule (including CRON-like syntax)
  • Automatically in response to a notification or check event
  • Externally via the Avantra API

See Running Workflows for full details on execution, scheduling, monitoring, and error handling.