What is Itential's Design Studio?
Itential’s Design Studio is an application that enables network practitioners with no programming experience to quickly build powerful end-to-end workflows for network automation and orchestration in a low-code, drag-and-drop canvas. Within the platform, customers have the ability to download from a freely available library of 300+ pre-built use cases, adapters, and transformations to help teams run their first workflows within days instead of months.
How does Design Studio enable network practitioners to build workflows without programming experience?
Workflows are built in Design Studio using a low-code, drag-and-drop canvas. API integrations with different IT systems and networking controllers are presented as tasks that can be dropped onto the canvas with logical paths and operations, linking tasks together into a logical workflow. Design Studio includes the ability to build pre-check and post-check templates, input validation forms and data transformations, and use these in the workflow. A background in programming is not necessary to use Design Studio.
What are Projects in Automation Studio?
Projects provide a workspace that enables automation teams to better collaborate and organize workflows and assets making it simpler to manage over time, especially as workflows grow more complex.
Does Itential store state details about the network?
The Itential platform is not intended to be the “source of truth” for the network, it integrates with both network and IT systems to allow you to build a workflow to determine the current network state before automating any changes. However, using the Lifecycle Manager application it is possible to define and store details in Itential associated with a network device or service which can be used for automation and reporting throughout the different stages of its lifecycle.
Can workflows be reused in a modular fashion?
Yes, the ability to run separate, distinct workflows as a child job is available within a parent workflow. This makes it possible to build modular workflows that focus on a specific function, like opening a change request ticket in an ITSM, and reusing that as a child job in other workflows. This allows multiple teams to work within Design Studio to build and manage automations that are specific to their domain. Network teams can focus on building automations related to networking tasks and leverage workflows that another team builds and maintains for processes like opening and updating change request tickets, or communications notifications to different teams.
Does Itential support closed-loop automation?
Yes, Itential supports closed-loop automation with event triggers (Kafka, RabbitMQ, NETCONF, etc.) or through API webhook triggers to start any workflow. Any data made available through these triggers is available to be used within your workflow or as input to any pre-existing automation script (BASH, Python, etc.) or Ansible Playbook.
How does Itential expose network automations to more departments by allowing specific roles to execute certain tasks, start/stop or schedule recurring workflows?
Workflows built in Design Studio can be published and made available through Operations Manager. In Operations Manager, teams can define which users and groups can run or manage a workflow and schedule it to run once or on a recurring basis.
How does Itential support automation with CLI-based network devices?
The Itential Platform supports both traditional CLI-based networking devices as well as API-based networking services and building workflows across either follows the same methodology in Design Studio.
How does Design Studio support pre-check and post-check processes?
Design Studio includes tools to quickly create pre-check and post-check functions using Command and Analytic Templates for CLI-based devices. CLI commands can be defined and executed, and the output of these commands can be captured and parsed. These templates do not require any form of code. Additionally, any API tasks that are available through integrated network systems, or any network automation scripts can be used in a workflow to build the most robust pre-check and post-check process needed.
Can pre-existing automations, like Python Scripts or Ansible Playbooks, be used in the platform?
Yes, they can. Instead of throwing away any existing automations your team may have invested in, Itential supports the ability to integrate these valuable automations by onboarding them in Automation Gateway, where they can be decorated and made available through an API interface. Automation Gateway supports nearly any script that can be run from a Linux command line, and has additional integration support for Ansible, OpenTofu, Nornir, and Netmiko. Automation Gateway also serves as a system to organize, test, run, and publish scripts across the entire network team and helps foster the ability to collaborate and share automations together.
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Do you provide any pre-existing automations that a customer can use in the platform?
Yes, Itential provides a freely available library of assets that cover a variety of popular use cases for both traditional networking and cloud networking and managing tasks in IT systems. These assets come bundled with documentation, workflows, and any other assets needed to get running quickly in the platform. The full library of Modular Workflows, Example Use Cases, Integrations, and Transformations are available from the Itential Automation Marketplace and integrated into the Itential platform so you can easily search and install assets as you need them.
How does Itential support self-service automation?
Itential supports multiple methods of providing self-service capabilities for a workflow. Any workflow created in Design Studio can be published in Operations Manager. Operations Manager provides the ability to define the individuals and groups who can manage or run a workflow from within the platform. For self-service capabilities outside the platform, a workflow published can also be accessed through a RESTful API so it can be integrated into other systems and processes, if so desired.
Do I need to track data for automation and orchestration?
No, automating network changes and orchestrating end-to-end processes can both be successfully accomplished without tracking the state of resources and data.
When should I use Lifecycle Manager?
Organizations that move towards providing network infrastructure as a service at scale may want to use LCM to simplify management of these services through their different stages.
What data is tracked with Lifecycle Manager?
LCM is not limited to tracking just network related data, you have the ability to track any type of information from any integrated source. This allows teams to track any service related resources like customer ids, ticket numbers, utilized network and cloud resources, dates, etc.
How do I define the data to be tracked for a service?
A resource model is created using JSON Schema which defines the data to be tracked for a service. Data is defined as standard JSON key:value pairs and can be as simple or as complex as needed for the type of service.
Where is the resource data stored?
When LCM creates an instance for a service, a unique JSON object is created based on the defined resource model. Values for this object instance are populated by workflow Actions and stored in the local Itential data store.
What are Actions in Lifecycle Manager?
Actions are workflows, created in Design Studio, that are built to operate on a service. By default, Create, Update and Delete actions are provided for all LCM models. LCM designers can define more actions as needed for any given model.
Does Lifecycle Manager become source of truth for networks?
No, LCM is not designed to become the source of truth for a service instance. Instead, it federates service data together from different sources of truth in order to make managing network services more efficient at scale.
What is Configuration Manager?
Configuration Manager is an application within the Itential Platform that enables networking teams to schedule the backup of device configurations and manage those configurations. Using those configurations, the application can ensure compliance across both traditional and cloud-based networking infrastructure. Configuration Manager provides a simple way to create a configuration standard for both CLI and API managed devices and services.
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Does Configuration Manager support detection of configuration drift, compliance validation, and auto remediation?
Yes, compliance reports can be generated manually or scheduled, and if any configuration drift is detected remediation can occur manually or automatically using a workflow.
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Does Configuration Manager support network device onboarding and lifecycle management, including configuration compliance against Golden Configuration?
Configuration Manager is focused on providing configuration compliance across all network devices and services. Onboarding of devices and lifecycle management are features within the Itential Platform and work in an integrated way to provide full device onboarding and day 0 through day N lifecycle management.
How does Configuration Manager support on-demand and scheduled compliance checks against targeted device groups?
Configuration Manager allows networking teams to run compliance checks manually (on-demand) or to schedule compliance checks on a recurring basis. These compliance checks can be run across any portion of a Golden Configuration tree to support the targeted devices.
How does Configuration Manager support compliance of API-based network devices and cloud services?
The Itential Platform uses APIs to integrate with networking systems or cloud services. The API methods are then made available as tasks, which can be used in Configuration Manager to provide configuration details on a particular network service. These configuration details are presented as a JSON object, which can be compared to a Golden Configuration standard defined for that device or service.
Which network vendors and device types do you support in Configuration Manager?
For CLI-based devices, we have support for a variety of devices from Cisco, Juniper, Arista, F5, A10, and Aruba. Users can add additional device types by leveraging the Extensible Device Support Wizard.
For API-based services, we support any services which make their configuration details available through an API method. This would typically include a vast majority of networking services today.
How many devices do you support in Configuration Manager?
There is no upper limit based on number of devices that can be supported. Any limitations will be based on resource constraints of the hardware that is running the Itential Automation Platform.
Can you support compliance rules for strictly ordered configurations (ACLs, Routes, etc.)?
Itential provides compliance features that support any configuration type, including strictly ordered lists of items. These are typically found in Access Control Lists (ACL), Route filters, or Policy-based routes. These features can be used for both CLI or API (JSON) configurations.
How do you provide compliance reports for different network devices?
Compliance audits and reports can be generated directly in the Configuration manager application for any device. A compliance plan can be defined to select multiple network elements and run compliance audits and reports for them as a group. These plans can be scheduled to run at specific intervals automatically.
What IT systems and tools does Itential integrate with?
The Itential Platform is built to integrate easily integrate with any IT system, tools, controllers, orchestrators, or services through APIs. Most modern systems have published API specifications that, in many cases, can be directly imported and used in the platform without requiring a restart of any process.
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How does Itential integrate with other tools and systems?
The Itential Platform is built to easily integrate with any IT System, tool, controller, orchestrator, or service through APIs. Most modern systems have published API specifications that, in many cases, can be directly used to create an integration in the platform.
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What Scripts or DevOps/NetOps tools does Itential support?
The Itential Platform can integrate with any DevOps or NetOps tool and system using an available API. Automations created within Itential can be published with an API so that they can be integrated into a DevOps/NetOps process.
If there is an integration not listed, can I build my own?
Yes, every organization’s ecosystem of networking and IT systems is unique, and there is tremendous value in allowing our customers to quickly support automation across all of their system. We provide the ability to build integrations with these systems using API specifications that are published by the system vendors. Using well defined specifications like OpenAPI, Swagger, or Postman collections, customers can use Itential to generate integrations within minutes and start building automations with those systems.
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What is the Itential ServiceNow App and what does it do?
The Itential ServiceNow App is an application found in the ServiceNow Store that can be installed in an organization’s ServiceNow instances. Once installed and configured, the app allows ServiceNow users to run workflows published in the Itential Platform, making ServiceNow a user of Itential’s automation and orchestration capabilities. The ServiceNow App also enables ServiceNow workflows to utilize Itential workflows through the use of Actions, making it simple for a ServiceNow designer to utilize Itential automations with custom IT processes, without requiring network knowledge.
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View Documentation
How is the application different from the Itential Adapter for ServiceNow?
The Itential Adapter for ServiceNow is installed in the Itential Platform and allows Itential users to utilize common ServiceNow tasks from a workflow. It essentially allows the Itential Platform to become a user of the ServiceNow platform, utilizing its API to automate common tasks like creating, updating, and closing tickets or running queries on database tables.
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How is the Itential ServiceNow App installed in the ServiceNow platform?
Your ServiceNow Administrator will install the app using the same method that is used to install any other application from the ServiceNow Store.
See the following YouTube video for details: ServiceNow Store | How to Try, Buy, and Install Apps
What are the requirements and configurations needed in the Itential Platform?
- Network connectivity must be available from the ServiceNow instance and the Itential Platform (direct or using MID servers) and access for the https protocol must be allowed.
- Username and Password credentials and/or an authentication token must be created for the ServiceNow instance.
- RBAC must be configured in Itential to allow access to the published workflows by the username or role created for the ServiceNow App.
What are the requirements and configurations needed in the ServiceNow Platform?
- Network connectivity must be available from the ServiceNow instance to the Itential Platform (direct or using MID servers) and access for the https protocol must be allowed.
- Accounts for admin and user roles must be created in ServiceNow (see documentation).
- Itential Platform instances must be configured in ServiceNow.
How do ServiceNow users access and run Itential workflows from the ServiceNow App?
Once a ServiceNow user has been assigned the Itential services role, they can access the Itential section from the main navigation menu in ServiceNow. Under this section, they can click Itential Automation Services and specify the IAP instance and workflow to run by using drop-down boxes. After completing a form and submitting it, the workflow is run on the specified Itential platform.
For customers who want to run Itential workflows from within a ServiceNow Flow, they can use the Itential Actions, that are published as part of the ServiceNow App, and utilize them in Flow Designer. Once the app is installed, there are also example Itential Flows that show how to utilize Itential Actions.
Can ServiceNow users create network automations?
No, the Itential ServiceNow App provides users in ServiceNow with access to run existing Itential workflows that have already been published. To create network automations, users would need access to the Itential Platform.
How is access to these workflows controlled in ServiceNow and Itential?
In the Itential Platform, user accounts or service accounts are created and given access to run specific workflows that are published in Operations Manager. In the ServiceNow platform, user accounts are assigned an Itential user role to select and run the automations published in specific Itential instances. This allows both platforms to have controls over workflows.
Are there any available Itential Actions for ServiceNow Flow Designer?
Yes. The ServiceNow App includes a set of Actions that are specific to managing and executing automations in the Itential platform. In addition to the published Actions, there are also a number of example Flows that can be reviewed in Flow Designer to help you get started using Actions in your own process automations.
How do I know when an Itential workflow is run from ServiceNow?
The ServiceNow app enables logging of all workflows that are run from the ServiceNow platform. This data is stored in a table and can be reviewed by a ServiceNow Admin without leaving the platform, under “Itential Automation Services.” Details include user, automation name, date/time, job id, and Itential instance. You can also view the Job execution greater detail from inside the Itential platform, under Operations Manager. Having both methods of automation oversight provides appropriate visibility for both teams operating in each platform.
Who do I contact for support?
You may request technical support by clicking on Itential Service Desk and submitting a form. For more information on requirements to submit a form, please refer to Itential Service Desk Information page.
What is the Itential App for ServiceNow OMT?
This app provides direct integration with the ServiceNow Order Management for Telecom product enabling the Itential Platform to orchestrate fulfillment of network service orders across multiple network and infrastructure domains. With the app, infrastructure teams can publish new infrastructure services into the ServiceNow OMT product catalog, which can be used to easily compose new services.
How is this different from the Itential App for ServiceNow?
The Itential App for ServiceNow is freely available from the ServiceNow App Store and enables ServiceNow users to run workflows in the Itential Platform through a web UI or from ServiceNow Flows using Itential Actions. The Itential App for ServiceNow OMT is a licensed application that is tightly coupled with the ServiceNow Order Management for Telecom product. The OMT app is focused exclusively on enhancing integration with the ServiceNow OMT product, while the Itential App for ServiceNow is designed provide general integration across the ServiceNow ecosystem.
Do I need the Itential App for ServiceNow OMT to run automations in Itential?
No, you can use the freely available Itential App for ServiceNow to integrate with the Itential Platform and run workflows to automate and orchestrate your infrastructure.
What are the requirements to use the Itential App for ServiceNow OMT?
In your ServiceNow instance, you must have the Order Management for Telecom product installed and configured. You will also need to install the Itential App for ServiceNow and the Itential App for ServiceNow OMT.
In your Itential Platform, you will need to install the ServiceNow Adapter and the OMT Service Publishing pre-built workflow from the Itential Automation Marketplace. In addition to that, your platform will also need to have both the Itential TMF OMT application, and the Lifecycle Manager application installed.
How does a ServiceNow user access and run Itential workflows from the ServiceNow Order Management for Telecom product?
Users of the ServiceNow Order Management for Telecom product will not directly run Itential workflows. Instead, they would use ServiceNow Product Catalog to compose and manage service orders, as normal. The OMT application will determine if those services should be fulfilled by a workflow in the Itential Platform, and if so, send the service request using a TMF 641 payload to the Itential Platform for service fulfillment.
Is there any custom code needed within ServiceNow for the OMT application to work?
No, once everything is installed and configured on both the ServiceNow and Itential platforms there is no custom code required as the applications will be integrated together using a TMF 641 interface.
How do you publish a workfow?
Once a workflow has been created and tested in Design Studio, you can publish the workflow as an automation in Itential’s Operations Manager. Publishing a workflow is a simple process of selecting the workflow, assigning a name, and determining the trigger method you wish to use to run the published workflow.
Can you create a self-service portal for automations?
Yes. Self-service is automatically available for workflows that you publish using a manual trigger method. This method allows a user to select the workflow from a list that they have access to in Operations Manager.
For self-service portals outside of Itential, a workflow can be published with an API trigger which allows you to define an API endpoint to associate with the workflow. This API endpoint can be used with any external system to run the workflow, with proper access and providing the appropriate data payload.
Itential also publishes platform specific apps that can be installed in other platforms to streamline the integration of that platform into Itential. For example, Itential’s app for ServiceNow is a certified application that a ServiceNow admin can download and install from the ServiceNow App Store. Once installed, it can integrate with any Itential Platform instance in minutes, and present a unified view of workflows that can be run by an defined ServiceNow user.
Can workflows run from an API?
Yes, an Itential workflow can be associated with an API endpoint when it is published in Operations Manager.
Can workflows be scheduled?
Yes, Itential supports scheduling workflows so it can be run automatically at a time in the future, and it can be defined to run on a recurring schedule as well.
Can IAG utilize any automations that we already use? If so, which are supported?
Yes. Itential Automation Gateway enables teams to leverage any of their existing automations so they can be centrally organized and secured. IAG also serves as a script execution environment, so teams can leverage their existing automation assets and run them. APIs can be associated with scripts to be executed by programs and platforms outside of IAG. When IAG is utilized with the Itential Automation Platform, these assets can be used as tasks in a visual workflow and available to be used with integrations with other IT systems in your environment. This makes it easy to utilize the automations you already have, make them available for other users to use, and augment those automations with integrations to other IT systems.
IAG includes support for script-based automations created with Python, Ansible, and Terraform, however scripts built with other tools or languages can also be onboarded and used as well. In addition, Itential also directly supports Nornir, NETCONF, Netmiko, gRPC, and generic HTTP Requests to manage and automate network devices and systems.
How does IAG manage Python scripts that use different versions of packages?
IAG supports Python Virtual Environments so every script can always have the correct versions of packages needed for the script to run. This allows teams to centralize all their Python automations and ensure they can be successfully run.
What types of Ansible assets does IAG support?
IAG supports Ansible Playbooks as well as Collections, Roles, and Modules, ensuring that your entire Ansible body of work can be organized, secured, and shared with your team and run from a single environment.
What Terraform Workflow Stages does IAG support?
IAG enables the ability to execute any stage defined in an onboarded Terraform configuration file. These stages are Initialize, Plan, Apply, Destroy, and Validate and can be selected by a user when they run the selected Terraform file.
How do I onboard my existing automations into IAG?
IAG can be configured to look for automations in a list of directories on local filesystems. Once they are identified, they will appear in the IAG application, under the appropriate section for that script type. Any new scripts added to these directories are dynamically discovered and added to their sections.
Does IAG support local accounts or integration with existing LDAP systems?
IAG supports the ability to create local accounts and can also integrate with your organization’s existing LDAP system. Integration with LDAP systems is recommended in most instances.
What kind of RBAC is available for IAG?
IAG supports defining User, Group, and Role based access control and can also be integrated with an existing LDAP solution. Using these definitions, administrators can apply granular access control to IAG’s features and automations.
What details are logged when a script is executed?
IAG logs system events that occur as well as details pertaining to script execution. Details logged include time and date, user, method, API endpoint, status, and the complete input data provided to a script and the complete output response from the script’s execution.
Can device passwords be hidden or secured in IAG?
Yes. IAG supports Hashicorp Vault as a method for encrypting and decrypting sensitive data in IAG, which includes device passwords and other secrets. Using decorations, a script can be passed a secret from the Vault to the script, removing the need to store passwords and secrets as plaintext within a script. This works with local execution as well as execution of the script from an API.
How do you enable external automations to be accessed via API from outside Itential?
Your script-based automations can be accessed and run through an API call to your Automation Gateway instance. Rest API calls are encrypted and scripts cannot be run unless the requesting client has proper authentication and access to that script.
After a script has been decorated, it is available from an API call to the IAG server. Decoration is the process of defining the required inputs to a script, and any validation requirements, formatted as a JSON schema.
What systems can I integrate with via API outside of Itential?
Using IAG’s secure APIs, you can make your scripts available to any program, application, or platform in your IT ecosystem. Our customers commonly look to integrate with DevOps CI/CD pipelines that use tools like GitHub or GitLab, or with ITSM platforms like ServiceNow to enable self-service networking. Any IT system that can make REST APIs can be configured to utilize your scripts in IAG.
How do I use these existing automations in the Itential Automation Platform?
Integration with the Itential Automation Platform is a streamlined process that will allows all your script automations to be used as drag-and-drop tasks in a visual workflow. The Itential Automation Platform simplifies integration with these network automations with all of the IT systems in your environment so you can quickly orchestrate end-to-end processes.
What are the requirements for installing IAG?
Itential’s documentation provides detailed information on the current hardware and software requirements for IAG.
What methods of installation are available for IAG?
IAG can be installed on bare metal, virtual server, or container. Itential’s documentation provides the specific process for installing IAG for any of these methods.
What authentication and authorization methods are supported?
Itential supports integration with LDAP/OpenLDAP, Azure, RADIUS and Active Directory.
Does Itential support RBAC? How granular are the RBAC policies?
Yes, Itential supports Role Based Access Control within the platform. Itential supports a very granular policies that allows user and group access controls across applications, devices, automations, adapters, and integrations.
Does Itential support SSO?
Yes, SSO is supported within our SaaS Platform and with Itential deployed on-premises.
What kind of RBAC is available for Automation Gateway?
Itential’s Automation Gateway (IAG) supports defining User, Group, and Role based access control and can also be integrated with an existing LDAP solution. Using these definitions, administrators can apply granular access control to IAG’s features and automations.
How does Itential ensure no single point of failure?
Itential’s multi-tiered architecture has been designed with scaling and fault tolerance at its core. Itential’s application server can be deployed in either active/active or active/standby configuration, with management of user sessions performed via a load-balancers. Itential’s persistence store is MongoDB, which can be configured as highly resilient multi-member ReplicaSets. User session tokens are stored within a Redis database, which can also be clustered for fault tolerance.
How do I configure the product to operate with high availability in a global level?
With its distributed, multi-tiered architecture, Itential can easily be configured with out of region Disaster Recover nodes. For example, primary HA servers can be configured within one region within the United Kingdom, whilst a fully independent ‘cold’ setup can be configured in Asia. Upon a disaster, the Asian applications can be set up as active, and as the MongoDB data store has been replicated across all members, all data will be available on switch over from Europe to Asia.
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How does Itential support enterprise scalability and what are the maximum number of network device sizes it is able to support?
There is no maximum limit of network devices for Itential. Itential’s largest deployments support in excess of 140,000 devices.
How much customization is possible by administrators, ex. non-developers?
Itential exposes all settings through our Admin Essentials application, including fine-grained access control, app-management, Pre-Built Collection downloads, integration management to 3rd party systems, etc. All of this is available to non-developers.
The Itential Platform has over 300 open-source Pre-Built Integrations (Adapters) that can be freely downloaded from the Itential Marketplace. These allow Itential to integrate with customer’s existing IT systems and federates their data and logic, creating a unified view for easily automating multi-domain network environments. Itential’s intelligence engine provides an abstracted model for consuming the aggregated data from all existing tools and applying the business logic involved in network automation. With Itential, your systems of record and their data serve as the source of truth, mitigating data quality issues and manual fallout errors.
As well as the adapters, Pre-Built Workflows are also available, which demonstrate how Itential workflows can integrate with systems like ServiceNow, JIRA and Git repositories. These examples can be downloaded and installed directly within your Itential instance, using the Admin Essentials Application. Each Pre-Built Workflow is fully configurable, meaning if required, customers can enhance and augment them to your organization’s specific requirements.
A full list of available adapters and Pre-built Automations can be found in Itential’s Marketplace.
Is it easy to onboard new devices?
Yes, it Devices can be onboarded quickly using Pre-Built Adapters or by generating integrations with network controllers, orchestrators, or gateways that have device inventories available. For customers who have traditional networking devices that do not utilize a centralized controller, Itential’s Automation Gateway can be used to onboard those devices.
Does Itential have developer reference, documentation, and community support available?
All of this is available online at Itential’s Documentation, located here.
Can workflows be stopped or cancelled?
Yes, complete job management is available for any workflow that is run, which includes stopping, pausing, and cancelling jobs.
Can we onboard our existing Ansible inventory into Itential?
Yes, your Ansible inventory can be quickly onboarded into Automation Gateway. In addition, inventory can also be onboarded from existing Nornir, NETCONF, and Netmiko installations and inventory can be added for devices that utilize general HTTP/HTTPS requests.
What system reporting and alerts are provided, including updating/monitoring etc.?
Itential provides audit trail logs for all automations and for each app/adapter in Itential with various log levels. SNMP traps, events, slack messages, and emails can be set up to send alerts for user-defined conditions.
How does Itential gather data and report on workflow utilization?
In the Itential Platform, users can view details, statistics and historical data on any workflows and automations that have run within the Operations Manager application. Additionally, Job Manager provides more granular, task by task data, for a specific job.
How does the platform measure success tracking, reporting, and dashboards?
Itential provides a Job view of all completed Jobs and their run times, including all task level details. We store Job history metrics in a standard JSON format so that users can create dashboards and reports with whatever reporting tool they want.
Can audit trail on user activities and workflow execution data and records be logged (internally/externally) and does it support retention period of at least 7 years?
Itential supports syslog integrations, meaning logs can be written to external data stores if required. Itential does not automatically archive logs, meaning logs can be retained for whichever period of time is required by the customer
Is a customizable performance and compliance dashboard available to present historical and real-time performance, inventory, operational, and compliance status?
Yes
Are logs available when an automation runs?
A complete history of every workflow that has been run is available, including every task’s input, output, and execution status are logged and available to view in a visual workflow from Job Manager.
What details are contained in the logs when an automation is executed?
Exhaustive details are available including environment/execution details like when the automation was run and who ran it, as well as granular details for every single task, including incoming and outgoing variables, execution status, and performance metrics.
Does Itential have any off prem/cloud-based dependencies to function fully?
Itential offers multiple deployment options for the Itential Platform. Itential can be consumed as a SaaS offering or as an on-premise deployment. For on-premise deployments, Itential does not require access for off prem/cloud-based dependencies.
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How is encryption handled for data in flight and at rest?
For in-flight data, all communications between client and server are across secured https connections using standards-based TLS.
What is the pricing model for the Itential Platform?
The Itential pricing model is based on two components; software and device licenses. The software component includes the Itential Platform, Itential Automation Gateway, and applications that run on the platform such as Configuration Manager. Licenses are required for production and non-production instances of the software.
The device component of the model is based on the number of devices that are onboarded to the Itential Platform. This pricing model is intended to scale based on incremental value – the more devices that are onboarded to the platform, the greater the value realized through automation and orchestration. Itential does not charge for users, transactions, or integrations.
What if my network utilizes virtual devices that have a temporary lifespan? Do these devices consume a license for the term?
No. A device license is not hard coded to a specific device. Temporary devices impact the device count only while they are onboarded to Itential. If these devices are removed from the Itential, they will no longer be counted as active devices. The devices will impact the average concurrent device count for the duration of the period they are onboarded to Itential.
How does Itential licensing apply to environments where the devices are managed by a controller? What types of controller-managed objects are considered to be devices?
Itential licensing is based on devices whose configuration is directly or indirectly managed by the platform, regardless of whether the devices is managed through Itential Automation Gateway or through a controller. While controllers may be responsible for controlling a variety of object types, the objects that are configurable by Itential and participate in the processing of network traffic will be considered licensable devices.
Our network contains many devices, but we only want to manage and license a portion of the network. Are we required to purchase licenses for every device in our network?
No. The only devices that count against the licensing are devices that are onboarded explicitly through either Itential Automation Gateway, or through adapters that are designed for device/controller management (southbound adapters). Once a device is onboarded via a southbound adapter, it requires a device license.
How are devices counted in situations where there may be more than one path to a device? For example, if a device is onboarded to IAG but it is also available through a controller (like a data center controller), is that device counted as two different licenses?
No. A single device is counted as one device, regardless of how many different management paths exist to that device.
Does Itential’s licensing model include a per transaction or per user cost?
No, Itential does not charge, limit, or meter on transactions or users.
Does Itential require device licenses that are discovered via integrations with IT or inventory systems but are not onboarded via adapter or IAG? If we connect Itential to our inventory system, will it count 100% of the devices in the system as licensed devices?
No, the only devices that require licensing are devices that are onboarded via IAG or southbound adapters (this includes adapters for controllers, management systems that support configuration management, and orchestrators). Adapters to IT systems, inventory systems, monitoring systems, etc. are considered to be east/west integrations. While east/west systems may contain information about devices, they are not valid paths for accessing the configuration of those systems, and therefore do not incur any requirements for licensing.