About Runbooks in Service Manager
Updated: May 13, 2016
Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Service Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Service Manager, System Center 2012 - Service Manager
To automate processes in System Center 2012, System Center 2012 - Orchestrator uses runbooks to automate procedures. Runbooks are visual representations of the procedures. The value that runbooks have is that they help ensure that Orchestrator automation is driven and tracked from System Center 2012 – Service Manager and that Service Manager interactions with other Service Manager products and non-Microsoft systems are much easier to implement.
Additionally, the Orchestrator workflow authoring interface is available for your custom Service Manager scenarios. Runbooks are imported into Service Manager using the Orchestrator connector. After the connector is synchronized, imported runbooks appear in the Library workspace under the Runbooks node in the Service Manager console, where you can view them and also create runbook automation activity templates.
About System Center 2012 - Orchestrator
System Center 2012 - Orchestrator is an automation platform for orchestrating and integrating IT tools to drive down the cost of datacenter operations, while improving the reliability of IT processes. Orchestrator enables IT organizations to automate best practices, such as those that are found in the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). This is achieved through workflow processes that coordinate Service Manager and other management tools to automate incident response, change and compliance, and service-life-cycle management processes.
Through its workflow designer, Orchestrator automatically shares data and initiates tasks in System Center 2012 components, including Operations Manager, Service Manager, Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 - Configuration Manager, Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), and non-Microsoft tools. Orchestrator workflow automates IT infrastructure tasks, while Service Manager workflow provides automation of human workflow. The combined offering ensures repeatable, consistent results by removing the latency associated with manual coordination service delivery. Service Manager and Orchestrator enable integration, efficiency, and business alignment of datacenter IT services by:
Automating processes and enforcing best practices for incident, change, and service-life-cycle management.
Reducing unanticipated errors and service delivery time by automating tasks across responsibility groups within your IT organization.
Integrating System Center with non-Microsoft tools to enable interoperability across the datacenter.
Orchestrating tasks across systems for consistent, documented, and compliant activity.
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