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Orchestrator User Guide
Automation CloudAutomation Cloud Public SectorAutomation SuiteStandalone
Last updated Nov 20, 2024

Managing Machines

Machine objects are typically used by administrators to configure unattended infrastructure settings.

Adding a Machine Template

To create a machine template, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Tenant > Machines. The Machines page is displayed with a list of all machine objects in the tenant.
  2. On the Machines page, click Add machine > Machine template. The Machine template page is displayed.
  3. In the Template Name field, enter a name for your template to easily identify it.
  4. In the Description field, enter a description for your machine.
  5. In the Production (Unattended), NonProduction, and Testing fields, assign the desired runtimes of each type to the machine. The number of runtimes represents the number of jobs you can execute simultaneously on each host machine connected to Orchestrator using this template.
  6. In the Process type and Process compatibility fields, specify the type of processes the host machines can execute.

    Field

    Description

    Process type

    On the machine infrastructure employing that machine template you can execute:

    • Foreground only - only foreground processes,
    • Background only - only background processes,
    • All - both background and foreground processes.

    Process compatibility

    On the machine infrastructure employing that machine template you can execute:

    • Windows only - Windows-compatible processes only,
    • Cross-platform only - cross-platform processes only,
    • All - both Windows-compatible and cross-platform processes.
    Important: Orchestrator prevents starting jobs on a certain host machine if the underlying processes do not match the configuration on the template. Trying to start a job in an invalid setup results in a descriptive error message providing you with details about how to fix your configuration.
  7. In the Client binaries (Robot, Assistant and Studio) auto update policy field, select the update policy based on which the Robot, Assistant, and Studio get updated.
    • Latest patch - Installs the latest available version in the Update Server.
    • Latest version - Installs the latest patch available for each of the supported versions, e.g., latest 2021.10 patch.
    • Specific version - Installs a specific patch from the list of the ones available in the Update Server.
  8. Select the mapping strategy. Learn how on the account-machine mappings.
    • Any account can use this machine - No specific mappings in place.
    • Specific accounts only can be assigned to this machine - Configure specific account-machine pairs on which execution is allowed.
  9. Click Provision. Your machine is successfully created and a confirmation window is displayed along with the keys needed to connect your robots to Orchestrator. Depending on the robot authentication settings in your tenant, the following information is important:
    • Client ID and Client secret - if client credentials are enabled;

    • Machine key - if hybrid authentication is enabled.

      Important: The client secret is only visible once, right after its creation, so if you want to use the same secret multiple times, make sure to copy it and store it in a safe storage location. Consider using encryption or hashing to secure the storage.
  10. Once done, click Close. The Machine template window is closed and the Machines page is displayed listing all machine objects in the tenant, including the one you just created.

Displaying the Machine Key for a Machine Template

Click More Actions > Edit Machine. The Edit Machine: [machine_name] window is displayed. Here you can see the Machine Key, Template Name, and Description fields for the desired template.

Note: On the Edit Machine Template window, you also have the possibility to rename your template or edit its description. Simply type the new name or description in the corresponding field and click Update. If you do not have Edit permissions on Machines, and you have on Robots, the Edit button is replaced by View.

Deleting a Machine

Click the More Actions button and then Remove. Alternatively, select one or multiple machines from the Machines page and click Remove.

Note: You can only delete machines if they do not have any Robots attached to them.

Displaying Logs for a Machine

To view a specific machine's logs, click the corresponding More Actions button and then View Installed Versions & Logs.

Displaying Robot Versions for a Machine

On the Machines page, you can also view the robots' versions on the Installed Versions column. The version of a standard tobot is obtained when the UiRobotSvc service is either started or restarted. The version of an floating robot is obtained when the UiPath® Robot connects to Orchestrator.

To view the versions of every Robot connected to a specific machine, click the More Actions button and then View Installed Versions & Logs.

You can also see a cumulative output of the created Robots' versions on the Installed Version column on the Machines page according to various scenarios:

  1. No Robots

    • no Robots were ever provisioned on the machine.

  2. Unknown

    • 1 or more Robots were created, but none of them is connected;
    • 1 or more Robots were created after the Robot-Orchestrator connection had been established.

  3. [installed version]

    • 1 Robot with a version later than 18.2.0 was registered, and it is connected;

    • more Robots having a version later than 18.2.0 (the same one) were provisioned, and they are all connected.

      For example, if you have provisioned one 18.2.4 Robot, which is connected, then 18.2.4 is displayed. If you provisioned a number of 18.3.0 Robots, say 11, and they are all connected, then 18.3.0 is displayed.

  4. < 18.2.0

    • 1 Robot with a version before 18.2.0 was provisioned, and it is connected;

    • more Robots having a version before 18.2.0 were provisioned, and they are all connected.

      For example, if you have provisioned one 18.1 Robot, which is connected, then <18.2.0 is displayed. Similarly, if you provisioned a number of 17.1.0 and 18.2.0 Robots, say 9 and 5, and they are all connected, then <18.2.0 is displayed.

  5. [number of distinct known versions]

    • 2 or more Robots having different versions were registered, and they are all connected.

      For example, you have provisioned a total of 14 Robots (10 with 18.3.0, 2 with 18.2.4, 2 with a version before 18.2.0). In this case, 3 versions is displayed.

If you hover over the values in this column, more details are displayed in the tooltip.



The table below illustrates how the Installed Version column is populated and the tooltip of each value for different scenarios.

Scenario

Installed Version Column

TooltipContentExamples

No Robots were ever created on the machine

No Robots

No Robots

You created 4 Robots, none are connected

Unknown

Unknown: 4 robot(s)

You provisioned a number of 18.3.0 Robots, say 11, and they are all connected

18.3.0

18.3.0: 11 robot(s)

You provisioned a number of 17.1.0 and 18.2.0 Robots, say 9 and 5, and they are all connected

<18.2.0

<18.2.0: 14 robot(s)

You provisioned a total of 14 Robots (10 with 18.3.0, 2 with 18.2.4, 2 with a version before 18.2.0)

3 versions

18.3.0: 10 robot(s)

18.2.4: 2 robot(s)

<18.2.0: 2 robot(s)

Total: 14 robot(s)

Displaying the Robots Connected to a Machine

To view the Robots connected to a specific machine, click the More Actions button and then View Robots. You are automatically redirected to the Robots page, where all Robots connected to your machine are displayed.

Enabling/Disabling a Machine

Only available for Unattended, NonProduction, Testing-purposed machines. Disable a machine from the corresponding Unattended/NonProduction/Testing license pages in order to prevent instant license consumption.

  1. In the License page, click See More for the type of license that interests you (Unattended/NonProduction/Testing). The corresponding page is displayed.
  2. Turn off the toggle in the Active column. A dialog is displayed asking for confirmation on disabling the machine.
  3. Click Yes. The machine is disabled.
  4. Turn on the toggle to enable the machine.

Keep in mind that you cannot disable a machine as long as Robots on that machine are still running, regardless of what folder they are in.

Assigning Machines to Folders

Assigning machines to folders has multiple implications. See Assigning Machine Objects to Folders for details.

Adding Tags to Machine Objects

Note:

You need Edit on Machines and View on Tags to add existing tags to machine objects.

You need Edit on Machines and Create on Tags to add new tags to machine objects.

Note:
  • Each machine object can have a maximum of one million key/value pairs.
  • Labels and key/value properties are limited to 256 characters.
  • Tag names can't contain these characters: <, >, %, &, \, ?, /, :.

You can apply tags to a machine either when creating one or editing an existing one. To add tags to a machine when editing it, follow these steps:

  1. From the Machines page, click More Actions > Edit next to the desired machine object. The machine object is opened for editing.
  2. On the Labels field, start typing the name of the label. You can choose an existing label or create a new one.
  3. On the Properties (key-value pairs) field, click Add new.
  4. Add new keys and values. You can choose existing keys and/or values or you can create new ones.
  5. When done, click Update. Your machine object is updated and the newly created tags, if any, become available for other objects.

Removing Tags From Machine Objects

To remove tags from a object, follow these steps:

  1. From the Machines page, click More Actions > Edit next to the desired machine object. The machine object is opened for editing.
  2. On the Labels field, click the X adjacent to the name of the label to remove it. The label is removed.
  3. On the Properties (key-value pairs) field, click the X adjacent to the keys and/or values to remove them. The keys and/or values are removed.
  4. To delete a key/value pair click the Remove icon corresponding to that entry. The key/value pair is removed.
  5. When done, click Update. Your machines is updated and tags are removed.

Optimizing Unattended Infrastructure Using Machine Templates

Maximize efficiency and cut infrastructure costs by distributing unattended automation workload to existing infrastructure by specializing machines in executing particular processes.

Enabling machine maintenance

You can take your machine offline whenever you want to perform maintenance on it. This is enabled from the tenant-level Monitoring page, in the Unattended sessions section, by switching the toggle in the Maintenance column to On.
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Once you enable the toggle, a confirmation window is displayed, asking you if you would like to:

  • Wait for running jobs to finish before maintenance (this is the default option).

    • A machine in maintenance mode does not accept any new jobs. If you enable maintenance mode and choose this option, all running jobs will be completed, but no new jobs will be picked up during that time.

  • Kill all running jobs now.

Clicking Confirm enables the maintenance mode, while Cancel revokes the request to enter maintenance mode.

Notes

  • Pending jobs keep their status while they wait to be picked up by another available machine or by the same machine, once it is back online.

  • Maintenance mode is set per session (machine + hostname), so you can perform maintenance on a virtual/physical machine. If a session has several runtimes associated to it, they will all be selected by default.

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