Setup
For a High-Density robots (Introduction of High Density robot), where multiple robots operate concurrently on the same Windows Server machine, it is essential to scale the minimum or recommended hardware requirements based on the number of runtimes.
Software requirements For one robot runtime:
- Operating system for HDR: Windows Server 2022
- .NET framework: 4.7.1 or greater
- DPI scaling setting must be deactivated.
Hardware requirements:
- The minimum requirements are as follows:
- 2 cores of Intel 1.8 GHz 64-bit processor
- 4-GB RAM
- Minimum 50-GB free disk space after installing the OS, patches, and base software.
- The recommended requirements are as follows:
- 4 cores of Intel 2.4 GHz 64-bit processor
- 8-GB RAM.
- Minimum 100-GB free disk space after installing the OS, patches, and base software.
Install Remote Desktop Session Host:
- The Remote Desktop Session Host service requires a valid license.
- Open Server Manager.
- In the Dashboard panel, click on Manage and select Add roles and features.
- Follow the wizard (select Next) until you reach the Select Server Roles step.
- Choose the Remote Desktop Session Host option under ‘Remote Desktop Services.’
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A dialog box will appear, informing you about some required features. -
Select "Add Features" to return to the wizard.
Follow the wizard until you reach the "Confirm Installation Selections" step, then select "Install." After the feature installation is complete, a server restart may be needed.
Configure:
Policies and Users
- The "Always prompt for password upon connection" policy should be disabled. You can find it under: Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Remote Desktop Services -> Remote Desktop Session Host -> Security.
- The “Require user authentication for remote connections by using Network Level Authentication” policy should be enabled for better security and always authenticate prior establishing session to RDP.
- The Windows user mapped to the Robots in the 'Process Robot Credentials' tab of the Bot process must be in the 'Remote Desktop Users' group.
Create High Density Robot:
- Log in to the instance and navigate to Robots under Robotic Process Automation.
- Click "New" to create the robot.
- In the form, check the High Density Robot field and select the required resolution.
- Associate the User account intended for logging in and securely accessing the robot resources from the Unattended Robot.
- Repeat the process to create multiple robots with the same machine name.
- After creation, associate the robots with the bot processes
Install Unattended Robot:
- Download the latest Unattended Robot from the Downloads page.
- Extract the zip and double click on the MSI to start installation.
- Proceed by clicking Next until the installation is successful.
How it works:
- The robot can start one automation for each Windows user session at any given time.
- You can run the same automation on all Robots simultaneously.
- You can also run different automations on all Robots at the same time.
- When a new robot is created for a user who is already connected to the Unattended Robot, it will automatically connect within a few minutes. However, if the user is not already connected, you need to disconnect the Unattended Robot, add the new user, and then try to connect.
- When a user A is connected to a server via RDP where a High Density Robot is connected, if an execution is triggered for the same user A, the manually connected session will be disconnected and transferred to the robot. However, the user can reconnect to view the execution once the robot starts its automation.
- When changing the robot type from High Density Robot to standard or vice-versa, users must reconnect the Unattended Robot to ensure seamless execution.
- The Unattended Robot installation is set up to function on a per-machine basis, with the default directory being '%ProgramFiles%\ServiceNow\Unattended Robot'.
Trouble shooting:
- RDP logon errors will be recorded in the service logs. Although some logs may lack detailed explanations, we can utilize the code to search for relevant information in these links: Disconnect reason code, Extended disconnect reason code
- The process names used in the automations may differ between the server environment and the development environment. Ensure they are accurately specified in the automations to avoid any discrepancies.
Limitations:
- The Unattended Robot UI is accessible by only one user at a time.
- The latest version of the Unattended Robot must be installed after upgrading the RPA Hub to the newest version (backward compatibility).
- High density robots can't support robot pool.
