Triggers for cloud policies
Summarize
Summary of Triggers for Cloud Policies
Triggers in ServiceNow cloud policies are specific events that initiate the policy engine to evaluate conditions and perform actions. These triggers are commonly tied to user requests or operations such as start, stop, provision, and de-provision on resources, catalog items, stacks, or blueprints (note that blueprints are deprecated). Understanding and using triggers effectively enables you to automate governance, approval workflows, and orchestration tasks in your cloud environment.
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Key Features
- Trigger Types: Triggers are categorized by events such as catalog item request start/end, catalog item launch, blueprint provision, stack operations, resource operations, lease end, and task remediation. Each trigger type supports specific actions like executing scripts, overriding property values, aborting processes, sending notifications, and starting approval workflows.
- Approval Triggers: Specific triggers (e.g., on Stack operation (approval), on Stack resource operation (approval), and on Task remediation) integrate with approval workflows, enabling you to enforce approvals before cloud activities proceed. Approvers can be defined by roles, users, or groups, with ordered approval sequences.
- Property Overrides and Scripting: Several triggers allow overriding user-provided inputs or executing scripts to dynamically control form values or operational parameters, enhancing customization and enforcement of enterprise policies.
- Performance Considerations: To optimize system performance, minimize the number of policies with general or broad triggers (like on Catalog item triggers) and those without specific targets, as these execute always.
Key Outcomes
- Automate cloud resource lifecycle management by linking policy rules to precise trigger events, ensuring that necessary governance controls or workflow processes are enforced at the right time.
- Enhance user experience on the Cloud User Portal by dynamically controlling form fields and defaults when catalog items or resource operations are launched or requested.
- Enforce robust approval mechanisms that integrate seamlessly with cloud operations, helping meet compliance and organizational control requirements.
- Leverage pre- and post-provisioning triggers to modify requests or perform additional actions, such as installing software or adjusting configuration after resource provisioning.
Triggers are events that set the policy engine in motion. For example, the on Catalog item request end trigger fires after a user submits a request form. When the trigger for a policy fires, the policy engine tests the conditions specified in the policy rule and performs the actions specified in the rule, if the conditions are met.
About triggers
- You typically refer to a policy by the name of the trigger for the policy. For example, you might refer to a policy that is triggered by the on Lease end trigger as a "Lease end policy."
- Triggers are often based on user requests and the operations (start, stop, provision, or de-provision) that can run on a blueprint, a catalog item, a resource, or a stack. Some trigger types do not specify a cloud operation. For example, the on Lease End trigger fires independently of any operation.
- To optimize performance, limit the number of policies with general triggers like the on Catalog item triggers.
- A trigger that does not specify a target (a blueprint, catalog item, stack, or resource) is always executed. To optimize performance, therefore, minimize the use of such policies.
Policy triggers
| Trigger name and actions | Description |
|---|---|
on Blueprint provision Actions:
|
The on Blueprint
provision trigger fires after execution of on Catalog item
request start policies. A policy that is triggered by the on
Blueprint provision trigger can run a script, override a user-requested
attribute value, or abort and send a message about the provision
operation.
Use this trigger to override a value that the user enters. For example, when a user chooses a value for an attribute like the stack name, a policy with this trigger can change the stack name. In addition, another action can change the name again when the user finally provisions the resource. The user does not see the final value on the catalog item form because the change is made at provision time. Create an action for an 'on Blueprint provision' policy |
Approval triggers
Actions:
|
A cloud
approval policy specifies the users who must approve a specified cloud activity
before the activity can proceed.
Approvers can include the manager of the user making a request, a specified user or
group, or users with a specified role. You can specify multiple approvers. Approvals
occur in the order that you specify.
A policy that is triggered by one of the approval triggers can start approval subflows.
The targeted approval policies complement the base-system approval operations. Note:
The approval process is performed after properties are set
because property values that were overridden could change
costs. on Blueprint provision (approval) is applied before the blueprint is provisioned. Because the provisioning process can alter request data (and possibly change costs), approval processes run after the blueprint is provisioned. Use on Stack operation (approval) to run an approval workflow when an operation is performed on a stack. By default, a change request is generated when an operation is performed on a stack, but it does not require an approval. This trigger can launch a mandatory approval. Use on Stack resource operation (approval) to run an approval workflow when an operation is performed on a single resource that is part of a stack. By default, a change request is generated when an operation is performed on a stack, but it does not require an approval. This trigger can launch a mandatory approval. A policy that is triggered by the on Task Remediation trigger can start approval subflows. Create an action for an approval policy |
on Catalog item launch Actions:
|
The on Catalog item
launch trigger fires when an order form (stack request form) is launched
for a catalog item. A policy that is triggered by the on Catalog item
launch trigger can run a script or override a user-requested value (text
values only).
Use this trigger to control what the user sees in the form when it first opens in the Cloud User Portal. For example, you can override a default value that first appears to the user. The user can see this value on the catalog item form. When both a policy rule and a form rule overwrite a value, the value in the form rule is used. Create an action for an 'on Catalog item launch' policy |
on Catalog item request start Actions:
|
The on Catalog item request start trigger fires after the user opens a request form.
A policy that is triggered by the on Catalog item request start or on Catalog item request end trigger can run a script or execute a subflow. You can use this trigger to run a custom script or workflow to fulfill enterprise processes like custom approval before the catalog item request is processed. Create an action for an 'on Catalog item request start/end' policy |
on Catalog item request end Actions:
|
The on Catalog item request end trigger fires after a user submits a request form.
A policy that is triggered by the on Catalog item request start or on Catalog item request end trigger can run a script or execute a subflow. Use this trigger to launch a workflow after a catalog item request is processed. Consider this trigger a post-provisioning step. For example, you could launch a workflow to install MySQL on the provisioned resource. Create an action for an 'on Catalog item request start/end' policy |
on Lease end Actions:
|
A policy that is triggered by the on
Lease end trigger can send a notification or perform a
Start, Stop, or Deprovision
life cycle operation.
Create an action for an 'on Lease end' policy |
on Resource operation launch Actions:
|
The on Resource operation
launch trigger fires before the catalog for a resource operation is loaded
from the Cloud User Portal. A policy that
is triggered by the on Resource operation launch trigger can run a
script or can override a user-requested value (text values only).
When both a policy rule and a form rule overwrite a value, the value in the form rule is used. Create an action for an 'on Resource operation launch' policy |
on Resource operation request start Actions:
|
The on Resource operation request start trigger fires
after a user submits a resource operation request (Start,
Stop, Deprovision).
A policy that is triggered by the on Resource operation request start or on Resource operation request end trigger can run a script or override a user-requested attribute value. Create an action for an 'on Resource operation request start/end' policy |
on Resource operation request end Actions:
|
The on Resource operation request end trigger fires before completion
of a life cycle operation on a resource (Start,
Stop, Deprovision).
A policy that is triggered by the on Resource operation request start or on Resource operation request end trigger can run a script or override a user-requested attribute value. Create an action for an 'on Resource operation request start/end' policy |
on Resource operation Actions:
|
The on Resource operation
trigger fires during the Orchestration process when a user
performs a Start, Stop, or
Deprovision life cycle operation on a specific resource. A policy
that is triggered by the on Resource operation trigger can override a
user-requested attribute value, run a script, call a Cloud API, or perform an IP address
management operation.
Create an action for an 'on Resource operation' policy |