JOB-XML

Updated November 20, 2010

NAME

job-v21 - The 'job' XML file declares job entries for Rundeck.

This is a demonstration document using all possible elements in the current Rundeck "jobs" XML.

Loading and unloading

This file can be batch loaded via rdopen in new window jobs load command:

rd jobs load -p project --file /path/to/jobs.xml

Rundeck job definitions can be dumped and saved to a file via rd jobs list command:

rd jobs list -p project --file /tmp/jobs.xml

joblist

The root (aka "top-level") element of the jobs XML file.

Nested elements

job*: declares a single job

Example

<joblist>
  <job>
   ...
  </job>
  <job>
   ...
  </job>
</joblist>

job

The job element is a sub-element of joblist and defines a job executable in Rundeck.

The following elements are used to describe the job. Only one of each element is allowed.

Nested elements

uuid: unique UUID to identify the job
name: the job name
description: the job description
group: group name
multipleExecutions: If the job can be executed multiple times simultaneously
context: command context
dispatch: dispatch options
sequence: workflow sequence
notification: notifications of execution success/failure, via email or webhook
nodefilters: node filtering expressions
loglevel: the logging level
logging: limit on the amount of log output
schedule: define scheduled execution
plugins: plugin configuration entries

Job command modes

Jobs execute a sequence of commands. Commands come in several styles:

System command
A script
A script file or URL
Another defined job

Examples

Execute the Unix 'who' command

<joblist>
  <job>
    <name>who's logged in?</name>
    <description>Runs the unix who command</description>
    <group>sysadm/users</group>
    <context>
      <project>default</project>
    </context>
    <sequence>
      <command>
        <!-- the Unix 'who' command -->
        <exec>who</exec>
      </command>
     </sequence>
    <nodefilters excludeprecedence="true">
      <include>
        <os-family>unix</os-family>
      </include>
    </nodefilters>
    <dispatch>
      <threadcount>1</threadcount>
      <keepgoing>true</keepgoing>
    </dispatch>
  </job>
</joblist>

Execute a Bash script

<joblist>
  <job>
    <name>a simple script</name>
    <description>Runs a trivial bash script</description>
    <group>sysadm/users</group>
    <context>
      <project>default</project>
    </context>
    <sequence>
      <command>
        <script><![CDATA[#!/bin/bash
echo this is an example job running on $(hostname)
echo whatever
exit 0 ]]></script>
      </command>
     </sequence>
    <dispatch>
      <threadcount>1</threadcount>
      <keepgoing>true</keepgoing>
    </dispatch>
  </job>
</joblist>

Execute a sequence of other commands, scripts and jobs:

<joblist>
  <job>
    <name>test coreutils</name>
    <description/>
    <context>
      <project>default</project>
    </context>
    <sequence>
     <!-- the Unix 'who' command -->
     <command>
        <exec>who</exec>
     </command>
     <!-- a Job named test/other tests -->
     <command>
        <jobref group="test" name="other tests"/>
     </command>
    </sequence>
    <dispatch>
      <threadcount>1</threadcount>
      <keepgoing>false</keepgoing>
    </dispatch>
  </job>
</joblist>

uuid

The UUID is a sub-element of job. This string can be set manually (if you are writing the job definition from scratch), or will be assigned at job creation time by the Rundeck server using a random UUID. This string should be as unique as possible if you set it manually.

This identifier is used to uniquely identify jobs when ported between Rundeck instances.

name

The job name is a sub-element of job. The combination of 'name' and group and project must be unique if the uuid identifier is not included.

description

The job description is a sub-element of job and allows a short description of the job.

If the description contains more than one line of text, then the first line is used as the "short description" of the job, and rendered exactly as text. The remaining lines are the "extended description", rendered using Markdown format as HTML in the Rundeck GUI. Markdown can also embed HTML directly if you like. See Wikipedia - Markdownopen in new window.

The HTML is sanitized to remove disallowed tags before rendering to the browser (such as <script>, etc.). You can disable all extended description HTML rendering via a configuration flag. See GUI Customization.

Note: To preserve formatting when defining the extended job description in XML, you should be sure to use a CDATA section. Wrap the contents in <![CDATA[ and ]]>.

Example Extended description

<job>
    <name>My Job</name>
    <description><![CDATA[Performs a service

This is <b>html</b>
<ul><li>bulleted list</li></ul>

<a href="/">Top</a>

1. this is a markdown numbered list
2. second item

[a link](http://example.com)

]]></description>
</job>

group

The group is a sub-element of job and defines the job's group identifier. This is a "/" (slash) separated string that mimics a directory structure.

Example

<job>
    <name>who</name>
    <description>who is logged in?</description>
    <group>/sysadm/users</group>
</job>

multipleExecutions

Boolean value: 'true/false'. If 'true', then the job can be run multiple times at once. Otherwise, the Job can only have a single execution at a time.

<job>
    <name>who</name>
    <description>who is logged in?</description>
    <group>/sysadm/users</group>
    <multipleExecutions>true</multipleExecutions>
</job>

timeout

Timeout string indicating the maximum allowed runtime for a job. After this time expires, the job will be aborted.

The format is:

123 a simple number, indicating seconds
[number][unit] where "number" is a valid decimal number, and "unit" is one of:
- s - seconds
- m - minutes
- h - hours
- d - days
Any sequence of [number][unit] pairs. The total time will be the added value of all the units. Any other text in the string is ignored, so the pairs can be separated by spaces or other descriptive text.

These are all valid values:

1d 6h - 1 day and 6 hours
120m - 120 minutes
${option.timeout} reference to a job option value

<job>
    <name>who</name>
    <description>who is logged in?</description>
    <group>/sysadm/users</group>
    <timeout>1d 6h</timeout>
</job>

retry

Retry count indicating the maximum number of times to retry the job if it fails or times out. You can also set a delay between retries.

Allowed values:

An integer number, indicating maximum number of retries
${option.retry} reference to a job option value
Optional delay attribute, with the same format as timeout

<job>
    <name>iffy job</name>
    <description>Job which might need to be retried</description>
    <retry delay='1h1m1s'>${option.retry}</retry>
</job>

logging

An optional logging limit, and the action to perform if the limit is reached. (See Jobs - Log Limit).

<logging limit='1KB' limitAction='halt' status='aborted' />

If no limitAction is set, it will default to a value of halt and a status of failed.

The syntax for limit is:

### If you specify a number, that is treated as the "Maximum total number of log lines"
###/node If you specify a number followed by /node, the number is treated as the "Maximum number of log lines for a single node"
###[GMK]B If you specify a number followed by a filesize suffix, that is treated as the "total log file size". The file size suffixes allowed are "GB" (gigabyte), "MB" (megabyte), "KB" (kilobyte) and "B" (byte).

The allowed values for limitAction are:

halt - halt the job with an optional status
truncate - do not halt the job, and truncate all further output

The allowed values for status are any status string:

failed - halt and fail the job
aborted - halt and abort the job
<anything> - a custom status string

schedule

schedule is a sub-element of job and specifies periodic job execution using the stated schedule. The schedule can be specified using embedded elements as shown below, or using a single crontab attribute to set a full crontab expression.

Nested elements

time: the hour and minute and seconds
weekday: day(s) of week
month: month(s)
year: year

Attributes

crontab: a full crontab expression

Example

Run the job every morning at 6AM, 7AM and 8AM.

<schedule>
  <time hour="06,07,08" minute="00"/>
  <weekday day="*"/>
  <month month="*"/>
</schedule>

Run the job every morning at 6:00:02AM, 7:00:02AM and 8:00:02AM only in the year 2010:

<schedule>
  <time hour="06,07,08" minute="00" seconds="02"/>
  <weekday day="*"/>
  <month month="*"/>
  <year year="2010"/>
</schedule>

Run the job every morning at 6:00:02AM, 7:00:02AM and 8:00:02AM only in the year 2010, using a single crontab attribute to express it:

<schedule crontab="02 00 06,07,08 ? * * 2010"/>

For more information, see Quartz Documentationopen in new window.

crontab

Attribute of the schedule, sets the schedule with a full crontab string. For more information, see Quartz Documentationopen in new window.

If specified, then the embedded schedule elements are not used.

time

The schedule time to run the job

Attributes

hour: values: 00-23
minute: values: 00-59

weekday

The schedule weekday to run the job

Attributes

day: values: * - all ; 1-7 days "sun-sat" ; 1,2,3-5 - days "sun,mon,tue-thu", etc

month

The schedule month to run the job

Attributes

month: values: * - all 1-10 - month jan-oct 1,2,3-5 - months jan,feb,mar-may, etc.
day: day of the month: * - all; 1-31 specific days

year

The schedule year to run the job

Attributes

year: year: * - all; specific year

context

The job context.

Nested elements

options: job options. specifies one or more option elements

project

The context project name. Ignored. Project name must be specified at import time.

options

The context options for user input.

preserveOrder: If set to "true", then the order of the option elements will be preserved in the Rundeck GUI. Otherwise the options will be shown in alphabetical order.

Nested elements

option: an option element

Example

<options>
    <option name="detail" value="true"/>
</options>

option

Defines one option within the options.

Attributes

name: the option name
value: the default value
values: comma separated list of values
valuesUrl: URL to a list of JSON values
enforcedvalues: Boolean specifying that must pick from one of values
regex: Regex pattern of acceptable value
description: Description of the option, will be rendered as Markdown.
required: Boolean specifying that the option is required
multivalued: "true/false" - whether the option supports multiple input values
delimiter: A string used to conjoin multiple input values. (Required if multivalued is "true")
multivalueAllSelected: "true/false" - whether all values should be selected by default
secure: "true/false" - whether the option is a secure input option. Not compatible with "multivalued"
valueExposed: "true/false" - whether a secure input option value is exposed to scripts or not. false means the option will be used only as a Secure Remote Authentication option. default: false.
storagePath: for a secure option, a storage path to password value to use as default
isDate: "true/false" - the option should display as a date/time input field
dateFormat: The date/time format to use in the UI. Using the momentjs formatopen in new window.

Example

Define defaults for the "port" option, requiring regex match.

<option name="port" value="80" values="80,8080,8888" regex="\d+"/>

Define defaults for the "port" option, enforcing the values list.

<option name="port" value="80" values="80,8080,8888" enforcedvalues="true" />

Define defaults for the "ports" option, allowing multiple values separated by ",".

<option name="port" value="80" values="80,8080,8888" enforcedvalues="true"
        multivalued="true" delimiter="," />

Use a multi-line description inside a CDATA section to preserve whitespace. Wrap the content in <![CDATA[ and ]]>:

<option name='example'>
  <description><![CDATA[example option description

* this content will be rendered
* as markdown]]></description>
</option>

valuesUrl JSON

The data returned from the valuesUrl can be formatted as a list of values:

["x value","y value"]

or as Name-value list:

[
  {name:"X Label", value:"x value"},
  {name:"Y Label", value:"y value"},
  {name:"A Label", value:"a value"}
]

dispatch

The job dispatch options. See the [Dispatcher options] for general information.

Nested elements

threadcount: dispatch up to threadcount
keepgoing: keep going flag
rankAttribute: Name of the Node attribute to use for ordering the sequence of nodes (default is "nodename")
rankOrder: Order direction for node ranking. Either "ascending" or "descending" (default "ascending")

Example

<dispatch>
  <threadcount>1</threadcount>
  <keepgoing>false</keepgoing>
  <rankAttribute>nodename</rankAttribute>
  <rankOrder>descending</rankOrder>
</dispatch>

threadcount

Defines the number of threads to execute within dispatch. Must be a positive integer.

keepgoing

Boolean describing if the dispatch should continue of an error occurs (true/false). If true, continue if an error occurs.

rankAttribute

This is the name of a Node attribute that determines the order in which the Nodes are traversed. The default value of "nodename" will rank the nodes based on their names.

This can be any attribute of a Node, even attributes that do not exist on some nodes. For example you can set it to "rank", then any Nodes with a "rank" attribute will be ordered before any other nodes, and they will be used in the order of the rank attribute value.

The values in the rank attribute are compared first numerically if they are valid integers, but otherwise they are compared alphanumerically. Nodes which do not have the specified rank attribute will be ordered by node name and treated as if they come after all nodes which do have the rank attribute (if in ascending order).

rankOrder

This determines whether the rank attribute should be used to order the nodes in ascending or descending order.

Possible values: "ascending", or "descending". The default if not specified is "ascending".

loglevel

The job logging level. The lower the more profuse the messages.

DEBUG
VERBOSE
INFO
WARN
ERROR

nodefilters

The job nodefilters options.

Attributes

excludeprecedence: boolean value: true or false

Nested elements

filter: node filter string
include: include filter (deprecated)
exclude: exclude filter (deprecated)

Example

<nodefilters excludeprecedence="true">
  <filter>.*</filter>
</nodefilters>

filter

The filter string to select matching nodes.

The content of this element is the full node filter string. See User Guide - Node Filters.

include

See Include/exclude patterns

exclude

See Include/exclude patterns

Include/exclude patterns

The nodefilters include and exclude patterns.

Note: These elements are deprecated and will be removed in a later version of Rundeck. Use the filter string.

Nested elements

hostname: node hostname
name: node resource name
type: node type
tags: node tags. comma separated
os-name: operating system name (eg, Linux, Mac OS X)
os-family: operating system family (eg, unix, windows)
os-arch: operating system architecture (eg i386,sparc)
os-version: operating system version

sequence

The job workflow sequence.

Attributes

keepgoing: true/false. (default false). If true, the workflow sequence will continue even if there is a failure
strategy: node-first/step-first. (default "node-first"). The strategy to use for executing the workflow across nodes.

The strategy attribute determines the way that the workflow is executed. "node-first" means execute the full workflow on each node prior to the next. "step-first" means execute each step across all nodes prior to the next step.

Nested elements

command: a sequence step

command

Defines a step for a workflow sequence.

The different types of sequence steps are defined in different ways.

See:

Script sequence step
Job sequence step
Plugin step

A command can embed a errorhandler to define an action to run if the step fails.

A command can have a description element to set the step description.

errorhandler

Defines an action to handle an error in a command.

The contents of an <errorhandler> are exactly the same as for a command except it cannot contain any errorhandler itself.

The different types of errorhandler steps are defined in different ways.

Attributes

keepgoingOnSuccess: true/false. (default false). If true, and the error handler succeeds, the workflow sequence will continue even if the workflow keepgoing is false.

See:

Script sequence step
Job sequence step
Plugin step

Example:

<errorhandler>
   <exec>echo this is a shell command</exec>
</errorhandler>

Inline script. Note that using CDATA section will preserve linebreaks in the script. Simply put the script within a script element:

<errorhandler>
    <script><![CDATA[#!/bin/bash
echo this is a test
echo whatever
exit 2 ]></script>
</errorhandler>

Script File:

<errorhandler>
    <scriptfile>/path/to/a/script</scriptfile>
    <scriptargs>-whatever something</scriptargs>
</errorhandler>

Example job reference:

<errorhandler >
    <jobref group="My group" name="My Job">
       <arg line="-option value -option2 value2"/>
    </jobref>
</errorhandler>

description

Defines a description for a step.

Example:

<command>
   <exec>echo this is a shell command</exec>
   <description>Demonstrate echo command</description>
</command>

Script sequence step

Script steps can be defined in three ways within a command element:

Simple shell command using exec element.
Embedded script using script element.
Script file using scriptfile and scriptargs elements.

Example exec step:

<command>
   <exec>echo this is a shell command</exec>
</command>

Inline script. Note that using CDATA section will preserve linebreaks in the script. Simply put the script within a script element:

<command>
    <script><![CDATA[#!/bin/bash
echo this is a test
echo whatever
exit 2 ]></script>
</command>

Script File:

<command >
    <scriptfile>/path/to/a/script</scriptfile>
    <scriptargs>-whatever something</scriptargs>
</command>

Script URL:

<command >
    <scripturl>http://example.com/path/to/a/script</scripturl>
    <scriptargs>-whatever something</scriptargs>
</command>

Script Interpreter

When using <script>, or <scriptfile>, you can declare an interpreter to use to execute the script and its args.

Add <scriptinterpreter> to the <command>:

<command >
    <scriptinterpreter>sudo -u usera</scriptinterpreter>
    <scripturl>http://example.com/path/to/a/script</scripturl>
    <scriptargs>-whatever something</scriptargs>
</command>

This will be executed effectively with this commandline:

sudo -u usera script.sh -whatever something

If the filename and arguments need to be quoted when passed to the interpreter, you can declare argsQuoted='true':

<command >
    <scriptinterpreter argsquoted='true'>sudo -u usera sh -c </scriptinterpreter>
    <scripturl>http://example.com/path/to/a/script</scripturl>
    <scriptargs>-whatever something</scriptargs>
</command>

This will execute as:

sudo -u usera sh -c 'script.sh -whatever something'

Job sequence step

Define a jobref element within the command element

jobref

Attributes

name: the job name
group: the group name
nodeStep: true/false whether the Job reference step should run for each node

Nested elements

Optional "arg" element can be embedded:

arg

: option arguments to the script or job

Example passing arguments to the job:

<command >
    <jobref group="My group" name="My Job">
       <arg line="-option value -option2 value2"/>
    </jobref>
</command>

If nodeStep is set to "true", then the Job Reference step will operate as a Node Step instead of the default. As a Node Step it will execute once for each matched node in the containing Job workflow, and can use node attribute variable expansion in the arguments to the job reference.

nodefilters (jobref)

The node filters to override for the jobref.

Nested elements

filter: node filter string. See User Guide - Node Filters.

Example:

<jobref group="My group" name="My Job">
  <dispatch>
    <threadcount>1</threadcount>
    <keepgoing>false</keepgoing>
    <rankAttribute>nodename</rankAttribute>
    <rankOrder>descending</rankOrder>
  </dispatch>
  <nodefilters>
    <filter>tags: production+appserver</filter>
  </nodefilters>
</jobref>

dispatch (jobref)

The dispatch options to override for the jobref.

The content is the same as for the job dispatch section.

Plugin step

There are two types of plugin steps that can be defined: Node steps, and workflow steps.

Define either one within the command element:

node-step-plugin
step-plugin

Both have the following contents:

Attributes

type: The plugin provider type identifier

Nested elements

Optional 'configuration' can be embedded containing a list of 'entry' key/value pairs:

configuration: Defines plugin configuration entries
entry: Defines a key/value pair for the configuration.

Example node step plugin definition:

<command>
    <node-step-plugin type="my-node-step-plugin">
       <configuration>
        <entry key="someconfig" value="a value"/>
        <entry key="timout" value="2000"/>
       </configuration>
    </node-step-plugin>
</command>

Example workflow step plugin definition:

<command>
    <step-plugin type="my-step-plugin">
       <configuration>
        <entry key="repeat" value="12"/>
        <entry key="debug" value="true"/>
       </configuration>
    </step-plugin>
</command>

node-step-plugin

Defines a plugin step that executes for each node.

step-plugin

Defines a plugin step that executes once in a workflow.

configuration

Contains the key/value pair entries for plugin configuration, within a node-step-plugin or step-plugin.

entry

Defines a key/value pair within a configuration.

Attributes:

key: Key for the pair
value: Textual value

notification

Defines email, webhook or plugin notifications for Job success and failure, with in a job definition.

Nested elements

onsuccess: define notifications for success result
onfailure: define notifications for failure/kill result
onstart: define notifications for job start
onavgduration: define notifications when exceed average duration
onretryablefailure: define notifications when job fails but will be retried

Example

<notification>
    <onfailure>
        <email recipients="test@example.com,foo@example.com" />
    </onfailure>
    <onsuccess>
        <email recipients="test@example.com" />
        <webhook urls="http://example.com?id=${execution.id}" />
   </onsuccess>
    <onstart>
        <plugin type="MyPlugin">
          <configuration>
            <entry key="customkey" value="customvalue"/>
          </configuration>
        </plugin>
   </onstart>
   <onavgduration>
        <email recipients='test@example.com' subject='Job Exceeded average duration' />
        <plugin type='MinimalNotificationPlugin' />
      </onavgduration>
    <onfailure>
        <email recipients="test@example.com,foo@example.com" subject='Job will be retried' />
    </onfailure>
</notification>