WebMD Health Corp.: agile system automation, integration, and recovery using HP Server Automation and HP Operations Orchestration

1 ©2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice

WebMD Health Corp.: agile system automation, integration and recovery using HP Server Automation and HP Operations Orchestration

– Derek Chang

Manager, WebMD

– Roger Hsu

Manager, WebMD

2Introduction & Agenda

Topics

Who are we and where we stand

Infrastructure Layout

Middleware Integration

HP OO preparation

Application Administration Automation

Build Deployment Automation

Unattended WebMD Content Backup

Maintenance Free System

Results from HP SA/OO Implementation

Q/A

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cmsops

Responsibility– Provide Maintenance and 24x7 support of CMS applications and their

subsystems in production environment– Perform production system patches, bug fixes or software releases and other

build deployments.– Support ongoing releases and developments in non-production environments– Define/document production support requirements, escalation procedures,

issue tracking and guidelines for troubleshooting and build deployments.Resource: 4.5 headcounts*Universe

– 300+ internal users– SDLC environments: dev/devint/qa00/qa01/qa02/perf/production– 130 servers– 4.4 TB of NAS storage for raw contents and site contents– Infrastructure: Zenoss, HPSA, HPOO, Serena teamtrack, MOSS, MSSQL/Oracle

Core technology– EMC Documentum– Proprietary applications

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Documentum

An enterprise content management platform, now delivered by EMC Corporation, as well as the name of the software company that originally developed the technology.

Flexible, versatile, powerful yet complex platform

Implementation in WebMD

– 2 major portal sites

– 6 Documentum products

– Proprietary content editor for advanced features

– Proprietary page transformer

– Proprietary utilities: 15 applications

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Challenges

Documentum is a new technology

Documentum is a rare expertise

Complexity of the CMS

Cmsops support users within the company

WebMD is a fast growing company

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Life in cmsops

Sampling duration:

Oct 11,2007 – Jul 24, 2009

653 days/426 working days

Source: customized teamtrack

reports and emails

Summary

1772 teamtrack requests

479 email requests*

5.3 tickets/working day

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Our Approach

Develop and utilize process templates

Standardize and adopt the development model

Identify what processes to be automated

– Routine/mundane activities

– Human interactions cause error/failure

– Much longer Lifecycle/Service time than development time

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Opsware OO

Central and RAS

SAS OCLI client

Scheduler engine

NRAS

Web interface

Workflow engine

Repository

JRAS

SAS web services client

Build server

RHEL4u4_32BIT VM

Opsware agent

NAS/Build repository

OCLI 1.0

Web interface

Rpm/msi package tools

Opsware SAS

Central and RAS

Twister

OCLI engine

Web services engine

Web interface

Software repository

Server repository

JAVA API

Opsware agent engine

Middleware integration

Jboss 5.0

XML module

Email adapter

Email sender

Web interface

OO client

Teamtrack client

LDAP module

Data modeling

Corporate infrastructure

Active Directory

Teamtrack

Win2K3

Web interface

Business mashup engine

Web services

PAS LAB

RHEL4u6_64BIT VM

Opsware agent

App server(s)

Code base

QA/DEV Clients

Exchange server

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Java EE web application

– The core of the automation system

– Connections among ticketing, monitoring, and system administration tools within WebMD operations.

– Allows users to use the automation tools via a web browser over network to prevent access to underlying systems/tools such as HP OO directly

– Developed under JBoss Seam framework with technologies such as AJAX, Richfaces, and Hibernate

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Ticketing system integration

– Use web services to connect Serena Business Mashup (TeamTrack)

– Pull information from tickets and pass data to other systems such as HP OO

– Update tickets after automation operation

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System Administration (HP SA/OO) integration

– Java bean uses OO library to trigger OO workflow

– Parse the workflow result (XML format) to get:

• OO flow id and report URL

• Start time and end time

• OO flow response and result

RSFlowInvoke rsf = new RSFlowInvoke();

rsf.setUrl(url+flowName+paraString);

rsf.setUsername(user);

rsf.setPassword(pw);

result = rsf.invoke();

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Security and User Authorization

– Integrates with WebMD LDAP servers that allows users to access the system with their WebMD id/password

– Security Rules engine provides access control based on WebMD LDAP groups of each user

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HP OO Preparation

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HP OO Preparation

Identify basic/out of the box OO operations

– SSH

– Windows Remote Command Execution

– Change IIS status

– Change Windows service status

– OCLI to access HP SA

– Iterator, Email CDO, …etc

– Database operations (oracle/mssql)

Modulization and utility workflows

– Use OO operations to build up utility workflows that will be re-used frequently

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HP OO Preparation

HostsSSH: run Linux commands in a list of hosts

Given a list of hosts to

Iterator (PAS out-of-box

operation)

SSH Command (PAS

out-of-box operation)

Call Error Notice flow

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HP OO Preparation

IIS Flows:

– HostIISSites: control multiple IIS Sites on single host

– HostsIISSites: control multiple IIS Sites on multiple hosts

Multiple hosts, multiple sites Single host, multiple sites

Given a list of hosts Given a list of sites

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Goal: Develop OO workflows to stop/start WebMD applications and sites

Workflow key features

– Identify target servers

– Windows: stop/start windows svc and IIS sites

– Linux: stop/start applications and run any script if needed

– Send error/success email notices

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Users pick available host type and environment based on the permission given to their LDAP groups

Login as consumer

QA user

Consumer users are

NOT allowed to pick

professional hosts

QA users controls QA

environments onlyAction buttons

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Web application then triggers corresponding HP OO workflow

OO workflows connect HP SA with OCLI

HP SA takes actions on target hosts

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The OO workflows sends the result back to middleware in XML format

Middleware parses the XML and display the result in GUI

dmas qa00 server

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Users receive email notices

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Application Administration workflows:

– Documentum Content Servers

– Documentum Application Servers

– ATS: WebMD proprietary content transformer

– PATS: WebMD proprietary content transformer

– Page Builder: WebMD proprietary content editor

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WebMD Content Servers

Decision: start or

shutdown

Stop when query

servers only

OCLI Query

Servers based on

portal, product,

host type, and

environment

Initiate variables

based on portalStart/stop SCS

(HostsSSH)

Start/stop JMS

(HostsSSH)

Start/stop doc

base (HostsSSH)

Clean up doc

base (HostsSSH)

Send email notice

when finishes

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Goal: Develop an OO workflow to build RPM and deploy it to target servers

Workflow key features:

– Identify target servers, software policy and RPM in HP SA

– Build RPM and upload it to HP SA

– Stop/start applications in target servers

– Detach/attach software policies and remediate target servers

– Update RPM in software policies

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Workflow inputs:

– Portal

– Product

– Host Type

– Application

– Environment

– Build Version

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Identify target servers

– Setup server groups in HP SA: portal groups, product groups, host type groups, and environment groups; then assign servers to appropriate groups

Host type group

Product group

Portal group

Environment group

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Identify target servers (Cont.)

– Use OO SSH operation to execute OCLI command to get SAS server list

• OCLI: findServerRefs and getServerVO in server service

• Filter: Use aforementioned server groups as filter

{device_servergroup_name

equal_to "${portal}"} &


equal_to "${product}"} &


equal_to "${hostType}"} &


equal_to "${environment}"}

Filter String

for i in

`/opsw/api/com/opsware/server/S

erverService/method/.findServer

Refs:i

filter='${filterString}'`;

do

/opsw/api/com/opsware/server/Se

rverService/method/getServerVO

self:i="$i";

done

OCLI command

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Identify software policy & RPM

– Software Policy naming in HP SA:

{Application} – {Environment}

– Use findSoftwarePolicyRefs OCLI command to identify software policy

– Use findRPMRefs OCLI command to identify RPM

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Build RPM and upload it to HP SA

– Required parameters: application and build version

– A Perl application on Apache to build RPM

– Client sends HTTP request with parameters to trigger the Perl application

– Upload the RPM to HP SA with OCLI 1.0

– Get the result back to the client

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Stop/start applications in target servers

– Use aforementioned utility workflows to run stop/start command on target hosts

Detach/attach software policies and remediate target servers

– Use OO out-of-box operations

Update RPM in software policies

– Use OCLI update command in software policy service to replace RPM in target software policy

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Put it all together!

Build and upload RPM

Identify SP, RPM,

and target servers

Start/stop application

in target servers

Detach/attach SP,

replace RPM in SP,

and Remediate

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Goal: Develop two OO workflows:

1. shutdown all components and backup WebMD contents.

2. bring all components up


– Identify target servers

– Windows: stop/start windows svc and IIS sites

– Linux: stop/start applications and run any script if needed

– Send error/success email notices

– Utilize OO scheduler to trigger cold backup

– The workflow needs to setup another schedule to trigger another flow to bring up all components

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Workflows OverviewFlow 1:

1. Shut down all components

2. Run file back up

3. Run DB backup

4. Schedule another flow (flow 2) to start all components

Flow 2:

1. Check backup status

2. Start all components

60 min

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Goal: Proactively maintain the health of our applications without shutting them down


– Automatically clear cache and stale data without shutting down or restarting applications

– Purge outdated publishing data and logs

– Ensures that the most relevant information is retained.

– Improves both system-level and publishing performance.

– Minimize the need for frivolous restarts.

– Keep our applications online longer

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Workflow details

– Single SSH Node

– Runs a script to purge data/log files older than 3 days

– Runs on OO scheduler once a day

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Results from

HP SA/OO Implementation

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Better Life in cmsops - 1

Sampling duration:

Oct 11,2007 – Jul 24, 2009


Source: customized teamtrack reports

and emails

Summary


479 email requests*


Sampling duration:

Jul 25,2009 – Dec 10, 2009


Source: customized teamtrack reports

and emails

Summary:


35 email requests (reduced by 35%)


285 cmsai request (self-service)

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Better Life in cmsops - 2

Non-prod environments are self-serviceable

15% of build deployment is automated

Automatic/Scheduled data/log purging

Scheduled/unattended cold backup*

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Challenges

Resource constraint

Relatively high initial cost

Maintenance cost of an automation system is often overlooked

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Q/A

61 ©2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

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WebMD Health Corp.: agile system automation, integration, and recovery using HP Server Automation and HP Operations Orchestration