Quick Start

Overview about the deployment procedure.

Deploying HCL Universal Orchestrator is quick and easy. To deploy an HCL Universal Orchestrator environment comprising all micro services, the Dynamic Workload Console, and the cloud agent, you just need to download the Helm chart and container images from the registry, customize a few parameters in the relevant values.yaml file, also available in the registry, and run the helm install command. You can also configure an authentication provider user registry at run time with the Dynamic Workload Console. For more information, see Configuring a user registry.

A separate Helm chart and container image are available for deploying only HCL Universal Orchestrator and the cloud agent, if you do not plan to use the Dynamic Workload Console.

The following high-level steps are involved:
  1. Define an OIDC provider, if you do not plan to use the Dynamic Workload Console for authentication.
  2. Create the wauser on the OIDC provider, if you do not plan to use the Dynamic Workload Console for authentication.
  3. Optionally install cert-manager to manage certificates.
  4. Install MongoDB and Apache Kafka or Redpanda.
  5. Create a secret to authenticate to the repository and download the images.
  6. Customize the values.yaml based on your requirements. Comments are available in the values.yaml file to explain all properties.
  7. Start the deployment with the helm install command.
  8. Optionally download the Orchestration CLI.
  9. Click on the Orchestration CLI executable file and provide host name and port, as instructed by the message displayed.
  10. Generate the API Key by following the link provided in the message displayed.

For complete information about prerequisites and procedures for deploying, configuring, and uninstalling HCL Universal Orchestrator, see HCL Universal Orchestrator.

The cloud agent is deployed fully configured with an API Key and is ready to work with supported job integrations. Job integrations supported by the agent are listed on Automation Hub.

You can optionally install agents at HCL Workload Automation, version 10.1.2 or later level to be able to manage all job integrations. For more information, see Installing and connecting agents at version 10.1.2 or later level.

You can also install a separate package containing the Orchestration CLI, which enables command-line interface interactions with HCL Universal Orchestrator. You can install the Orchestration CLI on any workstation in your HCL Universal Orchestrator environment. For more information, see Installing and authenticating the Orchestration CLI.

Note: If you plan to make your service accessible from the Internet, it is recommended you set up a firewall to prevent Denial Of Service (DOS) attacks.

Installing and connecting agents at version 10.1.2 or later level

To install agents at HCL Workload Automation, version 10.1.2 or later level, follow the steps described in HCL Workload Automation.

To connect agents at HCL Workload Automation, version 10.1.2 or later level to the HCL Universal Orchestrator environment, perform the following high-level steps:
  1. Create an API Key, as described in Authenticating the command line client using API Keys.
  2. If you are deploying in a container, create a secret to store the API key. For more information, see HCL Universal Orchestrator. If you are installing on-premises, specify the API key with the -apikey parameter when running the twsinst installation command. For more information, see Installing agents.
  3. Configure the Helm chart replacing the host name of the HCL Workload Automation server with the information for connecting to the HCL Universal Orchestrator agentmanager.

Installing and authenticating the Orchestration CLI

To install the Orchestration CLI, you only need a link to download the images from, the host name to connect to, and the related port.

When you first run the Orchestration CLI executable (ocli.exe or ocli.sh), a message is displayed asking to provide the host name and port for connecting to HCL Universal Orchestrator.

After providing the information, another message is displayed with a link from which you can create an API Key. The API Key is required for authentication and is stored, along with the host name and port, in the config.yaml file for future use.

The Orchestration CLI is now ready for use.

For more information about API Keys, see Managing authentication using API Keys. For information about configuring the Orchestration CLI, see Configuring Orchestration CLI.