What do you do when your automation tools or scripts fail unexpectedly?

1 Identify the cause of the failure

Identifying the cause of an automation failure can be challenging, particularly when dealing with complex or interdependent tasks. Common causes include syntax errors, outdated dependencies, changes in the environment or infrastructure, logical errors, network issues, and permission issues. To figure out the source of the problem, you should examine the output and logs of your automation tool or script for error messages, warnings, or anomalies. You may also need to use debugging tools or commands to inspect the state and variables of your automation. Depending on the tool or script, you can enable verbose, debug, or trace modes, or set breakpoints or watchpoints.

2 Isolate the scope of the failure

In order to isolate the scope of the failure, you need to determine how widespread and severe the issue is, and how it impacts your system or service. To do this, ask questions such as how many hosts, servers, or devices are affected, what automation tasks are affected, and how critical those components are. You should also consider how long the failure has been occurring and what the symptoms and consequences are. To get a better understanding of the failure, you should check the status and performance of your system or service for any indicators of degradation, disruption, or downtime. You may also need to utilize monitoring tools or commands to collect and analyze metrics, logs, or alerts from your system or service.

3 Implement a workaround or rollback

The third step is to implement a workaround or rollback, which is a temporary or partial solution to mitigate the impact of a failure and restore the system or service to a functional or acceptable state. Examples of this include disabling or skipping automation tasks, modules, or functions, reverting or restoring hosts, servers, or devices to a previous or backup state, switching or redirecting traffic or load to alternative or backup hosts, servers, or devices, adjusting or modifying parameters or settings of your automation tool or script, and manually performing or completing the automation tasks, modules, or functions. When implementing a workaround or rollback, you should assess the risks and benefits of each option before choosing one that best suits your situation and goals. Additionally, you may need to communicate with your team, stakeholders, and customers as well as document the actions and results of your workaround or rollback.

4 Fix the root cause of the failure

Fixing the root cause of the failure is the fourth step. This involves finding and resolving the underlying issue that caused the failure, and preventing it from happening again. This could include correcting or updating code or configuration files, installing or upgrading dependencies or libraries, adapting or aligning automation to changes in the environment or infrastructure, debugging or testing code or logic, troubleshooting or resolving network issues or timeouts, or granting or verifying permission issues or authentication failures. To fix the root cause of the failure, you must apply the changes or solutions to your automation tool or script and verify they work as expected. Additionally, testing tools or commands may be used to validate and verify automation, ensuring it meets requirements and specifications.

5 Review and improve your automation

The fifth step is to review and improve your automation, which involves assessing and evaluating the performance and reliability, as well as identifying and implementing any improvements or enhancements. For instance, you should review and document the lessons learned and best practices from a failure, analyze and optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of your automation, add or improve the error handling and logging, implement or refine the version control and backup, and incorporate or update the security and compliance of your automation. To review and improve your automation, it is necessary to collect and analyze feedback and data from your automation tool or script, as well as use improvement tools or methods to plan and execute improvement actions, while measuring and monitoring their outcomes .

6 Share and learn from others

The sixth step is to share and learn from others, which requires communication and collaboration with other system administrators, allowing for the exchange of knowledge and experience on automation. This may include sharing and discussing automation failures and solutions with peers or the community, learning and adopting new automation tools, techniques, or trends from other experts or sources, asking and answering questions or providing feedback on automation topics or issues, contributing or participating in automation projects or initiatives, and teaching or mentoring others on automation skills or practices. To do this effectively, you need to use communication and collaboration tools or platforms, engage with other system administrators who share your interest in automation, and use learning and development tools or resources to enhance your knowledge.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?