CSV Configurations

A very advanced configuration of HyLabs, which allows administrators to run the whole HyLabs system automatically using CSVs.

Using automatic CSV import, administrators can configure the whole HyLabs deployment.

Important

• CSV specifications is changed in release HyWorks v3.4-SP1-HF2 with the introduction of new fields for Custom deployment and Non-persistent reservations.

• Use appropriate CSV format as per the deployed version. Any mistakes in CSVs result in import failure.

HyLabs Configurations to be processed using CSVs

Following HyLabs Configurations can be processed using automatic import of CSVs:

1. Gold Master VMs: Gold Master VMs can be added into HyLabs and can be assigned to specific courses.

2. Courses: Courses can be processed using automatic import of Course specific CSVs

3. HyLabs users: Adding users from authorization server into HyLabs and association of users with specific courses.

4. Reservations: Defining reservations to be created using above specified HyLabs objects

5. Classification Rules: Enabling classified group creation using CSV import.

CSV Import Mechanism

HyWorks and especially HyLabs in HyWorks, enables administrators to completely manage infrastructure using CSVs.

Pre-Conditions for CSV Processing

• Prerequisites for Gold Masters Import using CSV:

  • Appropriate Dedicated Session Provider (e.g., vCenter Server) is already added and reachable.

  • Appropriate Provisioning Profile is already configured for added session provider.

• Prerequisites for HyLabs Users Import using CSV:

  • Appropriate authentication server is added and configured in the Authentication Domain of that organization.

  • Appropriate courses are already imported or created in HyLabs.

• Prerequisites for Reservations’ Processing using CSV:

  • Gold Masters are imported into HyLabs.

  • Courses are defined into HyLabs with appropriate users.

  • HyLabs users (Incharges, Assistants and Participants) are imported and added into respective courses.

CSV Processing Order

Once all CSVs are added into CSV Import Profile, then the import will follow the given below order while processing the CSVs.

Course CSV > HyLabs users CSV > Classification Rules CSV > Gold Masters CSV > Reservations CSV

CSV Import Functioning

This section will provide detailed step by step information on CSV processing along with configurations required by administrators to deploy HyLabs using CSV import:

1. All pre-requisites to process different CSVs are in place (Refer section Pre-Conditions for CSV Processing)

2. The Root path (Directory on shared or local server) to be used for CSV processing is created and is consists of sub-folders (for different CSV files)

3. Administrator has created all CSV files as needed.

4. Configure CSV Import Profile as specified in section Configuring CSV Import Settings

5. As per CSV Import Profile, CSVs will be imported either manually or using Import Frequency (Hourly or daily). The CSVs are imported as per processing order mentioned above.

6. As soon as import is triggered (automatic or manual), following process will be used to process the records:

Important points and recommendations for CSV Import

1. A CSV once imported (pass or failed) will not be imported again unless it has some modifications.

2. CSV processing order is important as subsequent CSVs will use the configurations of objects being imported using previous CSVs.

   1. Thus, all associated CSVs should be configured in single CSV import profile as HyLabs uses specified sequence to import.

3. There is no order of picking CSV import profiles and thus, if different CSV files are configured in different profiles, the import may fail.

4. For importing large number of HyLabs users using CSV following recommendations should be followed:

   1. Uncheck the checkbox “Fetch Users from Auth Server”; as selecting this option will fetch the details of all users from authentication server and thus may increase the traffic, time, and resource consumption to process CSV

   2. Distinguished Name Pattern Field Specification: It must follow the below example without any exception: CN={DisplayName},OU=India,DC=accops,DC=local

      1. Distinguished name pattern must be in the same format as specified above

      2. Any difference between the CSV imported entry and same user being added or modified from portal will result in duplicate entries. An example should be, a user with actual DN as CN=john,OU=JP,dc=accops,dc=com

         1. While importing CSV, the distinguished name pattern is specified as CN={DisplayName},OU=jp,DC=Accops,DC=com

         2. Later same user is added into different course from HyLabs portal and then it fetched the correct DN from AD which is not exactly same as being imported from CSV and thus it will create two entries of same user with different DN

5. Some configurations which are not provided in CSV, are defined from Default Reservation Settings and thus all such configurations should be appropriately defined in Default Reservation Settings.

6. For fields accepting multiple values, multi-value separator can be defined in CSV Import Settings and the provided separator should not be used in CSV data. E.g., “;” can be used to separate multiple records inside a column.

7. For Controllers in HA, CSVs should be imported from shared location (accessible from both the servers, so that in failure conditions secondary controller can take over for import.

8. All CSVs should be defined correctly as per the provided specification in section CSV Specifications.

Configuring CSV Import Settings in HyLabs

CSV Settings page in HyLabs enables the configurations for CSV imports. To configure CSV Settings, follow the below steps:

1. Go to Configuration > CSV Settings.

2. Click Add CSV Settings.

3. Add CSV Import Profile wizard will get opened, having following tabs:

4. CSV Details, having following fields:

   1. Active: To mark this CSV import settings as active or inactive.

   2. Name: Unique name for CSV Import Settings

   3. CSV For: This CSV import settings will be used to import what CSV files:

      1. Course CSV: Select this option to enable automatic course processing using CSV import.

      2. HyLabs Users CSV: Select this option to enable automatic processing of HyLabs users (Incharges, Assistants, Participants) using CSV import.

      3. Gold Master CSV: Select this option to enable automatic processing of Gold Master VMs using CSV import.

      4. Reservation CSV: Select this option to enable automatic reservation schedules processing using CSV import.

      5. Classification Rules CSV: Select this option to enable automatic classification rules processing using CSV import.

   4. Read CSV from Line Number: Specify the row number from where CSV data should be read. By default, it read from row number 1.

   5. **Encoding Type: Type of encoding format to be used to read CSV.

   6. Import Frequency: Defines the import schedule as when the CSV should be automatically imported, available options are:

      1. Hourly: Choose this option to import CSVs every hour

      2. Daily: Choose this option to import CSVs at a specific time of a day

      

   7. Fetch Users from Auth Server: Select this checkbox, while importing HyLabs users, if user details i.e., E-mail address and Distinguished Name to be fetched from AD instead of CSV.

      Note

      Selecting this option will communicate with AD for each user record and thus may increase the traffic and processing time.

      1. Distinguished Name Pattern: Distinguished Name Pattern defines, the distinguished name to be imported into HyLabs when processing CSV. An example of correct DN pattern should be: CN={Display Name},OU=India,DC=accops,DC=local e.g., user john is being imported from CSV, then in HyLabs its entry will be created as per configured distinguished name pattern i.e., CN=john,OU=India,DC=accops,dc=local

      Note

      Distinguished name pattern must be in the same format as specified above.

      Any difference between the CSV imported entry and same user being added or modified from portal will result in duplicate entries. An example should be, a user with actual DN as CN=john,OU=JP,dc=accops,dc=com

      • While importing CSV, the distinguished name pattern is specified as CN={UserName},OU=jp,DC=Accops,DC=com

      • Later same user is added into different course from HyLabs portal and then it fetched the correct DN from AD which is not exactly same as being imported from CSV and thus it will create two entries of same user with different DN

5. Click Next to move to the next tab CSV Location Details, having following configurations:

   1. Import Location: Defining the type of location from where CSV files will be imported, default selected option is Folder Path

   2. Root Path: Root folder in which specific folders for specific CSV types will be available.

      

   3. Course Folder: The field will be displayed when Course is selected in first tab. Provide the name of the folder in which CSVs for Courses will be kept.

   4. HyLabs Users Folder: The field will be displayed when HyLabs Users CSV is selected in first tab. Provide the name of the folder in which CSVs for Participants will be kept.

   5. Gold Master Folder: The field will be displayed, when Gold Master CSV is selected in first tab. Provide the name of the folder in which CSVs for Gold Masters will be kept.

   6. Reservation Folder: The field will be displayed when Reservation CSV is selected in first tab. Provide the name of the folder in which CSVs for Reservations will be kept.

   7. Classification Rules CSV Folder: The field will be displayed, when Classification Rules option is selected in first tab. Provide the name of the folder in which CSV for Classification Rules will be kept.

      

   8. Separator: Definition of default separator to be used. Default separator is comma (,)

      1. Column Separator: Default provided in comma. If needed enter any new separator for columns.

   9. Multi-Value Separator: Default multi-value (Multiple entries in a single cell) separator is semi-colon ( ; ), enter a new separator is needs to be used.

   

6. Click Next to save CSV Import Settings.

7. CSV Import Settings will be saved, and all specified CSVs will start getting processed as per configured frequency.

Manually Initiating CSV Import

Reservation admins will also be able to manually be initiating the CSV import using the following process:

1. Create CSV import profile as specified in above section.

2. Select specific CSV Import Profile from the displayed list.

3. Click Import Now.

4. CSV import will be initiated, and success status will be shown. One CSV file from each folder will get processed, as per the configurations in the selected CSV Import Settings.

Important

If a particular folder contains more than one CSV file only one file will be processed at a time. Also the file is taken randomly and thus, administrator should maintain only single CSV file in each folder.

Editing CSV Import Settings

Administrator can also edit CSV Import Settings at a later point of time if any configurations get changed. To modify CSV Import Settings, follow the below steps:

1. Select CSV Import Profile from the displayed list.

2. Click Edit CSV Import Profile .

3. In CSV Details tab

   1. Make CSV Import Settings as active/inactive. Marking any CSV Import Settings as inactive will stop automatic processing of CSVs for configured HyLabs objects.

   2. Changing name of configuration

   3. Modifying CSV For settings to enable/disable different CSVs import.

   4. Change Import Frequency

4. In CSV Locations tab, following fields can be modified:

   1. Root Path

   2. Reservation Folder

   3. Participants Folder

   4. Gold Masters Folder

   5. Courses folder

   6. Column Separator

   7. Multi-Value Separator

5. Click Save to save the settings.

Delete CSV Import Settings

1. Select CSV Import Profile from the displayed list.

2. Click Delete.

3. Confirm Action dialog will be displayed, click on Delete to continue deleting the profile.

4. CSV Import Profile will be deleted, and processing of configured CSVs will be stopped.

CSV Processing Information

Information on Dashboard

Once processed, the status of CSV processing will be displayed on reservation admin dashboard.

CSV Logs

The processed CSVs are kept at the following location and have the details of failures against the entries which are failed along with the reason of the failure.

Location: <HyWorks Installation Directory>\Service\RMSCSVImport

• Default Location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Accops\HyWorks\Service\RMSCSVImport

Example:

• In the default location, a folder with CSV import profile name will be created.

• Inside of that folder, 3 directories Processed, Processing and Fail are created.

  • Additionally Reservations and Classification Rules directories will have subdirectory Success, which will hold all added and updated records.

• To see records, which are failed, go to Fail directory.

  1. Open the latest CSV file and verify the reason.

  2. In below screenshot, an invalid course was specified using classroom name and thus the record was not processed for the HyLabs user.