Microservices

Microservices are independent components that execute to prevent or solve frequent issues on devices, improve performance, or speed up tasks that might require a lot of time to do manually. Microservices can be executed autonomously or as part of a broader functionality within a system.

Microservices allows creating, enabling, and publishing microservices so they can be executed at the organizational level, as a prevention or self-remediation mechanism —through flows or alerts—, or directly by the end user.

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This document describes in general terms what microservices are and how to execute them. The following articles provide more precise information about their behavior and configuration:

• Enabled. Describes how to activate a microservice for execution by an end user or from Workspaces.
• Marketplace. Shows the catalog of available microservices.
• Designer. Explains how to create new microservices and configure existing ones.
• Create with AI. Explain step-by-step how to generate microservices using natural language.

Features

Microservices offer a series of key advantages. The most relevant ones are described below:

Access to a centralized catalog

The available microservices are organized in the Marketplace section, where users can explore the catalog, select, and enable specific microservices according to the needs of their organization or particular use cases.

Creation of customized microservices

Portal allows users to easily create microservices via the Designer section. This tool guides the user, as long as they have the appropriate permissions, through all the necessary phases to build and configure their own microservice.

Execution scope configuration

Each microservice can be defined to run in one of the following contexts, configurable from the Designer section.

Execution from the local administrator

It allows direct interaction with operating system services, processes, and other resources requiring elevated privileges. It's ideal for operations that must be executed with administrator permissions, but it may restrict access to specific user information or their session.

Execution from user session

Useful for accessing user information such as their log or information contained in their profile. The script will run with the permission level the user has, so if they do not have local administrator privileges, they will not be able to perform actions requiring system access.

Ways to consume microservices

Microservices can be created and enabled in Portal, and from there configured to be executed by the end user, launched via a flow or executed with automated or support actions from Workspaces.

On-demand execution from Workspaces

Any microservice that has previously been enabled in Portal can be executed from Workspaces.

1. Access the Workspaces module -> Workspaces or Sessions section.
2. Select the devices or sessions where you want to apply the microservice.
3. In the top menu, click on the Microservices icon (>_).
4. Select the microservice you want to execute.

Microservices will be visible in the Workspaces section when they have been configured to execute in the System context, and in the Sessions section when the configuration has selected the Session context.

You can manage the execution scope of the microservice and the permissions from the Designer section. It should be noted that the ability to execute certain microservices will depend on the user's role in the platform.

Scheduled execution through Flows

Flows is a feature that allows you to define automation sequences to execute scheduled actions on devices based on the evaluation of predefined logical conditions.

Its main characteristic is that it simplifies diagnostic actions and quickly resolves problems through the execution of a microservice.

For more information on executing a microservice through a flow, please consult this guide.

Scheduled execution through Alert Settings

Through Alert Settings, it is possible to link events (event logs) to one or more microservices to prevent device issues or resolve problems promptly.

1. Go to Portal -> Monitor -> Alert Settings.
2. In the table, select an alert name to access its detailed information.
3. In the left side menu, click on the Microservices tab.
4. Click on Link.
5. In the form, choose the microservice to link to the alert and the execution order (useful when linking more than one microservice).
6. In the form, click on Link.

For more information on linking an alert to a microservice, please refer to the Alert Settings documentation.

End-user execution

When a microservice is created, it is not automatically enabled for execution by the end user. To enable it, you need to complete the following configuration:

1. Access Portal -> Microservices -> Enabled.
2. Select a microservice from the list.
3. In the Targets tab, go to the End user execution section.
4. Click on Edit and enable Execution by the end user.

Next, optionally, you can configure notification reception.

Notifications

This option lets you decide whether to notify the user when the microservice starts executing and when it finishes, whether successfully or with errors.

To do this, User Notification must be activated and the following fields completed:

• Initial text. Message displayed at the start of the microservice execution.
• Success text. Message displayed when execution completes successfully.
• Error text. Message displayed when execution ends with errors.

Notifications will appear in the Windows notification bar.

Rename the microservices folder

When microservices are enabled for execution by the end user, they are automatically added to a device folder called Flexxible; however, this name can be changed.

1. Go to Portal -> Settings -> Organization.
2. In the left sidebar, click on the Microservices tab -> Edit microservices settings.
3. Rename the folder.
4. Click on Save.

The chosen name must be between 3 and 50 characters, and can only contain letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores.

If the device has Windows 11 as the operating system and only one microservice is enabled for an end user, the folder will not be displayed; instead, only the microservice icon will be visible in the Start menu.

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For more information on how to enable a microservice for the end user, please refer to this guide.

Microservice execution tracking

To facilitate analysis and issue resolution, the platform allows you to check the status, duration, and outcome of microservice execution through the Operations section.

To consult the operations:

1. Access Portal -> Operations.

2. Select the corresponding operation. The side menu provides access to different areas of execution: Details, Workspaces, and Events.

   

Details

This tab displays summary cards with the main operation indicators:

• Status. Current situation of the operation.
• Summary. Visual indicator of the overall result of the operation.
• Duration. Total time the operation execution lasted.
• Workspaces. Number of devices on which the operation was executed.
• Microservice. Name of the executed microservice. By clicking, you can access its detail view.

Overview

This section presents a table with the following information:

• Description. Brief explanation of the operation performed.
• Operation type. Operation executed.
• Status. Current execution situation: Pending, In progress, Error, Timeout, or Completed.
• Created on. Date and time of operation record creation.
• Started on. Date and time when the execution started.
• Complete. Date and time of execution completion.
• Scheduled date. Date and time from which the microservice will be executed.
• Maximum scheduled date. Date and time limit for the execution of the microservice.

Workspaces

This tab displays a table with the list of devices on which the microservice was executed.

Each record includes the following information:

• Name. Device identification. By clicking, you can access its detail view.
• Report Group. Reporting group to which the device belongs.
• Status. Execution status of the operation on that device.
• Started on. Date and time when the execution started.
• Ended At. Date and time of completion.
• Actions. Allows access to the Executed microservice detail.

Events

This section shows the history of events generated by the system during microservice execution, allowing you to diagnose errors or verify progress.

The information of each event includes:

• Date. Date and time when the event was recorded.
• Type. Event level: Information, Error, or Critical.
• Origin. System component that generated the event.
• Message. Detailed description of the event.

Operation states

• Pending. The operation is registered but hasn't started execution yet.
• In progress. The operation is currently being executed.
• Error. The operation finished with errors.
• Timeout. The operation did not finish within the maximum allowed time. For microservices, this time is approximately four hours.
• Completed. The operation completed successfully.

Considerations

• If a microservice is executed on a powered-off device, the operation will end with an error.

• If at the time of executing a microservice the device is off or not reporting, the execution will fail and will not automatically execute when the device is turned on.

• When a microservice is launched on a very large group of devices, operations are processed in a queue (state Pending). In this case, when starting the operation from the console, the command may not have been sent to the device yet. If the device turns on during that time, the operation will be able to execute.

• The execution of a microservice can also be scheduled to start from a certain time. In this case, the operation is scheduled and won't start until the indicated time. During that time, the status of devices may change.

• The maximum execution time for a microservice is approximately 4 hours. If the device is restarted during execution, the operation will remain active in the console until reaching that limit. After that time, it will end with Timeout status.

Executed microservice detail

The microservice execution detail view includes the following information:

• Started on. Date and time when the execution started.
• Ended At. Date and time of completion.
• Duration. Total time elapsed between start and completion.
• Microservice executed. Identifier code of the microservice.
• Output. Information generated as a result of the execution, useful for validating the result and analyzing possible issues.

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For more information about Operations, consult its documentation.