Counters
Updated: May 13, 2016
Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Orchestrator, System Center 2012 - Orchestrator, System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator
When building runbooks in System Center 2012 - Orchestrator, you might find that there are values that must be incremented, such as keeping track of the number of backup attempts that a runbook made. Counters let you modify and check the status of a number that you can use to keep track of important statistics. You create a counter in the Connections pane in the Runbook Designer, and then get and modify it by using the Get Counter Value and Modify Counter activities. Each of these activities presents the value of the counter as Published Data so that it can be used by other activities and links.
Important
The access permissions for counters can be modified, but the Runbook server does not enforce these permissions.
Warning
You cannot run multiple, simultaneous jobs for runbooks that contain Modify Counter activities because simultaneous jobs of the same runbook that modify (set, reset, increment, or decrement) a counter can cause the counter value to become unreliable. You can, however, read the value of counters in runbooks that run simultaneously.
Important
Orchestrator does not support moving multiple counters with multiple-selection. To move more than one counter to another folder, you must move each counter individually.
Use the following procedures to create a counter and to organize counters.
To create a counter
In the Connections pane, double-click the Global Settings folder, right-click the Counters folder or a subfolder of the Counters folder to select New, and then click Counter to open the New Counter dialog box.
In the Name box, type a name for the counter.
In the Description box, type a description that explains the purpose of the counter.
In the Default Value box, type the starting value of the counter. This value is the starting value of the counter when it is created or reset.
To modify a counter, double-click the counter.
To remove a counter, right-click the counter to select Delete.
Click Finish.
To organize counters
You can group counters in folders to organize them. To create a folder, right-click the Counters folder to select New, and then click Folder.
To move a counter to a different folder, right-click the counter to select Move to open the Select a Folder dialog box.
Select the destination folder, and then click OK. The counter is moved to the new folder location.
See Also