Windows Workflow Manager for the IT Pro

1. Windows Workflow Manager
for the IT Pro
Penelope Coventry

2. 2

3. Speaker Bio
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
PPP Consulting Ltd
Microsoft MVP SharePoint Server
MCSE: SharePoint
Independent Consultant
Author/Co-author of 10+ SharePoint Books
Trainer
Worked with SharePoint since 2001
Based in UK, work in Europe & US
•
Blogs/Web Site
•
http://www.sharepointdesignerstepbystep.com/
Twitter: @pjcov

4. Agenda
Overview
SharePoint 2013 Workflows Out-of-the-Box
SharePoint 2010 Workflows
SharePoint 2013 Workflows & SharePoint Designer 2013
IT Infrastructure
Workflow Manager Installation

5. SharePoint 2013 : Two Workflow Engines
•
SharePoint
Workflow Host
o
o
o
o
o
“Classic model”
“2010 model”
No enhancements
Same limitations
Same
Actions/Conditions
•
Workflow
Manager
o
o
“New model”
“2013 model”

6. Comparing 2010 / 2013 Workflow
•
WF 3.5
o
Workflows run inside
SharePoint
•
WF 4.5
o
Workflows run outside
in remote service

7. 2010 Issues that 2013 Addresses
•
2010
o
o
o
o
On-Premise focus
Full-trust extensions
Limited scale
Limited robustness
•
2013
o
o
o
o
Cloud ≈ On-Premises
CSOM/REST/OAuth
Flexible scale
More robust

8. Why use 2010 workflow at all?
•
•
•
You‟re upgrading
You know 2010 workflow; it works
Quirks well-understood
No extra installations
o
o
You have SharePoint Foundation
o
•
3.5 and 4.5 are incompatible
No upgrade / conversion option
o
o
•
•
Workflow Manager
SharePoint Server
Depends on SharePoint User Profiles
You want features not in 2013
o
(and you don‟t want to use Visual Studio)

9. Agenda
Overview
SharePoint 2013 Workflows Out-of-the-Box
SharePoint 2010 Workflows
SharePoint 2013 Workflows & SharePoint Designer 2013
IT Infrastructure
Workflow Manager Installation

10. SharePoint 2013 Workflow Templates
•
There isn‟t any

11. Agenda
Overview
SharePoint 2013 Workflows Out-of-the-Box
SharePoint 2010 Workflows
SharePoint 2013 Workflows & SharePoint Designer 2013
IT Infrastructure
Workflow Manager Installation

12. SharePoint 2010 Workflows
•
•
•
•
As Before
Workflow Foundation 3.5
Use Visio To Capture Requirements
Use SharePoint Designer or Visual Studio to
Build Workflow Templates

13. Agenda
Overview
SharePoint 2013 Workflows Out-of-the-Box
SharePoint 2010 Workflows
SharePoint 2013 Workflows & SharePoint Designer 2013
IT Infrastructure
Workflow Manager Installation

14. SharePoint 2013 Workflows
New Building Blocks
•
•
•
Stages
Control Actions
Loop
o
•
o
App-Only Step
o
•
Loop n times
Loop with Condition
o
Actions (activities) run as App ID permission
Not restricted to permissions of initiator
Parallel Block
o
„CompletionCondition‟ short-circuit of exit

15. New Variable Type:
Dictionary
•
Container
o
•
Actions
o
o
o
•
A Collection of other Variables
Build Dictionary
Count Items In A Dictionary
Get An Item From A Dictionary
Critical when using Call HTTP Web Services

16. Copy & Paste
•
•
Workflow logics can be copied and pasted
Pasted into Word & Notepad

17. Packaging
•
Not only reusable workflow but also list/site
workflow can be packaged

18. Views - Visual Designer
•
New design surface in SharePoint Designer
2013
o
o
o
•
Creating and editing SharePoint 2013 workflows
Based off the Visio design surface
Click and drag experience for creating/editing
Workflow
Fully integrated experience between
Business Analyst and Workflow Developer
o
o
SPD and Visio both use the same VSDX file
Stage View for flow-level view

19. SharePoint 2013 Workflows:
Missing Actions & Conditions
•
•
Document Set related actions
o
o
o
o
Capture a version of the Document Set
Send Document Set to Repository
Set Content Approval Status for the Document Set
Start Document Set Approval Process
Impersonation Step
Permission related actions and conditions
o
o
o
o
o
o
Add List Item Permissions
Inherit List Item Parent Permissions
Remove List Item Permissions
Replace List Item Permissions
Check list item permission levels (condition)
Check list item permissions (condition)

20. SharePoint 2013 Workflows:
Missing Features
•
Task and Task Process related actions
o
o
o
o
o
o
•
Assign a Form to a Group
Assign a To-do Item
Collect Data from a User
Start Approval Process
Start Custom Task Process
Start Feedback Process
Others
o
o
o
o
o
o
Lookup Manager of a User
Declare Record
Set Content Approval Status
Wait for Field Change in Current Item
If current item field equals value (condition)
Impersonation Step (Block)

21. SharePoint 2013 Workflows:
No Visualization
•
Not supported in WF4

22. Windows 2013 Workflows:
No InfoPath Forms
•
•
Not supported in WF4
Aspx pages are auto-generated:
o
o
o
Association Form
Initiation Form
Task forms

23. Mitigation
•
•
Start a List Workflow
Start a Site Workflow
23

24. WINDOWS 2013 WORKFLOWS:
VISUAL DESIGNER
TEXT-BASED DESIGNER

25. Agenda
Overview
SharePoint 2013 Workflows Out-of-the-Box
SharePoint 2010 Workflows
SharePoint 2013 Workflows & SharePoint Designer 2013
IT Infrastructure
Workflow Manager Installation

26. What is Workflow?
•
Window Workflow
Foundation: 3
components
o
•
Runtime
Activity Programming Model
Runtime
• Workflow Execution
• Workflow Lifecycle
Management
o
Workflow
Activity
Library
Activities
• Sequential
• State Machines
• Custom Activities
o
Activities
Core Runtime (Workflow Instance)
Persistence
Tooling
No Inherent
execution process
Host Runtime & Services
Tracking
Timers
Process (.exe, IIS, …)
Tooling
VS Designer
Rehost
Designer
Custom
Designer
26

27. Hosting .NET Workflows
• Async execution of a single workflow instance
• Explicit, fine-grained control of the WF runtime
• Host application integration
• WF-driven UI
• Async execution of multiple workflow instances
• Supports durable
timers, persistence, tracking, WCF
SOAP, correlation, etc.
• Systems integration
• Service-based architecture
• Multi-tenant, scalable hosting of workflows
• Turnkey artifact management
• Supports durable
timers, persistence, HTTP, pub/sub using Service
Bus, etc.
• Extensible SaaS applications
Workflow Application
Activity Prog Model
Core Runtime
Host Services
Workflow Service Host
Activity Prog Model
Core Runtime
Host Services
Workflow Manager
Activity Prog Model
Core Runtime
Host Services

28. What is Workflow Manager?
•
Design Goals
o
o
o
o
o
Scale &
Reliability
Multi-tenancy
Cloud-based
Messaging
Turnkey
WF4 Prog
Model
HTTP &
HTTPS
WF Resources
.NET Client
WF Backend
(.EXE)
WF Gateway
(IIS)
Service Bus

29. Workflow Manager Components
29

30. Workflow Manager Infrastructure
•
•
•
•
HTTP or HTTPS
communication
•
One App Pool:
WorkflowMgmtPool
One Site:
Workflow Management Site
6 SQL Server
Databases
o
• WFManagementDB
• WFInstanceManagement
DB
• WFResourceManagemet
DB
4 Windows NT Services
o
o
o
o
WorkflowServiceBackend
Service Bus Backend
Service Bus Gateway
FabricHostSvc
Workflow Databases
o
Service Bus Databases:
• SBManagementDB
• SbGatewayDatabase
• SBMessageContainer01

31. SharePoint 2013 Workflows
SharePoint
Workflow
Authoring
SharePoint
WF
Workflow
Visual Studio
SharePoint
Designer
WF
HTTP /
OData
Office 365
----SharePoint Server
Windows Azure Workflow
----Workflow Manager

32. Workflow Manager Architecture

33. Agenda
Overview
SharePoint 2013 Workflows Out-of-the-Box
SharePoint 2010 Workflows
SharePoint 2013 Workflows & SharePoint Designer 2013
IT Infrastructure
Workflow Manager Installation

34. Workflow Manager Installation: Before
1. SQL Server
o
o
2008 R2 SP1, Express 2008 R2 SP1, or 2012.
TCP/IP connections or named pipes must be
configured in SQL Server.
2. Minimum Hardware: 2 Cores, 2GB RAM
o
o
Windows Firewall must be enabled.
Ports 12290 and 12291 must be available
3. User Accounts
i.
ii.
iii.
Configuration user: administrative credential
RunAs User (service account)
Admin Group

35. Workflow Manager Installation
•
Install
o
o
o
•
•
Using WebPI or
Download Center
Prerequisites
Binaries
Run Workflow Manager Configuration Wizard
Create Workflow Manager Farm
o
o
Certification Generation Key
Similar to PassPhrase in a SP Farm

36. Web Platform Installer (WebPI)
•
•
Free tool
Makes getting the latest Web components easy
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Internet Information Services (IIS),
SQL Server Express,
.NET Framework and
Visual Web Developer
Service Bus 1.0
Service Bus 1.0 Cumulative Update 1
Workflow Manager 1.0
Workflow Manager 1.0 Cumulative Update 1
36

37. Autogenerated Certificates
•
Workflow Manager Configuration wizard
o
•
Service Bus
o
o
o
•
Expiry date (5 years)
AppServerGeneratedSBCA
Farm certificate
Encryption certificate
Workflow Manager
o
o
o
Services SSL certificate – Self-signed
Encryption certificate
Outbound signing certificate – CA Root Certificate
37

38. Viewing Certificates
38

39. Check Workflow Manager Installation
•
PowerShell
o
o
o
o
•
Get-SBFarm
Get-SBFarmStatus
Get-WFFarm
Get-WFFarmStatus
Browser
o
https://wmnlbname:12290
39

40. Register Workflow Manager Farm with
SharePoint Farm
•
SharePoint Server :
o
At least KB2767999 March 2013 Cumulative Update
Register-SPWorkflowService
–SPSite http://intranet.adventure-works.com
–WorkflowHostUri https://wmnlbname:12290
–AllowOauthHttp
•
If SP Server not a Workflow Node: Install Client Version of WM

41. Check Workflow Manager to
SharePoint Communication
•
Central Administration
o
o
Workflow Service Application Proxy
Workflow Service Status page
• Workflow is Connected
•
Create a SharePoint 2013 workflow using
SharePoint Designer
41

42. Valid Topologies and High Availability
•
Storage – No Native support in Workflow Manager
o
o
•
o
SQL Mirroring
SQL Replication
Backups and / or Backup and log shipping
Service Bus
o
One or Three servers
42

43. Recommended Configurations
•
Use
o
o
o
o
o
•
•
SSL
SQL Alias for SQL Server
Separate SQL Instance
Dedicated RunAs (service) Account
Leave everything else as defaults
Use Workflow Manager Configuration Wizard
or PowerShell
Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity
43

44. Monitoring a Workflow Manager Farm
•
•
Performance Counters
Event Tracing for Windows(ETW)
o
•
Windows PowerShell
o
•
Event Viewer
Get-WFFarm
System Center Operations Manager
Management Pack

45. Resources
•
Spence Harbar‟s Workflow Manager series
o
•
•
•
•
Andrew Connell‟s blog
o
http://www.andrewconnell.com/Tags/Workflow
Configure workflow in SharePoint Server 2013
o
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj658586.aspx
Workflow Manager 1.0
o
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj193528(v=azure.10)
Service Bus Architecture
o
•
•
http://www.harbar.net/archive/2013/08/02/Article-Workflow-Manager-Farms-for-SharePoint2013-Part-Four-End.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/72646b45-646f-4dfb-ab52e42f187655e7(v=azure.10)
Disaster Recovery and Scope Restore in Workflow Manager 1.0
o
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj730570(v=azure.10).aspx
Web Platform Installer v4 command line (WebPICMD.exe)
o
http://www.iis.net/learn/install/web-platform-installer/web-platform-installer-v4-command-linewebpicmdexe-rtw-release
45

46. Questions
46

47. Please rate this session!
Fill out the survey and get a chance to win a Surface