Rundeck Basic Workflow: Step-by-Step

Here’s a clear explanation of the Rundeck Basic Workflow, perfect for beginners or teams implementing Rundeck for the first time.

🔄 Rundeck Basic Workflow: Step-by-Step

This describes the standard flow from job creation to execution and logging.

📋 1. Create a Project

• A Project is the top-level container in Rundeck.
• Each project holds:
  • Jobs
  • Node definitions
  • ACL policies
  • Plugins/configuration

rd projects create --project my-project

🛠️ 2. Define Nodes (Targets)

• Nodes are the machines or environments where jobs will run.
• Methods:
  • Static file (resources.xml or YAML)
  • Cloud-based discovery (AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, etc.)
  • Script-based plugin

- hostname: web01.example.com
  username: ubuntu
  tags: web
Code language: CSS (css)

🧱 3. Create a Job

• Jobs are defined using:
  • GUI
  • YAML/XML
  • REST API
  • Rundeck CLI (rd jobs)
• Jobs contain:
  • Steps (commands/scripts)
  • Node filters
  • Options (parameters)
  • Notifications
  • Scheduling (cron)

🔧 4. Configure Workflow

• Define one or more Steps:
  • Inline shell script
  • External scripts
  • Ansible/Terraform/kubectl
• Choose execution type:
  • Sequential
  • Parallel
  • Node-first vs. Step-first

⏰ 5. Schedule or Trigger the Job

• Manual: via UI or CLI
• Scheduled: cron-based
• API/Webhook: from Jenkins, GitHub, or external alerting tools

rd run -j "backup-job"
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

⚙️ 6. Execution on Nodes

• Rundeck server connects to nodes (via SSH, WinRM, plugins).
• Executes each job step in order.
• Context variables and options are passed to scripts.

📬 7. Notifications (Optional)

• Send job status to:
  • Email
  • Slack
  • Webhook
  • PagerDuty
• Configurable per job or globally

📝 8. Logging and Output

• Each job run is recorded:
  • Start/End time
  • User
  • Node output logs
  • Status (SUCCEEDED/FAILED)
• View logs in UI or export via CLI/API

rd executions follow 12345

🧠 Rundeck Basic Workflow Visual Summary:

[ Project ]
    ↓
[ Job Definition ]
    ↓
[ Workflow Steps ]
    ↓
[ Node Selection ]
    ↓
[ Job Execution ]
    ↓
[ Notification & Logs ]
Code language: CSS (css)

✅ Summary: Why This Matters

Rajesh Kumar

I’m a DevOps/SRE/DevSecOps/Cloud Expert passionate about sharing knowledge and experiences. I have worked at Cotocus. I share tech blog at DevOps School, travel stories at Holiday Landmark, stock market tips at Stocks Mantra, health and fitness guidance at My Medic Plus, product reviews at TrueReviewNow , and SEO strategies at Wizbrand.

Do you want to learn Quantum Computing?

Please find my social handles as below;

Rajesh Kumar Personal Website
Rajesh Kumar at YOUTUBE
Rajesh Kumar at INSTAGRAM
Rajesh Kumar at X
Rajesh Kumar at FACEBOOK
Rajesh Kumar at LINKEDIN
Rajesh Kumar at WIZBRAND

Rajesh Kumar DailyLogs