{"id":49348,"date":"2025-05-18T16:31:48","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T16:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/?p=49348"},"modified":"2026-02-21T07:28:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T07:28:29","slug":"rundeck-basic-workflow-step-by-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/rundeck-basic-workflow-step-by-step\/","title":{"rendered":"Rundeck Basic Workflow: Step-by-Step"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a clear explanation of the Rundeck Basic Workflow<\/strong>, perfect for beginners or teams implementing Rundeck for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udd04 Rundeck Basic Workflow: Step-by-Step<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This describes the standard flow from job creation to execution and logging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udccb 1. Create a Project<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • A Project<\/strong> is the top-level container in Rundeck.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Each project holds:\n
      \n
    • Jobs<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Node definitions<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • ACL policies<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Plugins\/configuration<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n
      rd projects create --project my-project\n<\/code><\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n
      \n\n\n\n
      \ud83d\udee0\ufe0f 2. Define Nodes (Targets)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Nodes are the machines or environments where jobs will run.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Methods:\n
          \n
        • Static file (resources.xml<\/code> or YAML)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Cloud-based discovery (AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, etc.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Script-based plugin<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n
          -<\/span> hostname<\/span>: web01<\/span>.example<\/span>.com<\/span>\n  username<\/span>: ubuntu<\/span>\n  tags<\/span>: web<\/span>\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> CSS<\/span> (<\/span>css<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
          \n\n\n\n
          \ud83e\uddf1 3. Create a Job<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
            \n
          • Jobs are defined using:\n
              \n
            • GUI<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • YAML\/XML<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • REST API<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • Rundeck CLI (rd jobs<\/code>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • Jobs contain:\n
                \n
              • Steps<\/strong> (commands\/scripts)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Node filters<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Options (parameters)<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Notifications<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Scheduling (cron)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                \n\n\n\n
                \ud83d\udd27 4. Configure Workflow<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                  \n
                • Define one or more Steps<\/strong>:\n
                    \n
                  • Inline shell script<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • External scripts<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • Ansible\/Terraform\/kubectl<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                  • Choose execution type:\n
                      \n
                    • Sequential<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    • Parallel<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    • Node-first<\/strong> vs. Step-first<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                      \n\n\n\n
                      \u23f0 5. Schedule or Trigger the Job<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                        \n
                      • Manual: via UI or CLI<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      • Scheduled: cron-based<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                      • API\/Webhook: from Jenkins, GitHub, or external alerting tools<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n
                        rd run -j \"backup-job\"<\/span>\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> JavaScript<\/span> (<\/span>javascript<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
                        \n\n\n\n
                        \u2699\ufe0f 6. Execution on Nodes<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                          \n
                        • Rundeck server connects to nodes (via SSH, WinRM, plugins).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                        • Executes each job step in order.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                        • Context variables and options are passed to scripts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                          \n\n\n\n
                          \ud83d\udcec 7. Notifications (Optional)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                            \n
                          • Send job status to:\n
                              \n
                            • Email<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            • Slack<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            • Webhook<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            • PagerDuty<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                            • Configurable per job or globally<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                              \n\n\n\n
                              \ud83d\udcdd 8. Logging and Output<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
                                \n
                              • Each job run is recorded:\n
                                  \n
                                • Start\/End time<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                                • User<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                                • Node output logs<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                                • Status (SUCCEEDED\/FAILED)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
                                • View logs in UI or export via CLI\/API<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n
                                  rd executions follow 12345\n<\/code><\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n
                                  \n\n\n\n
                                  \ud83e\udde0 Rundeck Basic Workflow Visual Summary:<\/h3>\n\n\n
                                  [ Project ]<\/span>\n    \u2193\n[ Job Definition ]<\/span>\n    \u2193\n[ Workflow Steps ]<\/span>\n    \u2193\n[ Node Selection ]<\/span>\n    \u2193\n[ Job Execution ]<\/span>\n    \u2193\n[ Notification & Logs ]<\/span>\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> CSS<\/span> (<\/span>css<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
                                  \n\n\n\n
                                  \u2705 Summary: Why This Matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
                                  Step<\/th>Purpose<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
                                  Project<\/td>Organize jobs and configs<\/td><\/tr>
                                  Nodes<\/td>Target environments<\/td><\/tr>
                                  Job<\/td>Defines what will run<\/td><\/tr>
                                  Workflow<\/td>Logic and steps<\/td><\/tr>
                                  Execution<\/td>Actual run time on node<\/td><\/tr>
                                  Notification<\/td>Alerting and visibility<\/td><\/tr>
                                  Logging<\/td>Audit and debugging<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
                                  \n\n\n\n
                                  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
                                  Here’s a clear explanation of the Rundeck Basic Workflow, perfect for beginners or teams implementing Rundeck for the first time. \ud83d\udd04 Rundeck Basic Workflow: Step-by-Step This describes the standard flow… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49348"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58975,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49348\/revisions\/58975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}