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Track updated files with an Azure Automation watcher task
This article tells how to create a watcher task in the Azure Automation account to watch for new files created in a folder.
automation
process-automation
conceptual
10/30/2018

Track updated files with a watcher task

Azure Automation uses a watcher task to look for events and trigger actions with PowerShell runbooks. The watcher task contains two parts, the watcher and the action. A watcher runbook runs at an interval defined in the watcher task, and outputs data to an action runbook.

Note

Watcher tasks are not supported in Azure China Vianet 21.

Important

Starting in May 2020, using Azure Logic Apps is the supported way to monitor for events, schedule recurring tasks, and trigger actions. See Schedule and run recurring automated tasks, processes, and workflows with Azure Logic Apps.

This tutorial walks you through creating a watcher task to monitor when a new file is added to a directory. You learn how to:

[!div class="checklist"]

  • Import a watcher runbook
  • Create an Automation variable
  • Create an action runbook
  • Create a watcher task
  • Trigger a watcher
  • Inspect the output

Prerequisites

To complete this tutorial, the following are required:

Import a watcher runbook

This tutorial uses a watcher runbook called Watch-NewFile to look for new files in a directory. The watcher runbook retrieves the last known write time to the files in a folder and looks at any files newer than that watermark.

This import process can be done through the PowerShell Gallery.

  1. Navigate to the gallery page for Watch-NewFile.ps1.
  2. Under the Azure Automation tab, click Deploy to Azure Automation.

You can also import this runbook into your automation account from the portal using the following steps.

  1. Open your Automation account, and click on the Runbooks page.
  2. Click Browse gallery.
  3. Search for Watcher runbook, select Watcher runbook that looks for new files in a directory, and click Import. Import automation runbook from UI
  4. Give the runbook a name and description and click OK to import the runbook into your Automation account.
  5. Select Edit and then click Publish. When prompted, click Yes to publish the runbook.

Create an Automation variable

An automation variable is used to store the timestamps that the preceding runbook reads and stores from each file.

  1. Select Variables under Shared Resources and click + Add a variable.
  2. Enter Watch-NewFileTimestamp for the name.
  3. Select DateTime for the type.
  4. Click Create to create the Automation variable.

Create an action runbook

An action runbook is used in a watcher task to act on the data passed to it from a watcher runbook. You must import a predefined action runbook called Process-NewFile from the PowerShell Gallery.

To create an action runbook:

  1. Navigate to the gallery page for Process-NewFile.ps1.
  2. Under the Azure Automation tab, click Deploy to Azure Automation.

You can also import this runbook into your Automation account from the Azure portal:

  1. Navigate to your Automation account and select Runbooks under Process Automation.
  2. Click Browse gallery.
  3. Search for Watcher action, select Watcher action that processes events triggered by a watcher runbook, and click Import. Import action runbook from UI
  4. Give the runbook a name and description and click OK to import the runbook into your Automation account.
  5. Select Edit and then click Publish. When prompted, click Yes to publish the runbook.

Create a watcher task

In this step, you configure the watcher task referencing the watcher and action runbooks defined in the preceding sections.

  1. Navigate to your Automation account and select Watcher tasks under Process Automation.

  2. Select the Watcher tasks page and click + Add a watcher task.

  3. Enter WatchMyFolder as the name.

  4. Select Configure watcher and choose the Watch-NewFile runbook.

  5. Enter the following values for the parameters:

    • FOLDERPATH - A folder on the Hybrid Runbook Worker where new files get created, for example, d:\examplefiles.
    • EXTENSION - Extension for the configuration. Leave blank to process all file extensions.
    • RECURSE - Recursive operation. Leave this value as the default.
    • RUN SETTINGS - Setting for running the runbook. Pick the hybrid worker.

  6. Click OK, and then Select to return to the Watcher page.

  7. Select Configure action and choose the Process-NewFile runbook.

  8. Enter the following values for the parameters:

    • EVENTDATA - Event data. Leave blank. Data is passed in from the watcher runbook.
    • Run Settings - Setting for running the runbook. Leave as Azure, as this runbook runs in Azure Automation.

  9. Click OK, and then Select to return to the Watcher page.

  10. Click OK to create the watcher task.

Configure watcher action from UI

Trigger a watcher

You must run a test as described below to ensure that the watcher task works as expected.

  1. Remote into the Hybrid Runbook Worker.
  2. Open PowerShell and create a test file in the folder.
New-Item -Name ExampleFile1.txt

The following example shows the expected output.

    Directory: D:\examplefiles


Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
-a----       12/11/2017   9:05 PM              0 ExampleFile1.txt

Inspect the output

  1. Navigate to your Automation account and select Watcher tasks under Process Automation.

  2. Select the watcher task WatchMyFolder.

  3. Click on View watcher streams under Streams to see that the watcher has found the new file and started the action runbook.

  4. To see the action runbook jobs, click on View watcher action jobs. Each job can be selected to view the details of the job.

    Watcher action jobs from UI

The expected output when the new file is found can be seen in the following example:

Message is Process new file...

Passed in data is @{FileName=D:\examplefiles\ExampleFile1.txt; Length=0}

Next steps

In this tutorial, you learned how to:

[!div class="checklist"]

  • Import a watcher runbook
  • Create an Automation variable
  • Create an action runbook
  • Create a watcher task
  • Trigger a watcher
  • Inspect the output

Follow this link to learn more about authoring your own runbook.

[!div class="nextstepaction"] Create a PowerShell runbook