Orchestration

CMP provides an orchestration framework that enables customization and extension of many back-end processes such as server provisioning and lifecycle management, user authentication, and order approval flows.

Teams use this framework to:

• Create DNS records for servers before provisioning.
• Automatically add servers to an external asset tracking system.
• Enable monitoring of new servers.
• Communicate with the storage array to allocate a new LUN upon user request.
• Send messages to chat systems when new resources or servers are built.
• Synchronize user-group membership with Active Directory when users log in.

Ways to orchestrate your cloud

Actions are executable code, including CMP plugins, remote scripts, webhooks, emails, and external orchestration flows. Actions can modify jobs, orders, servers, groups, environments, and more. They can take additional input, communicate progress to the end user, or instruct CMP to make calls into external systems (for example, vCenter, AWS, ServiceNow, Infoblox). For details, see Actions.

The same action can be invoked in several ways:

• Orchestration actions: Hook custom logic into CMP processes at various trigger points, for example, during server ordering or provisioning.
• Blueprint actions: Customize blueprint deployment.
• Server actions: Run actions on individual servers after provisioning.
• Resource actions: Run actions on deployed resources.
• Inbound webhooks: Expose a custom API endpoint that invokes a plugin.
• Rules: Periodically tested conditions that may execute actions.
• External orchestrators: Use existing orchestration content from within CMP.

Two related item types share the same admin area. Shared modules hold reusable code that plugins and other shared modules import, so exported actions carry their common code with them. MCP tool actions define your own tools for LLM agents to discover and invoke.

Add an action

Go to Admin > All Actions to see all action types in one place, or open a specific list, such as Admin > Orchestration Actions, Admin > Server Actions, or Admin > Resource Actions. Most list pages group three choices under an Add button:

• Create New: Write a brand new action.
• Create from Repository: Fetch the source code from a repository.
• Upload: Add an action that was previously exported from CMP. The button names the type, for example Upload Server Action.

Beside it, Import from the Content Library brings in a sample from the Content Library. Shared Modules is the exception, with no Content Library option.

The Orchestration Actions page works differently. It has no Add button and no Create New; its toolbar offers Create from Repository, Upload Action, and Import from Library. To write an action from scratch, select a trigger point in the tree on the left and use the add button that appears. That button is named after the trigger point you selected, so choosing Post-Delete gives you Add Post-Delete Action. A new orchestration action must be attached to a trigger point, which is why the button stays hidden until you pick one.

Content Library

The Content Library hosts samples of the use cases above. Administrators can browse and import them in a few clicks from the admin pages for orchestration, server, resource, rules, and recurring jobs.