Does Opalis have an Integration Pack for ________________?

This article shamelessly stolen from an email that Charles Joy sent out this morning. Hey, I know good content when I see it! Smile

As Opalis becomes more and more popular, one thing is for sure, people are going to start thinking of new use cases and new integration targets. Another “for sure” thing will be the emergence of the question, “Does Opalis have an Integration Pack for __________? ”, where you can fill in the blank with whatever product that may exist out there.

First and foremost, I am glad to see that the footprint for Opalis is growing so fast. It is an exciting time! Because this question will continue to come up, let me level-set, at least for now. At the bottom of this email, there is an image. It depicts the currently available and road-mapped (flagged with a **) list of Integration Packs. If a product is not on this list, it does not yet exist as an Integration Pack for public consumption.

Just because a product is not on this list, does not mean that Opalis cannot Integrate, Automate or Orchestrate to that product.

In many cases, Opalis can integrate to just about any product (including the ones on the list) WITHOUT an Integration Pack. Instead, Opalis would utilize one of its various “Extensibility” objects. These objects all exist within the base offering for Opalis, also known as, the Foundation Objects. Some great examples of “Extensibility Foundation Objects” are:

  • Run Program
  • Query Database
  • Run SSH Command
  • Query WMI
  • Invoke Web Services
  • Run .Net Script
  • Get/Monitor/Create SNMP Trap

Each of these can be used to GENERICALLY connect to a system. Once connected, different actions can be taken, depending on the integration surface you are connecting to and the method in which you are connecting.

If these objects cannot satisfy the requirements of the integration, Opalis ships with a fully functional and very powerful SDK. This portion of the product is called the “Quick Integration Kit” or “QIK”. With this SDK, you can BUILD YOUR OWN Integration Pack Objects and Integration Packs.

For more information on the usage of many of the “Extensibility” items I listed above, as well as QIK, please refer to the following links:

· Quick Integration Kit (QIK)

· Query Database

· Invoke Web Services

· Run .Net Script – PowerShell

· Run .Net Script – C#

· TechNet Opalis Webcast 3 of 3 - Extensibility - "No Integration Pack, No Problem" (Level 300)

CURRENT LIST OF INTEGRATION PACKS

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Thanks to Charles for this article! Be sure to visit Charles' blog at https://blogs.technet.com/b/charlesjoy/