Third party software on GCP VM

[ayushmaheshwari]

Hi @ms4446 

I shall be grateful if you can help me

I have the following use case:

1) I have a third party software which is to with Robotic Process Automation called "Automation Everywhere"

2) Currently I have that software installed locally on my machine in Windows and I have automated certain processes/ tasks using that third party software

3) The outputs of the automation are fed separately into a cloud composer pipeline and I do some Dataform based transformations, etc

4) Now, my question is:

A) Instead of doing the RPA process with the software installed locally, can I install it on a Windows VM ?

B) Fundamental question:

I will be running the RPA process periodically. When the RPA is not run during certain periods of the day or month, the VM will be shut

Let's say I have run a RPA process on : 21 July and 22 July. Next I want to run it on 27 July. So the VM will be shut from 23 July to 26 July.

When I switch it back on on 27 July, will it be the same VM machine I will have in hand or will it be a different VM machine but with installations mirrored on the new machine? I want to understand this scenario.

Will the IP address of the machine (VM) used on 21 July and 22 July and then the machine (VM) to be used on 27 July be same?

I will be installing some dependencies as well on the VM related to Automation Everywhere

[ayushmaheshwari]

 Hi @ms4446 

I shall be grateful if you can help here

[HellloWorld]

You are asking if you can run Automation Anywhere, a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software, on a Windows virtual machine (VM) instead of your local machine. You also want to know if the VM you use will remain the same or change when you shut it down temporarily and restart it later ?

1. Yes, you can install and run Automation Anywhere on a Windows VM.
2. When you shut down the VM, it preserves its state, so when you restart it, it will generally be the same machine with the same IP address unless configured otherwise. This means your installations, including Automation Anywhere and its dependencies, will likely remain intact on the same VM. The IP address should generally remain the same unless you specifically change it.
3. This setup allows you to automate processes with Automation Anywhere, feed the outputs to a cloud composer pipeline, and perform Dataform-based transformations as you currently do.

[ayushmaheshwari]

You said that: This means your installations, including Automation Anywhere and its dependencies, will likely remain intact on the same VM. The IP address should generally remain the same unless you specifically change it.

If I would like to specifically change the IP address. In that case, how do I go about? Does that mean I will gave to reinstall the dependencies? 

[ayushmaheshwari]

Hi @ms4446 and all

I shall be grateful if you can put some insight. I want the IP address of the VM To be released each time the VM is stopped. I believe this is Ephimeral IP address as described here: IP addresses  |  VPC  |  Google Cloud

1) My question is, if the IP address is released each time the VM is stopped, then, the next time i start the VM Again, do I have to reinstall the softwares (like Automation Everywhere and its dependencies?

2) Can I handle start and stop and restart of VM through a python script that is being run through Cloud Composer?

Thanks

[jaia]

Hello,

I would like to answer your questions:

1. Yes, if your VM uses an ephemeral IP address that gets released upon stopping, you might need to reinstall software like Automation Anywhere and its dependencies when you restart the VM. This is because the software installation might be tied to the specific IP address associated with the VM during installation.

2. Yes, you can definitely manage VM start, stop, and restart through a Python script running within Cloud Composer. Cloud Composer provides access to the Google Cloud Compute Engine API through libraries like googleapiclient. Your script can use these libraries to interact with your VMs.

Regards,
Jai Ade

[jaia]

Hello,

Thank you for your engagement regarding this issue. We haven’t heard back from you regarding this issue for sometime now. Hence, I'm going to close this issue which will no longer be monitored. However, if you have any new issues, Please don’t hesitate to create a new issue. We will be happy to assist you on the same.

Regards,
Jai Ade