Automating tasks in cloud computing environments is an essential feature for optimizing the execution of repetitive activities, improving productivity, and reducing costs. With modern tools, it’s possible to schedule various actions on cloud servers, such as backups, configuration changes, and scalability, ensuring greater control and efficiency in infrastructure management.
Cloud8’s automation functionality works through one-time or recurring schedules, and does not support reactive automations, such as execution based on metrics.
Tasks that can be automated in Cloud8 #
Automations for Instances #
- Start : Start a disconnected instance.
- Stop : To stop an active instance.
- Upgrade / Downgrade
- Change Volume Type : Change the type of data volume attached to the server.
- Backup : Performs a backup of the instance.
- Copy backup to region : performs an asynchronous copy of the backup to another region.
- Security copy (Vault) to another AWS provider : Creates a backup copy of an instance from one AWS provider to another AWS provider.
- Interval : an internal Automations feature that allows you to configure a time interval between the execution of automations configured in the same Workflow .
- Connect to Load Balancer
- Disconnect from Load Balancer
- Associate security group
- Desassociate security group
- Scale t*.unlimited : If you created your AWS Account before July 15, 2025, and use a t2.micro or t3.micro instance from the AWS Free Tier offering in unlimited mode, charges may apply if your average usage over a continuous 24-hour period exceeds theinstance’s baseline usage .
- Script – Command : executes a specified command on the instance.
- Script – HTTP Webservice
- Connect elastic IP : connect an Elastic IP .
- Reboot : restart the instance.
- Terminate : delete the instance.
Automation for Databases #
- Start : Start a disconnected instance.
- Stop : To stop an active instance.
- Upgrade / Downgrade : Change the instance’s SKU.
- Change Volume Type : Change the type of data volume attached to the server.
- Backup : Performs a backup of the instance.
- Copy backup to region : performs an asynchronous copy of the backup to another region.
- Security copy (Vault) to another AWS provider : Creates a backup copy of an instance from one AWS provider to another AWS provider.
- Export databases :
- Connect to a pool :
- Disconnect from pool :
- Scale capacity :
- Change size/capacity
- Change OCPUs (Core count)
- Reboot : restart the instance.
- Cache Reboot : Restart the instance cache.
Automations for Apps (Auto Scalling) #
- Scale instance number
- Stop / Deallocate
- Start
- Scale Service Plan
Automation for Containers #
- Scale / Turn off cluster service
- Change capacity providers
- Change task definition
Automations for DNS Zones #
- DNS Backup
Automation for Large Volumes of Data #
- Backup / Snapshot
- Copy snapshot to region
- Security copy (Vault) to another AWS provider
- Change type (Scale)
Report Automation #
- Backup Coverage
- Backup List
- Billing estimate summary
- Stopped instances
- Untagged Resources with ID
- Completed Workflows
- CSV costs per product
- New instances
- AWS Security Groups
- AWS VPC and Subnets
Setting up Automation Workflows #
An Automation Workflow is a set of one or more actions that can be configured and executed on one of the resources that support automation. Therefore, it’s not necessary to create multiple automations individually to execute a sequence of tasks; they can be programmed as an intelligent workflow.
In Automations , select the server and click on “ New Workflow ”.
Select which resources will be impacted by the automation, and give it a name. Define the date and time when the automation will be triggered for the first time.
The displayed screen will show the configuration of an automation. In the example below, we configured a workflow where a server is shut down, downgraded, and restarted. A 10-minute interval was defined between each task to ensure the completion of all jobs in the automation.
To include a task in the Workflow , select it under “ Type ”, and after configuring its parameters, click the right arrow to add it to the “ Run in order ” panel. The arrows define the following actions:
- Right : Includes in Workflow
- Left : Remove from Workflow
- Upwards : moves the selected item up in the execution order.
- Down : moves the selected item down in the execution order.
After configuration, if you click ” Save “, the workflow will be configured and executed exclusively on the date and time specified in the configuration. For the automation to be recurring, it is necessary to click on the ” Repetitions ” tab and configure the recurrence by selecting the ” This workflow repeats ” option .
In the example above, a weekly automation was configured, which will run every Friday, with no expiration date.
Setting up Workflows by Tags #
Given that Cloud8 automations are not reactive, meaning they don’t trigger based on resource utilization metrics, it’s possible to use tags to dynamically define scenarios where a resource should execute the automation. An example would be when an organization has databases with a specific granularity rule, but also critical databases that need hourly backups during specific periods. In this case, a backup frequency tag can be configured and used in a Cloud8 Workflow .
In other cases, the user may simply want to create an automation that applies to all resources that meet a specific business rule, for example, when it is defined that all development resources should be turned off on weekends.
Step 1 – Create an Automation Workflow #
Click on “ Template / Tags ” and select “ New Workflow Template ”.
In the “ Template ” tab , define a name for the template and proceed to the “ Workflow ” tab. Define a resource in “ Resources ”, but don’t worry about the selected server, as it only serves to allow workflow configuration and will not be considered for automation purposes if it does not have the tag defined.
Define a name for the Workflow and set the date and time when the automation will be triggered for the first time. In “ Task ”, configure the entire task flow of the automation. In the example below, a workflow has been defined that will only shut down the servers on Friday night.
Click on the “ Repetitions ” tab and configure the recurrence by selecting the “ This workflow repeats ” option .
In the example above, a weekly automation was configured, which will run every Friday, with no expiration date. When finished, click ” Save “.
Step 2 – Configure execution by Tags #
Now that we have a workflow template, we can define that it is automatically assigned and executed on all resources that have a specific tag value. To do this, click on “ Templates / Tags ” and then select “ Tags <-> Templates ”.
Notice that the created template is now listed below the configuration options.
In “ Tag ”, select “ New association ” and enter the “ Tag name ” and the “ Tag value ”. In the example below, the automation should be executed on all resources that have the tag “ automation ” with the value “ true ”.
Since the functionality is case-sensitive , it’s possible to check for occurrences of several different tags by separating them with commas.
In “ Linked Templates, ” select the created template. In “ Providers, ” select which registered providers will be verified for automation execution. Finally, click “ Save .”
NOTE: This feature is not yet available for OCI and Huawei providers .
Setting up Workflows by Provider #
Configuring Workflows by Provider allows all resources from a given provider registered in Cloud8 to receive the same automations, without the need to manually configure each one.
Step 1 – Create an Automation Workflow #
Click on “ Template / Tags ” and select “ New Workflow Template ”.
In the “ Template ” tab , define a name for the template and proceed to the “ Workflow ” tab. Define a resource in “ Resources ”, but don’t worry about the selected server, as it only serves to allow workflow configuration and will not be considered for automation purposes if it does not have the tag defined.
Define a name for the Workflow and set the date and time when the automation will be triggered for the first time. In “ Task ”, configure the entire task flow of the automation. In the example below, a workflow has been defined that will only shut down the servers on Friday night.
Click on the “ Repetitions ” tab and configure the recurrence by selecting the “ This workflow repeats ” option .
In the example above, a weekly automation was configured, which will run every Friday, with no expiration date. When finished, click ” Save “.
Step 2 – Configure execution by Provider #
Now that we have a workflow template, we can define that it is automatically assigned and executed on all resources that have a specific tag value. To do this, click on “ Templates / Tags ” and then select “ Tags <-> Providers ”.
In “ Link name ”, click “ New association ” and define a “ Name ” for the configuration. In “ Linked Templates ”, select the created template. In “ Providers ”, define which providers the automation will run on. Finally, click “ Save ”.
NOTE: This feature is not yet available for OCI and Huawei providers .
Note that the panel will display a block identifying the automation in the configured schedule and providers.
