Machines

Machines are Orchestrator objects that help administrators configure unattended infrastructure settings. For the purpose of this guide, we assume a machine is the machine object in Orchestrator and that a host machine represents a workstation (physical or virtual) on which a UiPath Robot is installed.

The main functions of a machine object are:

Authorizing the connection between the UiPath Robot and Orchestrator. Depending on the type of robot authentication set on your tenant, authorization can happen either via a machine key or via a client ID-client secret pair. Learn more about robot authentication.
Controlling the execution capacity on the host machines the UiPath Robot resides.
Specializing host machines in executing particular types of processes.

Machine objects are global resources, meaning they are available across folders.

Machine Template

A machine template enables you to connect UiPath Robots deployed on multiple host machines to Orchestrator, regardless the names of the host machines or the users logging onto them.

Machine templates, as their name suggests, work as templates whose settings apply to groups of host machines with the same physical setup. When grouping host machines under the same machine template, we recommend you follow these practices:

the host machines have been deployed based on a shared template, or at least configured as if they were.
the same applications should be installed on the machines, and quite importantly, the applications should be installed at the same paths on each of the machines, and they should all share the same version of the applications.
the users logging into the applications on these machines should all have the same access rights to the applications on them.

Note: While maintenance mode is enabled, machines connected via the same machine template are not assigned any new jobs, but are allowed to finish existing ones.

Check out the topic for details.

Standard Machine

A standard machine enables you to connect the UiPath Robot on one host machine to Orchestrator, specifically the host machine with the exact same name as the standard machine. This is recommended if you want to restrict connecting the UiPath Robot installed on a specific host machine to Orchestrator, and only works if the name of the host machine stays the same each time you connect to it.

Common usage scenarios:

Persistent Virtual Desktop Infrastructures (VDIs) - private workstations where end users use the same workstations day after day.
Environments with static machine/account combinations.

Finding the Machine Name

There are multiple ways of finding your machine name. Here are the three most common:

Open Command Prompt and type hostname.
In the UiPath Robot tray, on the Orchestrator Settings window.
In Control Panel - Control Panel\System and Security\System.

Standard machines in the context of classic to modern migration

Standard machines have been designed for usage in classic folders. Both classic folders and standard machines have been replaced by superior alternatives, i.e. machine templates and modern folders. We recommend looking into migrating from classic folder to modern folders.

To easily migrate from classic folders to modern folders, standard machines can be associated with modern folders so that upon migrating, you do not need to change the machine key.

A standard machine cannot work in both classic and modern folders simultaneously, and as such the classic model takes precedence. A standard machine works in the classic folder as long as there are active robots defined. Disabling all robots that are using it in the classic context will make it usable in modern folders.

Machines Permissions

In order to be able to perform various operations on the Machines page, you need to be granted the corresponding permissions on Machines:

Viewing a machine and machine-related details View on Machines
Editing a machine - Edit on Machines
Creating a machine - Create on Machines
Deleting a machine - Delete on Machines
Changing account-machine mappings at the tenant level - View on Machines, Edit on Machines OR View on Machines, Create on Machines
Changing account-machine mappings at the folder level - Edit on Folders OR Edit on Subfolders.