Managing Robots

Administrators can enable automatic robot provisioning on a per-group or on a per-account basis on the Manage Access page in Orchestrator. You enable the Attended Robot or Unattended Robot toggle at the account or group level, configure the various settings (robot execution settings, machine login credentials, if applicable), and a floating robot with those attributes is created.

For user groups, attended robot provisioning is inherited by any user that is a member of that group and logs in to Orchestrator; meaning they will have a robot created by virtue of group membership. You can only enable attended robot auto-provisioning for user groups, unattended robot auto-provisioning is not possible.

Find below the steps to have a functional setup that allows you to execute jobs in folders.

Attended Setup

Create a machine template. For personal workspace accounts, a machine template is automatically created.

Where from: Tenant > Machines

See here how to create a machine.
Connect UiPath® Assistant to Orchestrator using the key generated by the machine entity.

Where from: UiPath Assistant > Orchestrator Settings

See here how to connect the UiPath Robot to Orchestrator.
Configure the account: set its role at the tenant level, enable automatic robot creation, select the license type, select the Stand-alone checkbox if your Studio/StudioX/StudioPro is locally licensed such that Orchestrator doesn't allocate a license from its licenses pool, set the username used to log on to the machine on which the UiPath Robot is installed, configure the execution settings of the UiPath Robot.

Where from: Tenant > Manage access > Assign roles

See here how to manage roles.
Assign the account to one or multiple folders while choosing the appropriate roles at the folder level. Personal workspace users can work in the context of their own workspace directly.

This gives access to that folder and makes the processes deployed there available and ready to get executed.

Where from: Tenant > Folders

See here how to assign accounts to a folder.
Start a job.

Where from: UiPath Assistant.

In attended mode, the UiPath Assistant shows the processes across all the folders the account is assigned to.

These processes cannot be started or triggered in unattended mode from Orchestrator unless it's for debugging purposes. See Studio design and Orchestrator debugging.

Unattended Setup

On Tenant > Machines, create a machine template.
- Assign the necessary runtimes to the template. A template with X number of runtimes sets aside X licenses from the tenant's pool of licenses for each workstation connected to Orchestrator using that template. This allows you to execute X processes concurrently on each such workstation.
  
  Say you assigned 2 unattended and 3 nonproduction runtimes to a machine template. Three workstations connected to Orchestrator using that machine template withhold 6 ( 2 unattended X 3 workstations) unattended and 9 (3 nonproduction x 3 workstations) nonproduction licenses from the tenant's pool of licenses. This enables you to execute a number of 2 unattended, respectively 3 nonproduction processes, concurrently on each such workstation.
- Select the process type and process compatibility on the Supported Usage section. This allows you to optimize your unattended infrastructure by restricting unattended machines to executing certain types of processes. For example, you can configure cheaper machines such as Linux to execute cross-platform processes, and specialize Windows machines in foreground automation (which cannot run elsewhere). See an example of optimizing an unattended infrastructure consisting of a Windows desktop, one high-density Windows Server, and three Linux machines.
Connect your machines to Orchestrator using the key generated by a machine template.

See here how to connect the UiPath Robot to Orchestrator.
Configure the account: set its role at the tenant level, enable automatic robot creation, set the username and password used to log on to the machine such that the Robot can authenticate, select the credential store, and configure the execution settings of the Robot.

Where from: Tenant > Manage access > Assign roles

See here how to manage roles.
Assign the account and machine template to one or multiple folders while choosing the account roles at the folder level.

Important: This gives access to that folder and makes the processes deployed there available and ready to get executed.

Where from: Tenant > Folders

See here how to assign accounts to a folder. See here how to assign machines to a folder.
Start a job, configuring its priority and runtime type. You can specify the account under which it gets executed, or you can leave it undefined.

Important: Unattended jobs are dynamically executed by automatically pairing the accounts and machines in your environment. If the account is specified, only the machine is dynamically allocated. If no account is specified, both are dynamically paired to each other. The latter is the optimal job execution mechanism, as it optimizes resource consumption.

Where from: Folder context > Automations > Jobs or the UiPath Assistant (for unattended robots used in attended mode)

In unattended mode, the UiPath Assistant shows the processes across all folders to which both the account and machine template have been assigned. These processes can be started or triggered in unattended mode from Orchestrator.

A user using an unattended robot in attended mode (the user logs on to the machine) does not have access to the processes in folders to which the user alone is assigned. Their access is restricted to processes found in folders to which both themselves and the machine template are assigned.

Important:

On a host machine you need to provision a Windows user for each account that belongs to the folders to which the corresponding machine template is assigned to.

Say you connected a server to Orchestrator using the key generated by machine template, FinanceT. That machine template is assigned to folders FinanceExecution and FinanceHR, where 6 accounts are assigned as well. Those 6 accounts need to be provisioned as Windows users on the server.

Graphical Representation of a Basic Unattended Setup

Graphical Representation of a Complex Unattended Setup

Debugging

Enabling a troubleshooting session for unattended processes

Note: Robots - Edit is the minimum permission required to use troubleshooting sessions.

When interactive authentication is enforced, in UiPath Assistant you can only see the processes to which you have access and only after signing in to your account. A user license is also required. Therefore, unattended processes which do not run under your account are not available in UiPath Assistant for troubleshooting.

So, if you need to debug an unattended process, you can temporarily enable a troubleshooting session. Doing this lets you see and run the unattended process locally, without requiring a user license.

The troubleshooting session is temporary and the above only applies while troubleshooting is active.

Go to Tenant, then select Monitoring.
Select Unattended sessions from the Section dropdown menu.
Identify the machine where the error occurred, select More Actions at the end of the machine row, and then select Configure troubleshooting session.

The option is only available if interactive authentication is enforced.

You can find out on which machine a process ran by selecting the Processes section.

The Configure troubleshooting session dialog opens:
Under Troubleshooting session, select the toggle to switch it to Enabled.
In the Session timeout (minutes) box, edit the value to change the number of minutes the troubleshooting session should be active.

After the specified number of minutes passes, the troubleshooting session is automatically disabled and no further connections are accepted. However, any existing connections remain active until disconnected.
Select Save.
In Orchestrator, go to Tenant, then select Machines, and then select Copy Client ID / Machine key at the end of the machine row to copy the machine key to your clipboard.
In UiPath Assistant, select the user icon in the title bar, and then select Preferences.
Select the Orchestrator Settings tab, then select Disconnect or Sign out if needed to edit the connection settings.
Configure the connection as follows:
1. Connection Type - Select Machine Key.
2. Orchestrator URL - Add the URL to the Orchestrator instance, which should include the tenant and organization.
3. Machine Key - Paste the copied machine key from your clipboard.
Select Connect, and then close the Preferences window.
If you do not see the unattended processes in Assistant, go to Preferences, select Sign In, and log in with your credentials.

Now you can run unattended processes from UiPath Assistant to troubleshoot them.

Extending or disabling a troubleshooting session of unattended processes

Note: Robots - Edit is the minimum permission required to use troubleshooting sessions.

When you have finished debugging, you can disable the troubleshooting session for the machine so that it won't allow attended connections anymore. Or, if you need to, you can extend the amount of time that the session is active.

Go to Tenant, then select Monitoring.
Select Unattended sessions from the Section dropdown menu.
Select More Actions at the end of the machine row, and select Configure troubleshooting session.
In the Configure troubleshooting session dialog:
- Close the session: switch the toggle under Troubleshooting session to Disabled.
  
  When disabled, no further connections are accepted. However, any existing connections remain active until disconnected.
- Extend the session: Edit the value in the Session timeout (minutes) box with a greater value to extend the session to the specified duration.
Select Save.
Disconnect UiPath Assistant to close the connection.

Studio design and Orchestrator debugging

To build workflows in Studio while debugging in Orchestrator you need both an attended and an unattended robot created for the developer. An admin can create an attended and an unattended robot following these steps:

Add user and configure user details.
Go to Tenant, select Manage access, and then select Assign roles.
- The developer must be granted the roles appropriate to the desired level of access to Orchestrator tenant resources. See standard Orchestrator roles and their purpose. (3)
- Allow web login to allow the developer to access Orchestrator. (4)
Create and configure the attended robot.
- For directory users the Domain\Username is prefilled. (6)
- To build workflows and start jobs from the UiPath Assistant, you need a user license that offers Studio capabilities and enables you to provision the Robot for that specific user in Orchestrator. See the UiPath Licensing Portal for details about available SKUs. (7)
- Create a personal workspace for the user to facilitate workflow debugging in the context of the workspace. (8)
Create and configure the unattended robot.
- For directory users the Domain\Username is prefilled. (10)
- See details about credentials and credential stores. (11, 12, 13)
- When and why to disable concurrent execution. (14)
Configure robot settings
- See more about robot settings. (15)
Create a machine template to connect the Robot to Orchestrator using its key. Attach runtimes to it to allow unattended execution.
Where from: Tenant > Machines
- Orchestrator automatically manages machine templates for personal workspace owners. A machine template with a Development runtime is automatically created and assigned to each new personal workspace.
- Debugging without using the Personal Workspaces feature requires attaching a NonProduction runtime to the machine used for debugging. This secures a runtime from the pool of licenses available at the tenant level and assigns it to the template. This enables the account to start jobs from Orchestrator. The allocated runtime is consumed when executing a job.
- Learn more about machine entities in Orchestrator
Connect the Robot to Orchestrator using the key generated by the machine entity.
Where from: UiPath Assistant > Preferences > Orchestrator Settings
- Personal workspace owners must use the key of the personal workspace machine.
- See here how to connect the Robot to Orchestrator.
Developers can publish automation projects and launch jobs from Orchestrator in the context of their workspace right away. To perform debugging operations in folders other than their personal workspaces, the following extra steps are required:
- Debugging using the Assistant: The account must be assigned to the desired folders to make the contained resources available to them.
- Debugging using Orchestrator: Both the account and the machine entity (personal workspace machine template) must be assigned to the desired folders. In Orchestrator you can execute only processes from folders to which both your account and the machine template are assigned.
  
  Note:
  I do not have any runtimes available when starting a job from Orchestrator
  
  Make sure you assigned both the account and the machine to the folder that contains the process to be executed.
  
  Make sure you assigned runtimes to the machine template used to connect the Robot to Orchestrator. This is only necessary if you are not using Personal Workspaces.