Chapter 1. Using namespaces to manage collections in automation hub

You can use namespaces in automation hub to organize collections developed within your organization for internal distribution and use.

Working with namespaces requires a group that has permissions to create, edit and upload collections to namespaces. Collections uploaded to a namespace can require administrative approval before you can publish them and make them available for use.

1.1. About namespaces

Namespaces are unique locations in automation hub to which you can upload and publish content collections. Access to namespaces in automation hub is governed by groups with permission to manage the content and related information that appears there.

Formatting collections for your namespaces

You can upload internally developed collections to automation hub in tar.gz file format that meet the following name convention: 

<my_namespace-my_collection-1.0.0.tar.gz>

1.2. Creating a new group for content curators

You can create a new group in automation hub designed to support content curation in your organization that contributes internally developed collections for publication in automation hub.

This section shows you how to create a new group and assign the required permissions to help content developers create namespaces and upload their collections to automation hub.

Prerequisites

  • You have administrative permissions in automation hub and create groups.

Procedure

  1. Log in to your local automation hub.
  2. Navigate to User Access → Groups and click Create.
  3. Enter Content Engineering as a Name for the group in the modal and click Create. You have created the new group and the Groups page appears.
  4. On the Permissions tab, click Edit.
  5. Under Namespaces, add permissions for Add Namespace, Upload to Namespace and Change Namespace.

  6. Click Save.

    The new group is created with the permissions you assigned. You can then add users to the group.

  7. Click the Users tab on the Groups page.
  8. Click Add.
  9. Select users from the modal and click Add.

Conclusion

You now have a new group who can use automation hub to:

  • Create a namespace.
  • Edit the namespace details and resources page.
  • Upload internally developed collections to the namespace.

1.3. Creating a namespace

You can create a namespace to organize collections that your content developers upload to automation hub. When creating a namespace, you can assign a group in automation hub as owners of that namespace.

Prerequisites

  • You have Add Namespaces and Upload to Namespaces permissions.

Procedure

  1. Log in to your local automation hub.
  2. Navigate to Automation Hub → Namespaces.
  3. Click Create and provide a namespace name and assign a group of Namespace owners.
  4. Click Create.

Your content developers can now proceed to upload collections to your new namespace, or allow users in groups assigned as owners to upload collections.

1.4. Adding additional information and resources to a namespace

You can add information and provide resources for your users to accompany collections included in the namespace. Add a logo and a description, and link users to your GitHub repository, issue tracker, or other online assets. You can also enter markdown text in the Edit resources tab to include more information. This is helpful to end users who use your collection in their automation tasks.

Prerequisites

  • You have Change Namespaces permissions.

Procedure

  1. Log in to your local automation hub.
  2. Navigate to Automation Hub → Namespaces.
  3. Click the More Actions icon ⋮ and select Edit namespace.
  4. In the Edit details tab, provide information in the fields to enhance your namespace experience.
  5. Click the edit resources tab to enter markdown in the text field.
  6. Click Save when finished.

Your content developers can now proceed to upload collections to your new namespace, or allow users in groups assigned as owners to upload collections.

When you create a namespace, groups with permissions to upload to it can start adding their collections for approval. Collections in the namespace will appear in the Published repository after approval.

1.5. Uploading collections to your namespaces

You can upload internally developed collections to your local automation hub namespace for review and approval by an automation hub administrator. When approved, the collection moves to the Published content repository where automation hub users can view and download it.

Note

Format your collection file name as follows: <NAMESPACE-COLLECTION-NAME.tar.gz>

Prerequisites

  • You have a namespace to which you can upload the collection.

Procedure

  1. Log in to your local automation hub.
  2. Navigate to Automation Hub → Namespaces and select a namespace.
  3. Click Upload collection.
  4. Click Select file from the New collection modal.
  5. Select the collection to upload.
  6. Click Upload.

The My Imports screen provides a summary of tests and notifies you if the collection uploaded successfully or failed.

1.6. Reviewing your namespace import logs

You can review the status of collections uploaded to your namespaces to evaluate success or failure of the process.

Imported collections information includes:

Status
completed or failed
Approval status
waiting for approval or approved
Version
the version of the uploaded collection
Import log
activities executed during the collection import

Prerequisites

  • You have access to a namespace to which you can upload collections.

Procedure

  1. Log in to your local automation hub.
  2. Navigate to Automation Hub → Namespaces.
  3. Select a namespace.
  4. Click the More Actions icon ⋮ and select My imports.
  5. Use the search field or locate an imported collection from the list.
  6. Click on the imported collection.

Review collection import details to determine the status of the collection in your namespace.

1.7. Deleting a namespace

You can delete unwanted namespaces to manage storage on your automation hub server. To do so, ensure that the namespace does not contain a collection with dependencies.

Prerequisites

  • The namespace you are deleting does not have a collection with dependencies.
  • You have Delete namespace permissions.

Procedure

  1. Log in to your local automation hub.
  2. Navigate to Collections → Namespaces.
  3. Click the namespace to be deleted.

  4. Click the More Actions icon ⋮, then click Delete namespace.

    Note

    If the Delete namespace button is disabled, it means that this namespace contains a collection with dependencies. Review the collections in this namespace and delete any dependencies to proceed with the namespace deletion. See Deleting a collection on automation hub for information about deleting collections.

The namespace that you deleted, as well as its associated collections, is now deleted and removed from the namespace list view.