Parallel Block to prallel process a loop

[giovanni.augusto]

Hi everybody,

In my workflow I am building a list of SSIDs to be processed and this is sequential, I am thinking to use the parallel block to create the SSID list in a way that would be similar to use Async in python but I noticed that using parallel block for the same For...Each loop it just executes the same loop twice, unless I manually split the source array into two different arrays and process them in parallel.

1. Have I misunderstood how parallel block is meant to be used? perhaps only for heterogeneous tasks and not to split the same tasks in parallel?
2. could the parallel block be enhanced to get a source array and split it automatically within multiple loops on each parallel tasks? to keep things clean I can imagine you can specify a source array split for each group of parallel block group, or perhaps to allow to run different parallel group in parallel (no pun intended!)

if you read so far...thank you!

[Ed Novak - Cisco Workflows TME · Accepted solution]

@giovanni.augusto Thank you for your question.  We’ll have to take that as an enhancement request for the Parallel Block, to allow you to pass an Array into a Parallel Block and have Workflows then expand the Parallel Block to execute the steps in parallel for each item in the array.

Currently, the parallel block can be used to create branches in your workflows that run at the same time.  It is meant to be used for different activities.  Here are a few examples.  The first one calls different audit sub-workflows, the second configures Meraki and Catalyst Center sub-workflows.

Currently, if you want to process all your SSIDs in parallel, you could, but you would not use a For Loop.  Instead, use a Parallel Block and then manually identify each SSID for each parallel branch, with each branch containing the activities that you had inside your For Loop.

Or, as you have noted, you could break your SSID Array into sub-arrays and pass those into a parallel block with each parallel branch containing a For Loop for the sub-array of SSIDs:

Please let us know if you have any other enhancements requests.  You can also use the Give your feedback button at the bottom of the page in the Meraki dashboard.

[giovanni.augusto]

Thank you for the explanation, I will use the feature as it is and I will check what the future development brings