An approval process for VM provisioning

In this recipe, we will see how to create a workflow that waits for an approver to approve the VM creation before provisioning it. We will learn how to combine mail and external events in a workflow to make it interact with different users.

Getting ready

For this recipe, we first need the provisioning workflow that we have created in the Provisioning a VM from a template recipe. You can use the example workflow, 7.02.1 Provision VM (Base).

Additionally, we need a functional e-mail system as well as a workflow to send e-mails. Refer to the Working with mails recipe in Chapter 4, Working with Plugins. You can use the example workflow, 4.02.1 SendMail as well as its configuration item, 4.2.1 Working with e-mail.

We will also work with events as discussed in the Sending and waiting for custom events recipe in Chapter 3, Visual Programming.

How to do it…

We will split this recipe in three parts. First, we will create a configuration element then, we will create...