Troubleshoot with your runbooks
Admins get step-by-step help that follows your documented procedures.
IT and admin · When you ask · Updated
Works with
- Slack
SlackHow do you troubleshoot with your IT runbooks?
To troubleshoot with your IT runbooks, share them with Maito and let admins ask in Slack. It finds the matching runbook, walks through the steps in order, checks the details you give it against what the runbook expects, and repeats the runbook's warnings so a step isn't skipped.
How it's done today
Only one person knows how to fix the mail server.
What Maito does
- Read the problem
- Find the matching runbook
- Walk through the steps
Example
@Maito email from northstar.example is bouncing with SPF fail. Our record is v=spf1 include:_spf.mail.example ~all. What do I check?
That's step 1 in the "Outbound mail failing" runbook (last edited Aug 4). The order is SPF, then DKIM, then provider status. Your SPF record should list 3 senders: • include:_spf.mail.example, workspace mail. Present. • include:bulk.mail.example, marketing sends. Missing. • include:desk.mail.example, the support desk. Missing. Catch: the runbook warns that SPF allows 10 DNS lookups, and more breaks the record. Adding both takes you to 9, so count again before you publish. You make the change. TTL is 300, so it shows in about 5 minutes. If bounces continue after that, go to step 2, DKIM.
Tom (1:40 PM):
email from northstar.example is bouncing with SPF fail. Our record is v=spf1 include:_spf.mail.example ~all. What do I check?
Maito (1:42 PM):
That's step 1 in the "Outbound mail failing" runbook (last edited Aug 4). The order is SPF, then DKIM, then provider status.
Your SPF record should list 3 senders:
• include:_spf.mail.example, workspace mail. Present.
• include:bulk.mail.example, marketing sends. Missing.
• include:desk.mail.example, the support desk. Missing.
Catch: the runbook warns that SPF allows 10 DNS lookups, and more breaks the record. Adding both takes you to 9, so count again before you publish.
You make the change. TTL is 300, so it shows in about 5 minutes. If bounces continue after that, go to step 2, DKIM.
How to set it up
- Set up
Nothing to set up. Ask in Slack or by email whenever you need it.
What it won't do
It can only follow documented procedures and can't see your systems unless a tool is connected for that. New problems without a runbook go to a person.
Questions
Your runbooks. It names the one it used and when it was last edited, and says when none applies.
No. It guides the admin. Anything that changes a system is done by a person.
It tells you which runbook it used and its edit date, so you can spot stale steps and ask someone to update them.
