Managing Jobs in the Production Schedule

Overview

In this chapter you learn to use job control, typically performed by an operator, to manage the current production schedule. Job control consists of releasing, stopping, restarting and aborting jobs. You can also rerun jobs, override their dependencies and change their completion status.

This chapter describes how to:

  • Cancel a job
  • Remove a job
  • Release a job group in the Waiting on Operator status
  • Place a job on Hold
  • Override a job dependency
  • Rerun a job that fails

Note To complete the exercises in this tutorial, you need to:
Install Enteprise Scheduler in the default directory Scheduler (or the examples in this tutorial will not work properly)
Select the Super User option in your User Definition
Configure a default agent
Create and have available the work day calendar

Creating the Parent Job Group

To create the parent job group:

Step 1 From the Navigator pane, select Definitions>Jobs to display the Jobs pane.

Step 2 Right-click in the Jobs pane and select Add Job Group from the context menu to display the Job Group Definition dialog.

Step 3 In the Job Group Name field, enter Production Jobs . The Parent Group field should be empty.

Step 4 In the Calendar Name list, select work day .

Step 5 Click the Run tab and in the Runtime Users list, select a user who can access the Unix agent.

Step 6 Click OK .

Step 7 Click OK in the Effective Date dialog.

 

Creating Three Child Jobs

To create three child jobs:

Step 1 To create a child job of a job group, select the Production Jobs job group on the Jobs pane.

Step 2 Click the Add Job button or right-click and select Add Job from the context menu to display a Job Definition dialog.

Step 3 In the Job Name field, type Unix Prod Job 1 .

Step 4 In the Command field, enter the full path to the file:

/UNIX_TEST_1.sh

Step 5 Click the Options tab.

Step 6 Select the Require operator release option.

Step 7 Click OK to save the job definition and then click OK again in the Effective Date dialog and the first job has been created.

Step 8 In the Jobs pane, select the Unix Prod Job 1 job if not selected.

Step 9 Click the Copy Job/Group button on the Enteprise Scheduler toolbar or right-click Unix Prod Job 1 and select Copy Job/Group from the context menu.

A confirmation message displays.

Step 10 Click Yes .

A job called Copy of Unix Prod Job 1 displays in the Jobs pane.

Step 11 While Copy of Unix Prod Job 1 is selected, click the Edit Job\Group button or right-click and select Edit Job\Group from the context menu.

Step 12 Change the Job Name field to Unix Prod Job 2 .

Step 13 Click OK to save the job definition and then click OK again in the Effective Date dialog.

The second job has been created.

Step 14 Create a third job, called Unix Prod Job 3 , the same way we created Unix Prod Job 2 .

For this job, though we will add an unreasonable time dependency to show how we can override this dependency in the Job Activity pane.

Step 15 Double-click Unix Prod Job 3 .

Step 16 Click the Schedule tab of the Unix Prod Job 3 definition.

Step 17 eselect the Inherited option in the Time Window section.

Step 18 Enter a time window of 11:45 PM to 12:00 AM

Note .If you set a time window that is before the present time, e.g., 12:00 AM to 12:15AM, the job will enter today’s schedule with a Timed Out status.

Step 19 Click the Options tab.

Step 20 Verify the Require operator release option is cleared. This job will wait based on its time window. (We are assuming that you are not running this tutorial at midnight.)

Step 21 Click OK to close the Job Definition dialog and then click OK again in the Effective Date dialog.

Step 22 Right-click the new job group that you defined and then select Insert Job into Schedule and click OK in the resulting dialog.

Step 23 Click OK in the Information dialog.

 

Job Sorting

Jobs can be sorted and filtered by most columns in the Job Activity pane. In this exercise, we will set the default sort column to be the Estimated Start Time .

Click the Current Est Start column header. The jobs are sorted by the estimated start time.

 

Removing a Job from the Production Schedule

If a job has not launched, you can remove it from the production schedule.

To remove a job from the Production Schedule:

Step 1 On the Job Activity pane, right-click the Unix Prod Job 1 job.

Step 2 Select Remove Job(s) from Schedule from the context menu.

The Confirm dialog displays.

Step 3 Click Yes in the Information dialog.

Note You can also remove a job by clearing the Enabled options in the job definition, or by deleting the job from the Jobs pane. You can only remove a job from the production schedule if it is not currently running or has not yet run.

 

Inserting a Job Into the Production Schedule

To insert a job into the production schedule:

Step 1 From the Activities main menu, select Insert Job into Schedule to display the Insert Job Into Schedule dialog.

There are several ways to enter a job in this dialog. For this exercise, we will use Enteprise Scheduler’s sophisticated search function.

Step 2 Click the ellipsis button to display the Job Search dialog.

Step 3 In the Name field, type Unix* . Leave the other options blank.

The asterisk ( * ) is a wildcard character, so this search will match all jobs that start with Unix . (The asterisk matches any character or combination of characters.)

Step 4 Click the Find button .

The Job Search Results field should include the three Unix Prod Jobs .

Step 5 Select Unix Prod Job 1 .

Step 6 Click OK in the Job Search dialog.

Step 7 Click OK in the Insert Job Into Schedule dialog.

The job is added to the schedule outside its job group. Note that jobs outside of a job group are not indented under the group.

Step 8 Select the Unix Prod Job 1 (1) job.

Step 9 Right-click the Unix Prod Job 1 (1) and select the Job Control submenu and then select the Release/Resume option.

Figure 9-1 Releasing a Job

 

 

Step 10 Click Yes in the Confirmation dialog.

The job begins to run.

 

Cancelling a Job in the Production Schedule

You can cancel a job using the Cancel/Abort command when it is in the Held state. You can abort a job using the Cancel/Abort command when it is in the Active state. In the next procedure, we will cancel a job that is in the Held state.

To cancel a job in the production schedule:

Step 1 From the Navigator pane, select Operations>Job Activity to display the Job Activity pane.

Step 2 Select the Unix Prod Job 2 job.

Step 3 Right-click the Unix Prod Job 2 , select the Job Control submenu and then select the Cancel/Abort option.

Step 4 Click Yes at the Confirmation dialog.

The status of the job changes to Cancelled .

 

Putting a Job on Hold

You can put any job that is waiting on dependencies on hold. Even if the dependencies are met, the job will not run.

To put a job on hold:

Step 1 In the Job Activity pane, select the Unix Prod Job 3 job.

Step 2 Right-click the Unix Prod Job 3 job, select the Job Control submenu and then select the Hold/Stop option.

Step 3 Click Yes in the Confirmation dialog.

Step 4 Click OK in the Information dialog.

The job enters Held status.

 

Taking the Job Out of Held Status

To take the job out of Held status:

Step 1 Right-click the Unix Prod Job 3 job, select the Job Control submenu and then select the Release/Resume option.

Step 2 Click Yes in the Confirmation dialog and then click OK at the Information dialog.

The job re-enters the Waiting On Dependencies status. If the job’s dependencies were met, the job would launch.

 

Overriding a Dependency

You can also override job, file, time and variable dependencies with the Override command. For this exercise, we will override the time dependency.

To override a dependency:

Step 1 Right-click the Unix Prod Job 3 job, select the Job Control submenu and select the Override option.

Step 2 Click Yes in the Confirmation dialog and then click OK at the Information dialog.

The job launches even though the dependencies have not been met.

Note When a dependency is overridden, the Job Detail dialog for the job whose definition includes the dependency will show which dependency was overridden.

 

Estimated and Excessive Durations

Two of the most common questions asked of system operators and schedulers are “How long is this job going to run?” and “Which job is going to run next?” To help answer these questions, Enteprise Scheduler provides the Estimated Duration feature.

When a job enters the production schedule for the first time, if an estimated duration time is specified in the Job Definition dialog, that time will be displayed in the Job Activity pane. The Estimated Duration Time value is automatically updated after each job occurrence runs, creating a historical average that is used for subsequent submissions. Of course, you can override this value in the job definition at any time.

For unattended operations, you might want a job to terminate if it runs over its maximum time, notify an operator if it completes under its minimum time, or performs other actions automatically.