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Version: OpCon

Job Frequency

The Frequency specifies the weeks, days, and calendar information for when a job is to be executed. For additional information, refer to Job and Schedule Frequencies. Frequency information is defined in the Job Master.

The following information applies to defining a frequency:

  • Frequency Name: Defines the unique name of the frequency.
  • Frequency Details: Defines the days that qualify for the frequency. For additional information, refer to Frequency Definition.
  • Priority: Defines the priority of the frequency with regard to other frequencies defined for the job. For additional information, refer to Multiple Frequencies and Frequency Priority.
  • Advanced Frequency Settings: Defines the advanced frequency features applied to a job. For additional information, refer to Advanced Frequency Settings.

Other Job Details​

The other job details are attached to a defined frequency. This provides the flexibility to define different criteria on different sets of dates. Other job detail information includes:

Job Build Status​

The Job Build Status determines the default status of the job when it is built with the schedule for the associated frequency. Status choices include:

  • On Hold: Indicates that the SAM will not automatically start the job when the schedule becomes active, even if all other requirements (dependencies, start time, etc.) have been met.
  • Released: Indicates that the job will start when the schedule becomes active and all other requirements have been met.
  • Do Not Schedule: Indicates that the job will not be built with the schedule when the associated frequency qualifies.
    • To use the "Do Not Schedule" feature to ignore a frequency, place the associated frequency as the lowest priority.
    • To use the "Do Not Schedule" feature to exclude specific dates, place the associated frequency with a higher priority than the frequency containing the dates needing exclusion.
  • To Be Skipped: The job will be built with a default status of To Be Skipped.
  • Disable Frequency: If set, OpCon will not evaluate the selected frequency when forecasting or building.

Start Offset​

Defines the positive number of hours and minutes to offset the start time of the job from the start time of the schedule. To correctly calculate the offset, the Absolute or Relative option must be set for the Start Offset:

  • Absolute: Indicates that the job's Start Time will be calculated from the assigned start time of the schedule.
  • Relative: Indicates that the job's Start Time will be calculated from the time the schedule was released for execution.

Latest Start Offset​

Defines the positive number of hours and minutes to offset the latest start time of the job from the start time of the schedule. If the latest start time is passed before the job qualifies for execution, the job is set to a Missed Latest Start Time status and will not automatically execute. The default value of 00:00 disables the feature. To correctly calculate the offset, the Absolute or Relative option must be set for the Latest Start:

  • Absolute: Indicates that the job's Latest Start Time will be calculated from the assigned start time of the schedule.
  • Relative: Indicates that the job's Latest Start Time will be calculated from the time the schedule was released for execution.

Late to Start/Late to Finish​

The Late to Start and Late to Finish settings determine the time to flag a job as late. If these options are configured, and the late time arrives, then OpCon events on the job, Threshold Updates on the job, and Notification Manager triggers can send notification. For additional information, refer to Threshold/Resource Updates and Defining Events in the OpCon Event online help, and Using Notification Manager in the Enterprise Manager online help.

  • Late to Start Offset: Defines the positive number of hours and minutes to offset the Late to Start time from the job Start Offset (taking into consideration the Absolute or Relative setting). If the time arrives and the job has not yet started, it will be set to a status of Late to Start. The time at which the job will be set to a status of Late to Start is calculated by adding the Schedule Start Time + Job Start Offset + Late to Start. The default value of 00:00 disables this feature.
  • Late to Finish Offset: Defines the positive number of hours and minutes to offset the Late to Finish time from the job Start Offset (taking into consideration the Absolute or Relative setting). If the time arrives and the job is still running, it will be set to a status of Running; Late to Finish. The time at which the job will be set to a status of Late to Finish is calculated by adding the Schedule Start Time + Job Start Offset + Late to Finish. The default value of 00:00 disables this feature.

Start Time Estimation​

  • Estimation Source: Defines the method for the SMA Start Time Calculator to use when predicting the job's Estimated Start Time. Options include:
    • Calculated: (Default) Use the job's start offset value and dependency chain to calculate the estimated start time. When a job has no external dependencies, this is the best option.
    • History: Use the job's average start time by frequency from history as the estimated start time. The History option is useful when a job depends on external events or user interaction to start the job.
    • User Defined: Use a hard-coded Predicted Start Time in days, hours, and minutes offset from the schedule's start time. The User Defined option is useful when the History option does not prove to be an accurate enough estimated start time.
  • Estimated Run Time: Defines the estimated runtime in minutes for the job. This value can be manually configured; however, SMA Technologies recommends setting up a job to run the SMA_JOBAVG stored procedure to automatically calculate the value on a regular basis. For information on job averaging, refer to SMA Job Average.

Job Execution​

  • SAM Priority: Defines a number for the job's priority, zero (0) being the lowest. If the SAM can submit more jobs at the same time to a machine than the machine allows, the SAM uses the priority values to submit the most important jobs first.
  • Max Run Time: Defines the maximum run time in minutes for the job. If the job has run for the specified amount of time, it is left running, but set to a status of Exceeded Max Run Time. If this option is configured and the job runs too long, then OpCon events, threshold updates, and Notification Manager triggers can be processed for the job. For additional information, refer to Threshold/Resource Updates and Defining Events in the OpCon Events online help, and Using Notification Manager in the Enterprise Manager online help. The default value of 0 disables this feature.

Retry on Failure​

The Retry on Failure feature is useful for situations where a job may fail because of timing (e.g., a database is currently unavailable, or a file has not yet arrived). OpCon will process the events, threshold/resource updates, and subsequent job dependencies only upon job failure after the maximum retry.

note

If the job finishes OK, any configured OpCon automation features for Finished OK jobs will process.

note

For jobs that have the ability to restart at a step (e.g., z/OS jobs), a job that is automatically restarted after a failure starts at whatever restart step is specified at the time.

  • Retry Information: Determines if a job is automatically restarted after a job failure. If the job fails because of an initialization error, OpCon does not restart the job. Initialization errors usually occur because the information to start the job is invalid. SMA Technologies recommends using Event Notification to trigger a notification for Job Initialization errors. For more information, refer to Event Notification.
note

If the job is a "Container" type job, the SAM restarts all jobs on the subschedule when the Container job qualifies to "Retry on Failure."

  • Minutes Between Attempts: Defines the interval between restart attempts in minutes.
  • Maximum Attempts: Defines the maximum number of restart attempts. OpCon events on the job, threshold updates on the job, and Notification Manager triggers will only execute when the job fails after the last attempt. For additional information, refer to Threshold/Resource Updates and Defining Events in the OpCon Events online help, and Using Notification Manager in the Enterprise Manager online help.

Job Recurrence​

The Job Recurrence feature is useful for situations where a job needs to run at regular intervals and/or absolute times throughout the day (e.g., backing up files, processing groups of credit card transactions). OpCon will process the events, and threshold/resource updates every time the job finishes OK; however, subsequent job dependencies will only process after the last run of the day.

note

If the job fails, any configured OpCon automation features for Failed jobs will process.

  • Run Again: Determines if a job is automatically rescheduled after a successful run. Available options are: None, Recurring Instances, or Restart Offset.
note

If the job is a "Container" type job, the SAM restarts all jobs on the subschedule when the Container job qualifies to "Run Again" when the job finishes OK.

  • None: Specifies that no job reschedule will take place after a successful run.

  • Recurring Instances: Allows you to reschedule a successful job to run at fixed times throughout the day. Available options are:

    • Add: Adds new restart times in days, hours, and minutes. Specified times appear in the Recurring Instance Time(s) list box in chronological order.
      Example

      If you want a particular restart time to execute two additional days, then enter "2" in the field to the left of day(s) at, enter the absolute hour and/or minutes in the entry field to the right of days at, and click Add.

    • Remove: Deletes existing restart times.
    • Update: Updates existing restart times.
    • Action on Overlap of Job Recurrence: Indicates what happens if a previous job run time overlaps the next scheduled start time. Available options are:
      • Start on Completion (Default): Starts the next scheduled time as soon as the previous run finishes successfully.
      • Skip: Skips the run for [that] scheduled time after the previous run finishes successfully.

  • Restart Offset: Allows you to reschedule a successful job to run at regular intervals throughout the day. Available options are:

    • Minutes from Start to Start: Defines the number of minutes from the start time of one iteration of the job to the start time for the next iteration of the job.
      caution

      Minutes from Start to Start should be longer than the run time of the job. If the job runs for longer than this interval, the job restarts immediately upon a successful completion. As a consequence, reoccurring jobs may not start consistently over time.

    • Minutes from End to Start: Defines the number of minutes from the end of one iteration of the job to the start time for the next iteration of the job.
    • Latest Run Time: Defines the latest possible start time for the recurring job based on the schedule's start time. This value is an offset that will be added to the schedule's defined Schedule Date and scheduled Start Time in the Daily tables.
    • Number of Runs: Defines the total number of times for the recurring job to run.
    note

    If both the Latest Run Time and Number of Runs are configured for a job, the one that occurs first will cause the end of the recurring job for that day.