Skip to main content
Version: OpCon 22.0 (On-Prem)

Jobs

A job in OpCon is a task or activity. The task could be to run a program on a remote machine, transfer files between machines, or run another schedule. The Job Type's details determine the actual task to run. All other components of OpCon jobs determine when the job runs and what happens when the job finishes.

All jobs in OpCon must first be entered into the Job Master tables. A schedule should already be defined, and each job must belong to a schedule. Any changes made in Job Master Maintenance do not affect previously built Daily schedules.

Job Details​

The following information applies to defining jobs:

Schedule Name: Defines the name for the schedule containing the job.

Job Name: Defines the name of the job. When defining a job in the Master tables, the name can be up to but no more than 64 characters.

  • The following list of characters are invalid for all Job Types: < (less than), > (greater than), & (ampersand), ' (single quote), " (double quote), | (pipe), ; (semi-colon), % (percent symbol), ( ) (open and closed parentheses), [ ] (open and closed square brackets, { } (open and closed braces), = (equals sign), \ (back slash), ! (exclamation point), * (asterisk), ? (question mark), and , (comma).
note

If a Job Name is changed, the history of the job under the previous name is no longer visible.

Department: Defines the department name assigned to the job.

Job Type: Defines the type of job. Supported types include:

  • BIS
  • Container
  • File Transfer
  • IBM i
  • Java
  • MCP
  • Null Job
  • OS 2200
  • SAP BW
  • SAP R/3 and CRM
  • SQL
  • Tuxedo ART
  • UNIX
  • Windows
  • z/OS

Job Sub-Type: Defines a list of all the platform-specific Job Sub-Types. Once the Job Sub-Type is selected, the user will enter details into specific fields needed for the Job Sub-Type. The EM will reconstruct the details into a valid command line for the selected Job Type in the database. The following platforms have Job Sub-Types available:

Access Code: Defines the Access Code name assigned to the job.

Disable Build: Determines when a build is requested, if the job's frequencies are reviewed by SMASchedMan to see if it qualifies for the build date. If the value is False (default), when a build is requested, the job's frequencies are reviewed by SMASchedMan to see if it qualifies for the build date. If the value is True, when a build is requested, SMASchedMan ignores the job. When the value is True, the job can still be added to a daily schedule through manually adding it or through a $JOB:ADD(HLD) event.

Allow Multi-Instance: Determines if the job can have multiple instances of the same job on the same schedule date.

  • To request multiple instances of a job, refer to Job Instance Definition in the Enterprise Manager online help or refer to the $JOB:ADD event in the OpCon Events online help.
  • To make full use of Multi-Instance jobs, SMA Technologies recommends using Job Instance Properties. Refer to Multi-Instance Jobs.

Primary Machine: Defines the name of a single machine for the job to run on. If the Primary Machine is not available at the job's run time, the job will not be able to run unless Alternate machines are available. Additionally, if a Primary Machine is configured, the job cannot be configured to run on a Machine group.

Alternate Machines: Defines the names of up to three Alternate Machines for the job to run on. At run time, the SAM checks to see whether the Primary Machine is available to run the job in question. If the Primary Machine is down, the SAM attempts to run the job on one of the Alternate Machines.

Machine Group Selection: Defines the name of the Machine Group the job will run on. If a Machine Group is configured, the job cannot be configured to run on a Primary Machine. There are two options for how a machine group can be applied to a job.

Run on Least Tasked Machine (default): If this option is set, OpCon determines the least tasked machine to run the job on. This option is useful for Failover and Workload Balancing scenarios.

Run on each Machine: If this option is set, OpCon runs the job on every machine in the group.

  • When the job's schedule is built and the job qualifies for the day, OpCon creates a copy of the job for each machine in the group while assigning a specific machine to each copy of the job. The copy of each job is named using the following syntax: Job Name_Machine Name
  • If the job also has predefined instances, OpCon creates all predefined instances for each machine in the group. The copy of each job is named using the following syntax: Job Name_First Property Value_Machine Name

Job Type Details: The Job Type Details depend on the selection of the Job Type determined above.

Job Automation Components: The automation components of jobs are fully defined in Job Automation Components.

Advanced Failure Criteria​

On available platforms, Advanced Failure Criteria allows you to set more advanced criteria for determining if the job should Finish OK or Fail. When defined, Advanced Failure Criteria overrides the Basic Failure Criteria defined for the primary job. The SAM processes the Advanced Failure Criteria after receiving a completion message from the LSAM. The following fields can be used to define the Advanced Failure Criteria.

  • Comparison Operator: Defines the comparison operator for the "if statement" when comparing the actual value of the job's exit code to the failure criteria rules.
    • Valid Values: Range, Equal To, Not Equal To, Less Than, Less or Equal, Greater Than, Greater and Equal
  • Value: Defines the value used for comparison to the job's actual exit code with the comparison operator.
    • Valid Values range from -2147483648 to 2147483647
  • End Value: Defines the end value for comparison when the comparison operator is "Range".
    • Valid Values range from -2147483648 to 2147483647
  • Result: Defines the desired resulting job status when the criteria for the line is equal to true. You may only specify the Result on the first group of criteria, and this will set the result for all the remaining groups of criteria.
    • Valid Values: Finish OK, Fail
  • And/Or: When defining multiple failure criteria, this field defines the way the strings are evaluated together.
    • Valid Values: And, Or
  • Anything Else: This field contains the other possible result if the Exit code falls outside the advanced criteria comparisons.
    • If the Result field is set to "Finish OK", Anything Else contains "Fail".
    • If the Result field is set to "Fail", Anything Else contains "Finish OK".

Job History​

Job Master History contains a job's history and includes token replacement values, detailed job messages, LSAM feedback, and other job information. For information viewing history records, refer to Using History Management in the Enterprise Manager online help. For information on maintaining job history records, refer to Job History Cleanup in the Utilities online help.

  • OpCon stores job history in two tables. As each job completes, SAM automatically stores the history to the primary history table. Periodically, a job history cleanup process should move history records to the archive table. Both tables may be viewed from the History Management tool in the EM.
  • Basic History Information:
    • Schedule Date: Stores the date of the Daily schedule for which the job executed.
    • Job Started: Stores the actual date and time the job started in a 24-hour clock time format (00:00).
    • Job Ended: Stores the date and time the job ended in a 24-hour clock time format (00:00).
    • Run Time (min): Stores the amount of time the job ran in minutes.
    • Machine Name: Stores the name of the machine for which the job executed. For jobs that "run on each machine" in a group, the machine name will display for each copy of the job that ran.
    • Final Job Status: Stores the completion status of the job (whether it terminated successfully or not).
    • Exit Description: Stores the termination details for the job. The maximum characters displayed is 255.
    • Ran as job Name: Stores the job name as it appeared in the daily.
      • If the job was on a top-level schedule, the name shows the full Job Instance Name.
      • If the job was on a subschedule or any multi-instance schedule, the name shows with the following syntax: Schedule Instance Name:Job Instance Name
  • Detailed History Information includes the token replacement values, detailed job messages, LSAM feedback, and other job information.