Supported Platforms |
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Windows Server 2003/ 2008 | |||
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Linux (x86) | |||
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Sun Solaris (Sparc/x86/x64) | |||
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HP-UX (PA-RISC/Itanium) OpenVMS (Alpha/Itanium/ VAX) Tru64 UNIX |
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AIX (PowerPC) | |||
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Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is EnterpriseSCHEDULE software?
EnterpriseSCHEDULE is a powerful, general purpose batch job scheduler. Supporting
a wide range of platforms for companies across Europe, EnterpriseSCHEDULE provides
the full suite of job automation tasks across the enterprise.
What are the primary potential benefits of EnterpriseSCHEDULE?
- EnterpriseSCHEDULE allows you to easily meet your goals to greatly reducing the costs of operations, management, risks, human error, downtime, delays and much more. Enables your business to automate critical IT services and business processes that span across complex heterogeneous infrastructures.
- Improves the efficiency of your IT automation and batch processing strategy, especially if the diversity and complexity of jobs and tasks and their interdependencies place a heavy burden on administration (IT Operations).
- Fulfils batch job processing operational requirements, including automation, centralisation, commonality, standardisation, reliability, efficiency.
- Unique visualisation for jobs, task dependencies and workflow; flexible
calendars for non-standard periods; distributed configuration of job scheduling
database for scalability and redundancy; common interface for all systems
and management.
Businesses deploy EnterpriseSCHEDULE to meet a wide variety of requirements, including:
- Reliable and consistent management of complex workloads – executing inter-dependent batch job streams manually is prone to costly human error and delays
- Reduction in IT Operations costs – job scheduling automation handles the routine processing tasks, lifting the burden from staff and freeing them up for more productive activities
- Handling critical business processes and IT services – up-time and reliable data processing is vital, with the cost of down-time and errors being potentially prohibitive
- Streamlining of business systems processing across mixed IT infrastructures – with common look-and-feel, centralised interfaces to make design, implementation, monitoring and management a breeze
- Flexibility and efficiency – the ability to adapt and configure batch job processing quickly, easily and safely to meet constantly changing IT service requirements
Evaluating EnterpriseSCHEDULE software
Can you provide a demonstration of EnterpriseSCHEDULE?
Yes – most companies take up our offer of a web-based demo (using
Webex), in which we are able to show you the batch job automation software
in action and focus on your particular requirements and points of interest.
If you then choose to start a software trial, you can load up and run the
same demo suites of automation scheduling jobs for yourself, with the advantage
that you can take your time to go deeper into the techniques that are being
used. This greatly speeds up the process of learning about the features and
benefits of EnterpriseSCHEDULE, without the need to plough through large manuals.
Can I evaluate EnterpriseSCHEDULE?
Yes – you can request a software trial by filling in the EnterpriseSCHEDULE
download form on this web site, by calling our London office on +44 (0)1372
365760 and asking for Support or email support@XuiS.com. All we ask is for
the opportunity to find out a little about your batch job automation scheduling
software requirements and environment. We can then direct you to our support
web site where you can download the software for EnterpriseSCHEDULE, using
instructions that will be emailed to you.
How easy is it to get EnterpriseSCHEDULE up and running for a FREE trial?
Very easy! After downloading the software you simply follow our Quick Start
Guide which will show you how to rapidly install on your chosen servers and
the client GUI on 1 or more PCs. A GUI wizard allows you to rapidly install
and run sets of demonstration jobs. This is a powerful way to get going quickly
and see the software in action in a real-time, highly visual display with
a minimum of delay and configuration.
Is there an obligation to purchase?
No – all we ask is the opportunity to discuss your requirements in more detail, to ensure that EnterpriseSCHEDULE is a good fit and the trial will meet your expectations.
How do I view the demo jobs in EnterpriseSCHEDULE?
If you haven't loaded EnterpriseSCHEDULE’s demo job set, you may be
missing out on some of the tremendous time-saving capabilities of EnterpriseSCHEDULE. The demo jobs demonstrate the job scheduler's features such as initiates, prerequisites and variables.
To load the demo jobs, enter the following commands:
In OpenVMS
$ SCHEDULE
SCHEDULE> SET DEFAULT [MyTestDirectory]
SCHEDULE> @SCHEDULE_LIBRARY:DEMO_VMS.SCHEDULE
In UNIX
# schedule
schedule> set default /MyTestDirectory/
schedule> . /schedule_library/demo_unix.schedule
The demo jobs will be created below the designated directory. This procedure will also make a default layout which displays these demo jobs the next time you use the Windows GUI client.
Run the demo jobs to see for yourself the powerful and flexible batch job automation in action. See how the many features and facilities can be combined to accomplish the execution of job suites, performing vital data processing functions in a safe and consistent way. Observe job state changes in real time, event-driven triggers, error alerts, automatic recovery and re-runs that ensure IT process resilience and reliability.
XuiS Sales and Support
I want to know more about your batch job automation software?
How can I contact your Sales department?
Please call our London based UK head-quarters on +44 (0)1372 365760 and ask
for Sales or email sales@XuiS.com
How can I get Support?
Please call our London based UK head-quarters on +44 (0)1372 365760 and ask
for Support or email support@XuiS.com
Does EnterpriseSCHEDULE provide global support and maintenance of EnterpriseSCHEDULE and is there a web site for access to downloadable patches/upgrades?
XuiS and ISE work together with support offices in North America and Europe.
Their strategy is to maintain EnterpriseSCHEDULE on major UNIX platforms, Microsoft Windows and OpenVMS. See www.enterpriseschedule.eu and www.i-s-e.com for support details.
EnterpriseSCHEDULE Architecture
What platforms does EnterpriseSCHEDULE run on?
The EnterpriseSCHEDULE server runs its Enterprise job event-driven scheduling on all major IT systems; Windows, Linux, HP-UX, OpenVMS, AIX, Solaris and Tru64 platforms. Job streams can be created with dependences that cross platform boundaries, supporting enterprise-wide job scheduling.
What architecture is implemented for a multiple platform installation?
The typical model is a peer-to-peer, distributed architecture. Each server has a full functionality self-contained installation of EnterpriseSCHEDULE with its own database of scheduled jobs. Server to server communication over TCP/IP allows servers to cooperate seamlessly and handle simple or complex workloads across the enterprise. The advantage of this architecture over a master-plus-agents model is the removal of a single point of failure, minimising the impact of server or network failures on job scheduling.
Can the EnterpriseSCHEDULE database be shared across nodes on my network?
Usually a single EnterpriseSCHEDULE database is installed inside a single
domain. Sometimes it is advantageous to install a single EnterpriseSCHEDULE
database across all systems in the network even though they are not in the
same management domain. For instance you can use a central database to schedule
jobs across multiple platforms in a VMS, UNIX or Windows cluster.
A Peer-to-peer configuration is where each system has its own EnterpriseSCHEDULE database and on occasion needs to synchronise jobs between these systems. This mode allows each system to do most of its own work without regard to the up/down status of the other members of the network.
Does EnterpriseSCHEDULE use an ‘off the shelf’ database
like Oracle or Sybase?
EnterpriseSCHEDULE includes its own database which incorporates directory conventions identical to its native operating system (OpenVMS, Windows or UNIX). All jobs, calendars, Windows layouts etc. are incorporated into the database and can be accessed or modified using commands similar to those found in everyday operations.
What is the software license model for EnterpriseSCHEDULE?
Each server that participates in the job scheduling environment and runs
job requires a purchased licence. Licences are provided for Windows PC clients
free of charge – there is no limit to these and they may be automatically
generated on demand 24x7 via a licence registration web site http://registrar.i-s-e.com.
Can EnterpriseSCHEDULE be used in a ‘lights-out’, unattended
operations environment?
Yes, EnterpriseSCHEDULE supports full “lights-out” operations.
EnterpriseSCHEDULE provides the most complete set of rescheduling, restarting
and resource processing options for automated job/process management. In
addition remote monitor, notification, updating and report tools are available.
EnterpriseSCHEDULE supports clusters and fault tolerant server rollover.
What limitations are there on the number of scheduling batch jobs that EnterpriseSCHEDULE can handle?
EnterpriseSCHEDULE is very scalable batch job automation scheduling software.
Using the typical peer-to-peer distributed architecture, jobs are stored
on the individual nodes or clusters where they are run. This avoids processing
bottlenecks that could otherwise occur as new EnterpriseSCHEDULE nodes and their jobs are added into the enterprise.
What versions of OpenVMS does EnterpriseSCHEDULE support?
EnterpriseSCHEDULE supports Version 6.1 and later of OpenVMS.
EnterpriseSCHEDULE Client Interfaces
How many different software client interfaces do I need to use?
Our primary Enterprise Scheduling client interface runs on Windows. This GUI delivers a consistent look-and-feel for job stream creation and monitoring, for any connected server platform. This enables users to manage distributed IT jobs from a single point of control. Command line clients are provided for all platforms and there is also a web client.
Does EnterpriseSCHEDULE allow a remote user to telnet to the scheduling server system and use a command line interface?
Yes, EnterpriseSCHEDULE has a command line interface on all platforms that allows a user to telnet into the system and issue commands in a Shell mode. This is a complete client that allows a powerful set of command requests including wildcard and reporting requests. In fact, if the IP is known or the DSN can resolve the node request, a remote command Shell mode can be performed by a user with complete security and skipping the telnet session (great from Windows machines). In addition, the command Shell understands Windows style requests, UNIX style requests and OpenVMS style requests.
Does EnterpriseSCHEDULE allow jobs/processes to be monitored from a remote console running Windows?
Yes, the EnterpriseSCHEDULE console Monitor for Windows provides a central overview of all processes running on scheduling servers throughout the enterprise.
Is it possible to see a live view of job activity?
The Windows GUI interface displays a graphical live view of jobs as the job status changes. Icons represent the queues that the job is entering and small graphs show the CPU usage of the job. In addition, both the GUI interface and the command line interface display queue information as a flowing text display that depicts the changing status of the job.
EnterpriseSCHEDULE job alert options
Does EnterpriseSCHEDULE have a real time problem alert facility?
The EnterpriseSCHEDULE Job/Process Monitor provides real-time process status monitoring of the actual completion states of jobs/processes. Operators and administrators are notified of errors as they occur. Not only are failed processes detected, but the job's log is made available and the operator is given many options that include restarting the job or re-completing the job with a different completion status.
Can I trigger my own alerts from EnterpriseSCHEDULE, such as sms text messages?
Yes. The standard notification procedure that is provided can be customised to call external programs or scripts. All the important information for a job (name of job, status, date/time, etc.) is available in environment variables so meaningful messages can easily be constructed and passed to the external facility. This is in addition to the standard notification methods, such as pop-up windows, email and event logging.
Does EnterpriseSCHEDULE integrate with framework solutions such as HP OpenView?
Yes. EnterpriseSCHEDULE includes an optional integration module that provides
policies that can be imported into HP Operations Manager, enabling job and
server events to be centrally displayed. Integration with other centralised
event alerting systems can also be implemented by customising the EnterpriseSCHEDULE notification procedure.
Is there a proactive warning notification within EnterpriseSCHEDULE?
Yes, for each scheduled batch job EnterpriseSCHEDULE maintains the average
run-times, cpu-times and I/O counts for all processes executed. In addition,
there are five standard notification events. In fact, one particular notification
occurs when a job exceeds its average elapse-time plus a definable additional
buffer time.
EnterpriseSCHEDULE miscellaneous…
Can schedule batch jobs/processes be manipulated while they are
running?
Yes, EnterpriseSCHEDULE gives users the ability to control jobs/processes
that are scheduled, held in a queue, running or finished. They can be re-started,
re-completed, killed, deleted, released, cancelled or put on hold. This may
be done through any of the EnterpriseSCHEDULE clients.
Does a customer need to re-enter scheduling objects or reconfigure upon software upgrades, patches or enhancements?
EnterpriseSCHEDULE databases are compatible with new software versions and releases. Previously defined scheduling objects are retained, so upgrades are quickly and easily applied without disturbing the current environment.
What are job sets and how do they affect my daily runs?
A job set is a group of jobs connected by initiates and prerequisites, usually
initiated by a scheduled job or jobs. The job set is graphically illustrated
in the EnterpriseSCHEDULE Windows GUI which displays the jobs in a group as well as the connections, variables, text, etc. associated with that group. A variety of event-driven scheduling techniques provide additional job controls and triggers.
Can user access control be enforced using EnterpriseSCHEDULE to define individual user Access? For example, for a given job or directory of jobs, can the production scheduling staff have all access while operations staff are restricted to monitor, start and stop process only, and no modify or creation ability?
Yes, the EnterpriseSCHEDULE server(s) has a complete security model of object control and user access. All objects including directories, jobs, and variables have an Access Control Object privilege set that is a union of an Access Control List and the native access facility that is found on UNIX, Windows and OpenVMS. A user has a user ID that has a privilege set that defines the access level.
As an example: You may chose a UNIX model whereby a job has an owner, group, world definition (same as chmod entails) and you may also include several Access Control Lists to the Job. This job resides in a directory that also has a set of Access Controls. Then a user, defined by his user ID, has an access that is defined by a union of his (a) OS access, (b) membership of groups, (c) membership of Access Lists, and (d) Administrator controlled user privilege mappings. In short, the Schedule server compares the object’s defined access and compares the user's privilege for the user's requested operation. Complete security control is provided.
Can jobs/processes be scheduled for multiple times throughout a day?
EnterpriseSCHEDULE provides an unlimited array of rescheduling choices to
automatically run and/or restart your jobs/processes throughout the day.
Runs can be performed after the completion of the batch job process or different
instances of the same job can be performed simultaneously.
Does EnterpriseSCHEDULE allow a single automation job/ process to be submitted outside of its normal schedule?
Jobs that define a process to run and job streams may be manually submitted
at any time. In fact, you may set up a job's automatic rescheduling logic,
manually submit, and/or manually submit to be run at a later time.
For example, suppose you have a suite of jobs for overnight processing of data collected from remote branch offices. The jobs could update a master database at the central site, manipulate the data, produce reports, trigger data backup jobs, etc. If part of the process fails, you may want to build-in automatic recovery and re-runs. Or you may wish to alert staff to intervene manually, to determine the cause of failure and decide on the appropriate recovery action. The ability to correct and resubmit a job or subset of jobs in the suite outside the normal schedule makes recovery as simple as safe as possible.
Or you
may wish to change the flow of jobs in a suite or vary the start time on
a given occasion – e.g. bringing forward or delaying the run of a
job or the entire suite before a national holiday or to accommodate planned
or unexpected hardware maintenance down-time.
Can I run reports on the EnterpriseSCHEDULE database?
EnterpriseSCHEDULE incorporates a complete Report Writer for detailed reporting
on your database records and job history data. EnterpriseSCHEDULE ships
with a variety of standard reports. Reports are fully customisable and
can incorporate any aspect of the job's record or history. For instance,
you can run a report listing all EnterpriseSCHEDULE jobs that are to
run on a certain date from the EnterpriseSCHEDULE database. For a history
report, you can run a report of all batch jobs that failed or succeeded
on a certain day.
Can EnterpriseSCHEDULE import my existing jobs?
We can provide conversion advice and import routines for a number of other
scheduling systems. EnterpriseSCHEDULE allows existing scripts to be incorporated into its database and in many cases can provide an automatic conversion for the job attributes, greatly reducing implementation time. Please contact XuiS for further information.
How can I implement separate development and production systems in EnterpriseSCHEDULE?
EnterpriseSCHEDULE has several techniques to achieve this. Multiple scheduling groups can be implemented on a given server. These are independent, self-contained environments. It is also possible to run separate environments on different servers. In both these cases all defined scheduling elements (folders, jobs, variables, calendars, layouts) can be exported to a flat file and imported on the target server. It’s even possible to make global changes to the data in the flat file before import (e.g. changing batch job user names or log file locations, etc.). This allows groups of jobs to be tested then migrated as required.
Within EnterpriseSCHEDULE can required systems resources be specified for a process?
Yes, a job can define specific required resources for a process. The required
resources may be standard items like a file's existence or disk space required;
however, powerful, general purpose scheduling resource variables can also
be set to meet as many specific user defined resource requirements as required,
enhancing EnterpriseSCHEDULE’s event-driven capabilities.
How do I combine multiple EnterpriseSCHEDULE databases on OpenVMS?
There is an easy way to combine multiple EnterpriseSCHEDULE databases into one central database. All the directories, jobs, variables, calendars, etc. contained in both databases will be combined into a single entity that can be used to centralize scheduling activities.
First, stop the server on the node to be merged:
$ schedule server stop
Now run the command :
$ convert sch1_control_from_other_machine.dat sch1_control.dat /merge
This will merge the main databases. If you want to maintain all history, you can merge the history files the same way. The only difference is that they use the word history in place of control in the database file name. Once the database is merged, restart the server with the command:
$ @sys$startup:schedule_startup boot
This command must be run for each node in the cluster.
