AutoSys Scheduler - CA Workload Automation AE
What is Autosys?
Autosys is a job scheduler ( workload automation ). It allows batch jobs to be run on a schedule across distributed systems. It is similar to cron except that it is much more complex providing a centralized server, dependencies, and other advanced features. The product has been renamed more than once over the years. It has also been acquired by different companies multiple times.
| CA Workload Automation AE - Scheduler (AutoSys) | Current Name |
| Unicenter AutoSys Job Management | An Old Name |
Note - Don’t confuse this with other software branded as CA Workload Automation. Other products have been branded with almost the same name. “AE” is an acronym for “AutoSys Edition”. Which is basicaly just rebranded AutoSys.
AutoSys Components
| Scheduler | Selects and processes events from the Event Server. It is multi-threaded. |
| Application Server | Clients, CLIs, and GUIs connect to this. It connects to the DB. |
| Event Server | Basically a database of events |
| Workload Control Centre (WCC) | This is a GUI and the default interface for AutoSys. |
| Embedded Entitlements Manager or EEM (aka eIAM) | This is for entitlements. |
| Agent | This runs on a server where jobs will be scheduled to run. |
How to Install / Setup Autosys
If you want to learn how to install the AutoSys Scheduler or CA Workload Automation AE you have come to the right place. Just watch this video. It should help get you started.
AutoSys Download
Are you looking for an AutoSys Download? Unfortunately this isn’t as easy as it is with opensource tools. You can just quick download it and try it out. If you are looking to download AutoSys, it probably means that you are going to devote quit a bit of time planning and setup so this should only be a small inconvenience.
You can start by looking at these two URLs:
You are probably going to have to login before you can actually download autosys. You may or may not have to actually have already purchased a license. Things change fast and your milege may vary. Once you’ve logged in try searching for the product: “CA Workload Automation AE - Scheduler (AutoSys)” under “support” or “downloads”.
AutoSys vs Cron
You might have been wondering about the difference between AutoSys vs Cron. Hopefully this should give you a somewhat better understanding. Really though, you will want to be familiar with both tools to be able to have a complete understanding.
What are the differences between Crontab and AutoSYS?
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Crontab is a simple built in job scheduler that is usually packaged with Linux and Unix systems. It is simple and free.
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AutoSys is similar to cron except that it has a centralized server, distributed jobs, dependencies, lots of features, and is not free.
More
Autosys Job Types
| Command | Executes a command or script |
| Box | Like a container for jobs or a job group |
| File Watcher | Watches files |
AutoSys Job States
| STARTING | Starting up, will be running soon. |
| RUNNING | Currently running ( doing work ) |
| INACTIVE | Not running… |
| ACTIVATED | Top level box job that contains this job is running but the job isn’t running yet. |
| SUCCESS | Completed running without an error. |
| FAILURE | It failed. Something went wrong. |
| TERMINATED | Job was killed by an outside force ( user killed it or server itself failed ) |
| RESTART | Couldn’t start due to issues but is scheduled to restart. |
| QUE_WAIT | Ready to run but not resources available. |
| ON HOLD | Job is disabled. Will run when it leaves this state if conditions are met. |
| ON ICE | Job is disabled. Won’t run when unfrozen until the NEXT time conditions are met. |
Autosys Status Abbreviations
| AC | ACTIVATED |
| FA | FAILURE |
| IN | INACTIVE |
| RE | RESTART |
| RU | RUNNING |
| ST | STARTING |
| SU | SUCCESS |
| TE | TERMINATED |
| OH | ON_HOLD |
| OI | ON_ICE |
| QU | QUE_WAIT |
Autosys Job Definitions
AutoSys JIL Command (Job Interaction Language )
Example Job Definition - JIL File
/* —————– myJob1 —————– */
insert_job: myJob1 job_type: c
command: /opt/tools/processData.sh
machine: server1
owner: admin@server1
permission: gx,wx,mx,me
days_of_week: all
start_times: “14:00, 12:00″
description: “Job to process data”
alarm_if_fail: 1
max_exit_success: 1
Autosys Autorep Command
View an AutoSys job definition (JIL code):
autorep -J myJob1 -q
Get info for the last 5 runs:
autorep -J myJob1 -r 5
Autosys Sendevent Command
- J - job name
- E - event
You can control jobs by sending events to them with the sendevent command:
sendevent -E STARTJOB -J myJob1
sendevent -E KILLJOB -J myJob1
sendevent –E FORCE_STARTJOB -J myJob1
sendevent -E ON_ICE -J myJob1
sendevent -E OFF_ICE -J myJob1
AutoSys Events List
| STARTJOB |
| KILLJOB |
| DELETEJOB |
| FORCE_STARTJOB |
| CHANGE_STATUS |
| STOP_DEMON |
| CHANGE_PRIORITY |
| COMMENT |
| ALARM |
| SET_GLOBAL |
| SEND_SIGNAL |
| JOB_ON_ICE |
| JOB_OFF_ICE |
| JOB_ON_HOLD |
| JOB_OFF_HOLD |
How to monitor file content using AutoSys OMTF job type - Extra Technology’s “How-To” Series
References