Job scheduler considerations

 

When choosing a job scheduler product, you need to consider a variety of different features. The following is a list of features to consider when determining which job scheduler to use:

• Automated job scheduling

  • Flexibility in scheduling jobs

  • Unattended (or attended) job processing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with total compliance to the schedules you set

  • Natural extension of the i5/OS^® operating system

  • Complete control of how, when, and where a job is submitted

  • Extensive job dependencies such as objects (existence of a file or records within a physical file), the activity or inactivity of other jobs, or the status of a line, controller, or subsystem

  • Complete calendaring functions, including fiscal and holiday calendars

  • Multiple runs per day

• System and user-defined parameters

  • Current date, submission date, previous date, and current time can be passed into application programs

  • User-defined parameter values can be created, changed, and passed into application programs

• Workload/history forecasting

  • Forecasts all scheduled jobs to be run next week, next month, or next day

  • Optimize production requirements

  • Historical tracking and logging of all Advanced Job Scheduler activity

• Network management

  • Jobs can be set up on any System i™ product in the network to run on any other System i product on the network

  • Provides complete job history of the job on the submitting system

  • Group and dependent jobs can be submitted through the network

• Report distribution and management

  • Routing, monitoring, and controlling of all output reports generated by Advanced Job Scheduler or i5/OS operating system

  • Spooled file distribution to multiple output queues or to remote systems with optional banner pages

  • Spooled output can be duplicated or sent to any user on the i5/OS network

• Security

  • Existing i5/OS security can be utilized within Advanced Job Scheduler

  • Specify who in your organization has authority to set up or change information about scheduled jobs

  • Authority can be specified for either the individual functions of Advanced Job Scheduler or for specific jobs

• Graphical user interface

  • Point and click capabilities when scheduling a job

  • Manage jobs

  • Maintain dependencies

  • Track scheduler activity and log information

• Other key features

  • Multiple commands per job

  • Definition for job LDA (Local Data Area)

  • Console monitor to run jobs in restricted state

  • Check maximum run time for each job

  • Interface directly to a message-based third-party paging system

  • Provisions for full online documentation of each job

  • Extensive cursor-sensitive help text on all displays

 

Parent topic:

Job scheduling options

Related concepts
Management Central scheduler Advanced Job Scheduler Job schedule entries The submit job command Job scheduling and system availability