Autosys | Workload Automation Tool

In this blogpost, we will learn about Autosys, which is a workload automation tool.

What is Autosys?

Autosys is a job scheduling and workload automation tool used in large-scale enterprise applications and processes. It allows to schedule, monitor, and management of jobs and tasks across a variety of platforms, operating systems, and applications.

Benefits Of Autosys

Autosys provides a few benefits to organizations looking for automating their business processes and workload scheduling. Some of the key benefits of Autosys include:

1. Increased organizational productivity.
2. Improved operational efficiency.
3. Business continuity and reduced risk of downtown.
4. Notification on success and failure of jobs.
5. Simple and easy to use.
6. Load balancing, it helps to manage workloads across multiple systems.

Overall, Autosys is a powerful tool that can provide significant benefits to organizations looking to streamline their business processes, improve efficiency, reduce errors and downtime.

Components/Workflow of Autosys

Autosys has few components that work together to manage and automate job scheduling and workload management. Below are the steps:

1. The Event Processor checks the Event Server for the next event to the processor. If no event is ready, then the Event Processor scans it again in 5 seconds.

2. The Event Processor reads from the Event Server that an event is ready. The job definition and attributes are retrieved from the Event Server, including the command and the pointer to the profile file to be used for the job.

3. The Event Processor processes the event. The Event Processor attempts to establish a connection with the Remote Agent on the client machine and passes the job attributes to the client machine.

4. The Remote Agent is invoked using the User ID and Password passed from the Event Processor.

5. The Remote Agent receives the job parameters and sends an acknowledgement to the Event Processor.

6. The Remote Agent Starts a process and executes the command in the job definition.

7. The Remote Agent issues a CHANGE_STATUS event marking in the Event Server that the job is in RUNNING state.

8. The client job process runs to completion, then it returns an exit code to the Remote Agent and quits.

9. The Remote Agent sends the Event Server a CHANGE_STATUS event corresponding to the completion status of the job. The Remote Agent quits.

Overall, these components work together to provide a powerful and flexible job scheduling and workload management solution for organizations of all sizes.

Job In Autosys

Any task to be performed in Autosys is called a Job. A Job can be any single command, exe file, windows batch file or a script. Job definition will have qualifying attributes like where the job is, at what time and on which day it should run etc. A job with a set of attributes defined for a job to run is known as Job Information Language (JIL). Autosys jobs can be used to automate tasks such as business processes, data processing, system backup, file transfer and many more.

How to Create Autosys Job

There are two ways to create a job in Autosys:

1. Autosys GUI: Autosys graphical user interface can be used to setup a job in Autosys. For creating a job in Autosys it requires information such as where, when and how a job should run.

2. JIL: JIL is a language which has its own commands to run a job. It is a kind of schema which has its own data types.

Job Types In Autosys

Autosys supports several types of jobs that can be used to automate a wide range of business processes. The types of jobs supported by Autosys include:

1. Command Job: A Command Job is a simple job that runs a single command or script. Command Jobs can be used for a wide range of tasks, such as running shell scripts, executing SQL commands, or performing system backups.
2. File Watcher Job: A File Watcher Job monitors the arrival or deletion of files in a specified directory. File Watcher Jobs can be used to automate file transfers, trigger data processing tasks, or initiate other business processes based on the arrival or deletion of files.
3. Box Job: A Box Job is a collection of one or more Command Jobs, File Watcher Jobs, or other types of jobs that are executed as a single entity. Box Jobs can be used to automate complex workflows that involve multiple jobs or dependencies.
4. FTP Job: An FTP Job is used to automate file transfers between hosts or platforms. FTP Jobs can be scheduled to run at specific times or triggered by the arrival or deletion of files.

Job States In Autosys

Autosys jobs can have various states during their lifecycle. These states indicate the current status of the job and can help administrators and operators understand what is happening with the job. The job states in Autosys include:

1. INACTIVE: When a job is defined but has not been activated or scheduled, it is in an INACTIVE state.
2. ON HOLD: When a job is manually put on hold, it is in an ON HOLD state. In this state, the job will not run, even if it is scheduled to run.
3. STARTING: When a job is scheduled to run, it enters the STARTING state. In this state, the job is initializing and preparing to run.
4. RUNNING: When a job is executing, it is in the RUNNING state. In this state, the job is performing its defined tasks.
5. SUCCESS: When a job completes successfully, it enters the SUCCESS state.
6. FAILURE: When a job fails to complete its defined tasks, it enters the FAILURE state.
7. TERMINATED: When a job is stopped before completion, it enters the TERMINATED state.
8. RETRY: When a job fails, it can be configured to automatically retry. In this case, the job enters the RETRY state, and the retry attempts will continue until the job completes successfully or reaches the maximum retry limit.
9. ON ICE: When a job is put on ice, it is temporarily disabled and will not run, even if it is scheduled to run.
10. RESTART: When a job is manually restarted, it enters the RESTART state.

Overall, the job states in Autosys provide administrators and operators with a clear understanding of the current status of the job, allowing them to quickly identify and resolve any issues that may arise during job execution. For detailed video course, please watch below added video.