Ch 13 Scheduler

The Scheduler component is used to track the status of activities within WebSphere Product Center (i.e. imports, exports, reports). The Jobs Console provides a unified view to manage all scheduled jobs that can be executed based on a defined timetable and monitored with status information.

Scheduler terminology

Jobs   A job is an import, export, or report that is created in their respective consoles. Multiple scheduled can be identified for a single job.
Schedule   A schedule is defined for a job. Multiple schedules can be created for a single job.
Scheduler   The Scheduler component of the Data Model Manager allows a user to view information on all schedules that are associated to the various jobs that have been created.

Jobs Console

The Jobs console displays jobs that are scheduled to run, which include imports, exports, and reports. Users can disable a job, compare jobs, view the status of a job, or update schedule information.

Figure 13.1 - Jobs Console

Jobs Console columns

The following table lists the columns that are available in the Jobs Console.

Created by

Identifies the creator of the job. This column can be sorted by clicking the arrow next to the column heading name

Description Description of the job
Schedule Information Lists the number of associated schedules. Click to view all schedules associated to the job
Action Functional buttons available for each export job listed

Jobs Console buttons

The following table lists the functional buttons from the Jobs Console screen.

View the status of the job

 

Update the schedule information

 

Disable a job so that it does not execute as scheduled

 

Compare two different instances of a job or to a different job

Click to access the Schedule Status page to search by the status of scheduled jobs

Accessing the Jobs Console

Use the menu path: Data Model Manager > Scheduler > Jobs Console. The Jobs Console interface appears.

Viewing job information 

From the Jobs Console click on the description for the job to take you to a screen that provides a calendar of the day the job was executed along with additional details related to the job.

Update schedule information

From the Jobs Console, click the associated schedules hyperlink for the job to take you to a screen that provides view additional job information and the ability to update the schedule information for a job.

Figure 13.2 - Schedule information

Select a job from the Schedule Information table and click one of the following action icons:

 

Enable selected schedules

 

Disable all associated schedules

 

Edit scheduled job

 

View Schedule Status Information

 

Delete scheduled job

 

Compare schedules that have already been executed

Viewing job status

From the Jobs Console, click the status button from the Action column for a job. The Schedule Status Information table appears displaying detailed information for the selected job.

Comparing Scheduled Jobs

The Compare action allows a user to compare jobs that have already been executed. 

1. Select a job from the Jobs Console and click the Compare button from the Action column. The "Runs Progress Comparison For Job" table displays with the job statistics for the job.

2. From the table, find the job to compare with and click the [< Compare] hyperlink in the column heading.

3. There are six components that can be used to analyze the performance of a job. Select one of the following action buttons.

 

Displays the current status percentage bar, and also two charts to plot progress over time.

An expandable/collapsible table to provide insight into all the operations that were performed during the job run.

 

Displays useful debug information for certain job types.

 

Displays the duration from the start of the job it took to reach each percentage point. The durations are in milliseconds.

 

Displays a comparison between different jobs.

 

Expanded versions of the Progress Table. Extra columns for the durations for each job/schedule run are also displayed.

1) Progress Chart: This displays the current status percentage bar, and also two charts to plot progress over time.

2) Performance: An expandable/collapsible table to provide insight into all the operations that were performed during the job run. If the job is still running, the row with a yellow background was the last updated row (operation last performed during the job run)

3) Debug Report: Displays useful debug information for certain job types. To write messages to this debug report, use the logDebug script operation

4) Progress Table: Displays the duration, in milliseconds, from the start of the job it took to reach each percentage point. Also, displayed on this screen for comparison are the average duration times for the job and for the schedule.

5) Compare With Job Runs: Compare the progress between jobs that have been executed at different times.

6) Compare With Schedule Runs

Displays an expanded version of the Progress Table. There are extra columns for the duration of each scheduled job. If desired, delete the information displayed for this job. Change the focus to a different job by clicking the " Compare" link.

Searching the jobs console

User can search for a job in the Jobs Console using the search feature.

1. From the Jobs Console, click the Search Options button located above the table heading row.

2. Select to search by the "Created by" or "Description" column. Add a search criterion (use * for wildcard) and view the results in a table.

Disabling/stopping a scheduled job

1. From the Jobs Console, click the disable button, located in the Action column. A dialog box appears confirming the job will be disabled.

2. Click OK to disable the job, or Cancel to continue the job.

Issues with stopping an import in progress

Stopping an import in progress can be somewhat risky at certain points in the import process and could possibly damage a catalog. If a job is stopped at 75% completion, a rollback must be done manually. 

If the job has surpassed 75% and the job is killed, extra steps need to be taken to make sure data is not in an inconsistent state. This can be done by first performing a catalog difference with the last version before the import. If data appears in the catalog, a rollback needs to be setup and executed to return the catalog to its previous state.


Entry Processor Status

This component displays the status of all item macros or saves that have completed running, currently running, or items that have caused an error.

Accessing the Entry Processor Status page

Use the menu path: Data Model Manager > Scheduler > Entry Processor Status. The Entry Processor Status Search interface appears.

Search for entry processor status

1. From the Entry Processor Status page, select a value from the Current Status drop-down field.

2. Select a value from the Processor Type drop-down field (Item Marco or Item Save).

3. Select a time frame to search from the Date From and Date to fields.

4. Select a user from the Created By drop-down field. The default is the current user.

5. When the search parameters have been selected, click Search and the results display in the Entry Processor Runs table.

6. To view the error log for any item processor runs, click the view button in the Error Log column.


Schedule Status

Schedule information can be obtained on all job types (import, export, reports), which can also be obtained from the Jobs Console. Within this component, the user has the option to view system job runs.

Accessing the schedule status page

Use the menu path: Data Model Manager > Scheduler > Schedule Status. The "Schedule Status Search" and "Schedule Status Information" interfaces appear along with a table of scheduled status information on the most recent jobs executed.

13.3 Schedule Status page

Searching the status of a schedule

To search the status of a schedule, do the following:

1. From the "Schedule Status" page select one of the following values from the By current State drop-down field:

2. Select a time frame to search by selecting values from the Date From and Date To drop-down fields.

3. Select a user in the Created By drop-down field.

4. OPTIONAL: Check the View System Job Runs box to include jobs that were executed by the system automatically.

6. Click the Search button and the results of the searched schedules appear in a Schedule Status Information table.


Job approvals

If a job has been generated and awaiting an approval, the job is placed in the approval workflow. The approving authority is notified through the Alerts Module of their My Task List and  the generated file can be reviewed before it is approved or rejected.

Approving Scheduled Jobs

1. From the "My Task List" of the approving authority for the job, the Approval Module displays all of the jobs that have been requested for approval or submitted for approval from a user. 

Note: If the Alerts Module is not configured to display, edit the My Task List settings to do so.

The following is a list of authorizing status icons.

 

Accepted

 

Pending Authorization

 

Rejected

2. If the job status is in pending status, click on the Pending icon. The Task Approval Information screen appears.

3. Accept or Reject the job by clicking on the associated button. If desired, enter a reason for your decision. The job status is updated in the user's task list and in the associated console for the job (i.e. Import Console).

Figure 13. 4 – Approving a job