SEA Launches New Job Scheduler For IBM i
March 28, 2018 Alex Woodie
When it’s not talking System z mainframe tools, Software Engineering of America (SEA) has traditionally involved itself with IBM i security and messaging tools. But the New York software firm has expanded its repertoire to IBM i job scheduling with the recent launch of absScheduler.
The new software was developed by SEA to be a “next-generation” job scheduler that can handle batch workloads across one or more IBM i partitions or systems. The software, which was developed by the same IBM i development team that developed the absMessage product over a decade ago, features both a 5250 green-screen interface and an Eclipse-based GUI.
SEA says the software is useful for creating all types of schedules, from the simple to the complex. The company says its group management and job organization capabilities allow users to create job definitions that are shared among groups, which speeds up the job creation process.
The software gives users the power to schedule jobs based on one or more variables, including run day, run time, and custom calendars, including holiday schedules. It includes provisions for adding dependency handling into schedules, as well as variable support and exception handling, the company says.
“absScheduler lets IBM i admins interact with job scheduling and monitoring features via a GUI and a 5250 interface.”
The software can be setup to trigger jobs to run based on the results of other jobs, including successful completion or failure status. Job workflows can automatically react to other information and change while running in response to system conditions and dependencies to other jobs, the company says.
But the software doesn’t end with creating and executing complex batch job workloads. Once the schedules have been created, the software gives admins a dashboard that lets them monitor job activity across their organizations in real-time. It also lets users sort jobs to see which ones are running, which ones have failed, and which ones are scheduled to run in the future.
SEA says it observed “a lack of automated job scheduling options” in the IBM i market. It points out that IBM i users can use the Submit Job (SBMJOB) command to start jobs manually, or the Work with Job Schedule Entries (WRKJOBSCDE) command for slightly more complex operations. The Management Central Scheduler feature that comes with IBM Navigator for i is another option, or third-party products.
“With the need for more flexibility and the lack of options for customers, SEA felt it was a priority to invest in an IBM i-based job scheduling solution to give our customers a better option for their scheduling needs,” the company tells IT Jungle via email.
So what separates absScheduler from the other solutions? According to SEA, it’s all about combining simplicity and functionality. The software “allows you to schedule, monitor, and manage jobs across your entire environment and does not require multiple components to schedule and monitor your entire job scheduling environment from a single pane of glass,” the company says.
The company also says that it’s “been able to address what we feel are long standing improvements IBM i customers have wanted to make in regards to the creation, management, and monitoring of jobs. For example, we’ve made the process of creating advanced scheduling workflows very simple and intuitive in comparison to other job scheduling options, while still remaining simple for those who don’t have advanced requirements.”
SEA’s Chief Operating Officer Jatin Thakker says the software delivers the flexibility enterprise demand. “SEA built absScheduler with an open, flexible architecture to give our customers a robust, scalable solution for the IBM i,” he stated in a press release.
The software is licensed by server and LPAR and is priced “very competitively,” the company says. For more information, see the company’s website at http://www.seasoft.com.
