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Introduction

Standalone Jobs and Order Jobs

JobScheduler comes with two types of job that can be used to carry out workflow automation tasks - Standalone Jobs and Order Jobs.

Standalone Jobs are simple to configure and are often used in simpler job scheduling environments. They are also often used where users have migrated from other job scheduling systems such as TWS which are based on a similar concept. However, Standalone Jobs are neither as flexible nor as powerful as Order Jobs.

Order Jobs are run in Job Chains and can be executed both sequentially and in parallel. Order Jobs require an Order before they can run. Orders are triggers that start a Job Chain and convey information about the state in the job chain corresponding with the job that is being run. Orders can also have a payload of parameters that are processed by individual Jobs. These concepts are explained in more detail in our Concepts for jobs, job chains and orders article. In addition, our Job Chains article illustrates some of the basic Job Chain patterns that can be implemented with JobScheduler.

Most of these tutorials in this series concentrate on Order Jobs - however the following article provides a step-by-step guide to configuring and running Standalone Jobs:  

The tutorials in this series

First Steps

This first tutorial shows how to run a simple Order Job containing a shell script that writes "Hello World" into the job's log file and to verify that this job has run correctly. 

The order for the job will be started and monitored using the JOC Cockpit web browser interface. A good starting point for finding out more about JOC is our JOC Cockpit article.

Starting Requirements

Before you start this tutorial, it is assumed that the following software is installed and is running:

  • JobScheduler
  • JOE, for editing and creating Jobs and Orders
  • the JOC Cockpit for operating the JobScheduler

See the JobScheduler - Tutorials - Introduction and Requirements article for instructions about meeting these requirements.

Download the Demo File 

You should also have downloaded and unpacked the demo file and copied it to your JobScheduler's live folder.

You will also find the demo file and instructions about the location of the live folder in the JobScheduler - Tutorials - Introduction and Requirements article.

 

Running the "Hello World" Job using the JOC Cockpit

  1. To start the JOC Cockpit open a browser tab and call the JOC Cockpit using an address such as:
  2. Log into the JOC Cockpit using an authorized account name and password. The account name shown in the screenshot below is for one of the default accounts configured with the JOC Cockpit. This account - the it_operator - has sufficient permissions for the purposes of these tutorials but has to be activated by a system administrator. See the Authentication and Authorization - Configuration article for more information. 


  3. After logging in successfully the Dashboard view will be shown:


  4. Now open the Job Chains view by clicking on the Job Chains link in the grey menu bar near the top of the dashboard. This is the most useful view for starting and monitoring individual Orders being run on Job Chains and when first opened only shows the menu tree in the left hand view panel. This menu tree represents the folder structure in the JobScheduler's live directory and is a major tool for navigating to individual Job Chains.
    • Click on the tutorials link in the menu tree as shown below to access the Hello World Job Chain:


  5. At this stage the Hello World Job Chain is the only Job Chain in the tutorials folder. It is shown in card form as can be seen in the next screen shot:

    The card view provides two possible ways of generating an Order for the Job Chain:
    • the Add Order link at the bottom left of the Card and 
    • via the Additional Options (ellipsis) icon shown behind the pointer in the screen shot above. This will open a list of options for the Job Chain as shown in the next screenshot:
    • Now select the Add Order option to open the form to configure how the order will be started. This form is shown in the next screenshot, where the Order can be seen to be configured by default to start Now and without any change to other parameters:

      Click on the Submit Order button to start the order. 
    • The Hello World Job Chain will be processed very quickly so you may not notice a change in the Job Chain card which will very briefly show:
      • 2 Orders and 
      • 1 Pending  1 Running before the order is completed.

  6. The presentation form used for the Job Chain view now needs to be changed to access the History for the Hello World Job Chain.
    Click on the Show List button in the View Header menu as shown in the next screenshot:


    This will change the presentation of the job Chain to a list form, as shown in the next screen shot, and includes a link to show the Order History.
     
     
  7. Now click on the Hello World Job Chain link in the Job Chain list, which will open the History tab for the Job Chain as shown above. 

    By default the History tab lists the 30 most current and recent Orders run on the Job Chain with their Status, Start and End date and time as well as the Current Node. (The Success Nodes listed for all Orders shown is an end node of the Job Chain when it runs without error and all the Orders shown have run to completion. End nodes will be introduced in the next tutorial.) 

  8. Clicking on any of the entries for an Order provides a direct route to opening the log file for the Order as shown in the screenshot below.  

Summary

Congratulations!

You have just run your first Order Job with the JobScheduler and verified that it has run successfully.

In the next tutorial you will extend this Job Chain with the JobScheduler Object Editor, JOE and be able to observe the processing of the Job Chain as it happens.