How to KILL a Job using PostProc Tab

During our day to day activities sometimes we may come across a scenario to Kill a job during run time. The most commonly scenario is to kill a job when it is exceeding its normal time limit. We can achieve this using PostProc tab without any manual intervention.

To perform this you MUST have access to Control-M Server.

1. You have to connect to Control-M Server using Telnet.
2. From the "ctmsys" menu, goto "Shout Destination Tables" and define a shout destination with type "P" (process), Address Type "A" (agent), Logical Destination "Kill_Job" and Physical Destination"$HOME/ctm/exe_<architecture>/killjob.sh".
3. Go to your CONTROL-M/Server home directory, and define a script under ctm/exe_<architecture>/. The script name will be "killjob.sh", which contains the following lines:
   
   #!/bin/csh
   ctmkilljob -ORDERID $2 &
   
   Note: the ampersand (&) at the end of the command. This must be present for this solution to work.
4. Job definition
• Goto the "PostProc" tab and define a shout WHEN LATETIME or EXECTIME
• in the Destination put "Kill_Job" 
• in the Message Box put "%%ORDERID" (the parameters for the "killjob.sh" script).

Read more »

How to get a job to email the SYSOUT

Update the STEPS panel of the failing job with the following statements:

      On Stmt=*            Code=COMPSTAT!0 (or NOTOK or other specific return codes)

      DO Set-Var          %%\G_ORDERID                %%ORDERID

      DO Set-Var          %%\G_JOBNAME               %%JOBNAME

      DO Set-Var          %%\G_MAILADDRESS      youremail@domain.com

      Do Force-Job      Table=YourTable                 Jname=EMAILSYSOUT

Note: The “Do Set-Var” is setting global variables to be passed to another job. Global variables are defined using a backslash.

The global variables are used in the other job without the backslash.

Force job definition: Job name EMAILSYSOUT

On the command line:
ctmpsm -LISTSYSOUT 000%%G_ORDERID |mailx -s "Job %%G_JOBNAME failed. See sysout attached!" %%G_MAILADDRESS

Note: The Node-id on the Execute tab must be the home server for Control-M.

Read more »

Control-M EM GUI

The CONTROL-M/Enterprise Manager application provides a single, centralized point of access and control of your batch processing environment. CONTROL-M/Enterprise Manager lets you to automate the scheduling and processing of your production jobs. Its main GUIs are CONTROL-M/Desktop and the CONTROL-M/Enterprise Manager window (simply called CONTROL-M/EM).

Logging into Control-M/EM:

Click on the Icon which is located on your Desktop.

Go to Start Menu\Programs\CONTROL-M Enterprise Manager 6.3.01\ Default\ CONTROL-M Enterprise Manager GUI

Read more »

ViewPoint Manager

Defining ViewPoints

A ViewPoint builds a view of the active environment by retrieving and displaying data according to the criteria defined in the ViewPoint’s collection, hierarchy, and global filter definitions.

■ Collections determine the jobs to be loaded into memory.

■ Global filters determine which jobs to display.

■ Hierarchies determine the hierarchical structure in which to display jobs.

CONTROL-M/EM is supplied with a number of predefined ViewPoints, but you can create or modify definitions.

To define a ViewPoint

1. In CONTROL-M/Enterprise Manager, choose Tools => ViewPoint Manager.





2. In the ViewPoint Manager dialog box, do one of the following:
1. To create a new ViewPoint definition, select the ViewPoints node and click New. Then, in the ViewPoint dialog box that opens, enter a name for the ViewPoint.



2. To edit an existing ViewPoint definition, select the definition under the ViewPoints node and click Edit.


3. In the ViewPoint Properties dialog box, do the following:
1. Enter a description for the ViewPoint (optional).
2. Select a collection for the ViewPoint.
3. Select a global filter for the ViewPoint.
4. Select a Hierarchy definition for the ViewPoint.
5. After selecting the hierarchy, select the Initial Level of the Hierarchy to display when the ViewPoint is opened.
6. By default, the highest hierarchy level nodes are displayed in when the ViewPoint is opened.
7. Click OK.

Read more »

Using Wild card in File Watcher [ctmfw ]

Most of us know that ctmfw utility is used for File Watcher (create/delete). Normally most of us (all of us.. may be ???? I've used many times before knowing the exact usage ;-D ) will use the file name in quotes (" "), which is actually wrong. The correct way of using this is , placing the quotes only with the file name not with entire path.

Invalid: "test/mahi/touchfile.txt"

Valid: test/mahi/"touchfile.txt"

This will be very helpful while using wildcard character (*)

Eg: test/mahi/"touchfile*.txt"

This will give a flexibility to watch for any file like touchfile1.txt, touchfile2.txt, touchfile-random.txt... etc

Read more »

Control-M Road Map [ History of Control-M ]

Control-M was a batch-scheduling tool originally developed for scheduling jobs on mainframe computer systems, by an Israel-based company New Dimension Software (the company was originally called 4th Dimension Software and later renamed to New Dimension Software). In the early 90's, Control-M also became available on the distributed environment (for example, Windows and Unix). Users can use Control-M either in a distributed/mainframe only or mixed environment. There are a number of other mainframe-focused products within the same product line such as Control-D, Control-M/Tape, Control-O, Control-V, and Control-M/Links. BMC software acquired New Dimension Software in 1999 and continued the product line. In the recent years, BMC software made Control-M to become part of its BSM strategy by integrating Control-M with BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database (CMDB). Today Control-M is one of the most widely used enterprise batch scheduling software on both mainframe and distributed environments, with customers around the world from every major industry.

The following are the milestones in the Control-M history:

• 1985: Innovated the integrated approach for batch processing automation (mainframe)
• 1993: Provided single focal point of control of the heterogeneous batch environment – Enterprise Control Station (later on, the name changed to Control-M/Enterprise Manager)
• 1993: Release of control modules to extend Control-M's scheduling capability into external applications
• 1996: Enabled event-based scheduling
• 2000: Release of new control modules - integration with ERP applications
• 2004: Added the support for SOA approach – Business Process Integration
• 2004: Link batch scheduling with business SLAs – Batch Impact Manager
• 2006: Release of Agentless technology - part of Control-M 6.3.01
• 2007: Integration with BMC Atrium CMDB – BMC Batch Discovery
• 2008: Workload Lifecycle Management - within Control-M 6.4.01
• 2010: Workload automation – Control-M 7
• 2012: The Power of Simple – Control-M 8

Reference: BMC Control-M 7: A Journey from Traditional Batch Scheduling to Workload Automation

Read more »

May be Conditions (Manual Conditions)

Sometimes we will get different scenarios in Scheduling control-M jobs, one of that is like below.

Lets say there are JOB-A,JOB-B,JOB-C. JOB-C, is dependent on other 2 jobs.

• If JOB-A & JOB-C are DAILY Jobs
• JOB-B is Mon, Wed, Fri job 

If you try to implement the above change the first thing comes to your mind is using DUMMY job (in case if you are good in Scheduling though).

if it is a single scenario in your entire batch jobs then we can use Dummy jobs, lets say you have 100's of similar scenarios. then it would be difficult to have 100's of dummy jobs, it will make your scheduling solution complex, so it is better to use May Be Conditions or Manual Conditions.

Steps to Implement this:

1. Out Conditions of JOB-A and JOB-B should be  #-JOB-A-OK and   #-JOB-B-OK
2. In  Conditions of JOB-C is  #-JOB-A-OK and   #-JOB-B-OK
3. Create 1 job with TASK TYPE as Command and use "ctmldnrs -CALCCOND -ADDMODE NO" as a commad
4. Create 1 job with TASK TYPE as Command and use ctmldnrs -LOAD "#-*" as a commad

The job in Step3 will create a default output file in <controlm_user_dir/ctmldnrs.dat>

The job in Step4 will read the conditions from a default file <controlm_user_dir/ctmldnrs.dat> and load it on Conditions table. This means the jobs which are not in schedule for that day and if there are any jobs waiting for their conditions (#- Conditions) will be created in Conditions table.

Note:

• Step3 job must run immediately after New Day Process

• Step4 job must run after Step3 job

I hope it is clear. Please drop your comments in case if you have any queries.

Read more »

BMC Batch Impact Manager

Useful Video to know about BMC Batch Impact Manager

Read more »

Recovering from primary CONTROL-M/Server failure (Server failover)

These procedures assume that a failover server has already been installed and initialized on a secondary computer. Two procedures are used during failover situations:

1. Verify that:
• Both primary and secondary CONTROL-M/Server installations and CONTROL-M/Server Configuration Agent are not running.
• Both the primary and mirror database servers are running.
2. Log on to the secondary computer as the CONTROL-M/Server owner.
3. Specify the ctm_menu command to open the CONTROL-M Main Menu.
4. Type 4 to select Database Mirroring and press <Enter>.
5. From the Database Mirroring menu, type 7 to select Start Failover and press <Enter>.

WARNING


Do not start the secondary CONTROL-M/Server while the primary CONTROL-M/Server is running, or before the Start Failover procedure finishes executing. If the secondary CONTROL-M/Server is started too early, the following message may be displayed: 

** Unable to start CONTROL-M due to path specified for PROCLIB directory $PROCLIB. This path is invalid **

6. The following message is displayed:

This operation disables CONTROL-M database mirroring, and starts FailOver CONTROL-M !!!

Confirm that CONTROL-M in the primary data center is not running.Continue [y/n] :

7. Type y and press <Enter> to continue with Failover.

The following message is displayed:
CONTROL-M/Server database mirroring 

Mirroring of the CONTROL-M/Server database allows rapid recovery of CONTROL-M/Server functionality in the event of a failure of the CONTROL-M/Server database. You can implement mirroring during or after CONTROL-M/Server installation.

To implement CONTROL-M/Server database mirroring

1. Review the database requirements for mirroring as described in the CONTROL-M/Server for UNIX and Microsoft Windows Installation Guide. 


2. Verify that CONTROL-M/Server, CONTROL-M/Server Configuration Agent, and CONTROL-M/Server utilities are not running. Ensure that the SQL database is running.


3. Choose Database Mirroring => Initialize Mirroring from the CONTROL-M Main Menu.


4. At the conclusion of the procedure, restart CONTROL-M/Server and the CONTROL-M/Server Configuration Agent

Read more »

Control-M/EM GUI Authorizations

To perform any action in Control-M we need Authorization/Permission. This will be setup using Authorizations window in Control-M/EM GUI. Using this we can create, modify or Delete user-id's and their privileges. This is the window Schedulers or Admin will use to create a User-Id or Reset Password or modifying privileges.. etc.

To access the Authorizations window Follow the below steps:

1. Log on to CONTROL-M/EM GUI or CONTROL-M/Desktop.
2.  Choose Tools => Authorizations. The Users tab is displayed.

The Authorization window has separate panels for users and groups. The Users panel enables you to add, modify, copy, or delete a user whose authorizations can be configured. The Groups panel enables you to add, modify, copy, or delete a group whose authorizations apply to members of the group.

Actions that are permitted or denied for each access level are described below. 

1. None - Denies access to the component.  
2. Browse - Can view and refresh the component.  
3. Update - Permits adding and modifying CONTROL-M information.  
4. Full - Permits adding, modifying, and deleting CONTROL-M information.  
5. Default - [Valid for user authorizations. Not valid for group authorizations.] Inherits the permissions from the group to which the user belongs. Use of this is, We can create a Group with list of Privileges

The panel will look like below.

Authorizations window – Users tab fields

• Filter: Select this check box to enable the User Name filter.
• User Name text box: Specify a user name or pattern (for example, adm*). Click Apply to apply the filter. Click Clear to erase the contents of the text box.
• Name: CONTROL-M/EM logon name of the user to whom the authorization refers. Names listed satisfy the requirements of the filter, if any.
• Full Name: Full name of the user.
• Description: Description of the user.

Authorizations window – Groups tab fields

• Filter: Select this check box to enable the Group Name filter.
• Group Name text box: Specify a group name or pattern (for example, adm*). Click Apply to apply the filter. Click Clear to erase the contents of the text box.
• Name Group name: Groups listed satisfy the filter requirements, if any.
• Description: Description of the group.

User Properties Window:

Authorizations window – User Properties fields

• General: Provides logon data about users (or lists members of a group).
• Member Of: [User Authorizations window] Matches users with groups.
• Jobs: Jobs a user (or member) can access and actions he can perform.
• Privileges: 
• Whether the CONTROL-M Configuration Manager can be accessed and used, Alerts and Archived Viewpoints can be viewed, and the user (or member) can use the Command Line Interface (cli).
• Actions that can be performed on Collections, Hierarchies, Filters, ViewPoints, and Authorization screens.
• Scheduling Tables: Scheduling tables a user (or member) can access in CONTROL-M/Desktop, authorization levels for the tables, and whether jobs or tables can be ordered or forced.
• Prerequisite Conditions: Prerequisite conditions that a user (or member) can access.
• Control Resources: Control resources that a user (or member) can access.
• Quantitative Resources: Quantitative resources that a user (or member) can access.
• Global Conditions: Global conditions that a user (or member) can access.
• Calendars: Calendars that a user (or member) can access.
• Owners: Jobs in scheduling tables that a user can access.

Read more »