ActiveBatch is a job automation platform taregeted to operations staffers and/or developers, allowing them to batch automate execution jobs. Though based primarily in--and integrating--Windows technologies (including Active Directory, WMI, Wscript, and perfmon), the ActiveBatch platform includes agents that allow for the actual execution of jobs on multiple platforms, including Windows, Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, and AIX.

The platform is script language independent, and allows for 5 types of job execution: Processes, which are simply executables or user-written scripts to be launched on the target platform; Embedded Scripts, which are scripts that are literally defined within the Job definition itself (i.e., links to a separate script file is unnecessary; the script can be any script or command language directives understood by the target system); E-mail composition--including variable substitution--and sending (supported in Windows only); FTP interactions; and basic file operations (copy, delete, move, etc.). Jobs can be triggered by standard date and time scheduling, or by event-driven mechanics such as file arrival or modification, system startup, runaway processes or events managed via WMI support.

The ActiveBatch platform consists of three primary components: The Server-based ActiveBatch Scheduler, which provides the automation engine and links to SQL Server or Oracle for data stores; the ActiveBatch Execution Agents, that reside on the target platforms and provide the actual job execution mechanism; and the user interfaces, including Windows-based design and system view GUIs. CLI, MMC and COM-based interfaces are also provided; and Web-based (browser accessible) and wireless-accessible interfaces are offered as options.

Security options allow for the designation of who can add or change objects within a plan; with individual objects supporting referencing (and thus reuse across jobs without requiring copying or redefining). ActiveBatch supports and implements the Microsoft Security Model; Kerberos support is also now included supporting password-less authentication in Windows 2003 domains.

Key features in the latest ActiveBatch release enhance the interactivity of Job processes and definitions. First, in addition to standard Job definitions, Job Plans can now be defined, which can contain collective directives for the management of multiple job streams and their relationships with one another and globally defined objects. Second, variables can now be utilized to both control job executions as well as pass information from job to job. Variable information can be retrieved from multiple sources, including SQL queries, WMI's WQL queries, XML files, registries, etc. and can be used as active variables within job/plan executions or as contraints, governing the actual execution logic of the job stream itself.

Other new features of the latest release include new Resource, Time, and Variable Constraints (in addition to the existing Job and File contraints; constraints allow for logical dependencies to be defined and required for the execution of a particular job, such as ensuring the existence of a specified file before continuing or the successful completion of a previous job); and job triggers including fiscal scheduling triggers, Date Arithmetic, and new series- and/or range-based exit triggers.

ActiveBatch is available now, pricing begins at $2,495 for The ActiveBatch Enterprise Product Edition. Visit the Advanced Systems Concepts Web site for further information.

product submission by EITPlanet Staff

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