Job Binding Services function

Purpose

To allow inter-job relationships and also the association of the scheduling of jobs to logical resources. The key mechanism for  Job Binding Services (JBS) is the Binding Agent. The JBS Function provides all the commands needed to manage Binding Agents.

Function identifier

JBS

Dependencies

JBS Application

Description of usage

The JBS function provides you with the ability to automate the scheduling of jobs with dependencies such as:

• The availability of an ONLINE region.
• The availability of a software package in a given processor.
• External events, such as time dependencies for processing discounts.

This is accomplished with Binding Agents.

The understanding of this function requires the introduction of some terms:

• Binding Agents: This is the fundamental mechanism to relate jobs to resources. These Agents provide the glue (binding) between the creator of the resource (e.g. IMS for an ONLINE region) and the job that is dependent on it (BMP jobs). Binding Agent names are predefined by the installation.
• Activation/Deactivation: Once an Agent is defined, it can be activated and deactivated. This signals whether or not the resource it represents is available. The changing of the status can either be done directly from jobs or with operator commands.
• Job-Related/Permanent: Job-Related Binding Agents are associated with a job and are automatically deactivated at the termination of that job. Permanent Agents have to be explicitly activated and deactivated. Once they have been activated, they will stay active (even if the system is shut down) until explicitly deactivated.
  • XMIT: Binding Agents can be used to signal the transmission of jobs to another NJE node. The activation of an Agent with the XMIT keyword can only be done with operator commands. Binding Agents that are intended to be used for NJE transmission must be given that capability at definition time.
  • JBS Environment: Similar to an IBM scheduling environment, this is a list of Resource Elements and their desired State. A Resource Element is a logical entity that can represent any characteristic of the environment that you wish to use to schedule work.When all Resource Elements for an Environment are set to the desired state, the JBS Environment is available and jobs requiring that Environment are eligible to run.

In many cases, no involvement is needed on the part of operations for JBS to perform its functions. This facility has been expressly designed to simplify the scheduling of jobs that, without JBS, require a significant effort on the part of operations.

Defining binding agents with JBS DEFINE

Before they can be used Binding Agents and their attributes must be defined. Normally, some previous planning is done before Agents are defined. Naming conventions and usage for the Agents should be considered before they are defined. There are two different methods of defining Agents. Definition of a single Binding Agent is done with a command such as:

After this command is executed the Binding Agent IMS.PROD can be activated and deactivated. Since no attribute is specified, this Agent is Job-Related.

Definition can be done for a Group of Agents with a command such as:

This command reads input from the member AGENTS in file SYS2.JBS and executes the definition commands found in that member.

A command is also provided to delete Agents.

Activating binding agents with JBS ACTIVATE

Binding Agents that are not Job-Related can be activated with commands. For example:

This command activates the Agent 'COMPILER.SAS' in the system where the command is issued (default). This Agent stays active until a JBS DEACTIVATE command is issued.

Deactivating binding agents with JBS DEACTIVATE

A counterpart to the JBS ACTIVATE command is provided:

This command will deactivate the previously activated 'COMPILER.SAS' Agent.

Displaying binding agents with JBS DISPLAY

Display facilities are provided for operations to exercise control over this function. For example:

The display command with the AGENTS keyword provides a display of all the Binding Agents and their status.

This display command provides a display of all the Agents with the first qualifier matching 'COMPILER'.

Several other options are provided to facilitate control.

Removing a job from JBS control with JBS ABANDON

If necessary, you can remove a job completely from JBS management with the JBS ABANDON command:

Once this command is issued, all ACTIVATE, DEACTIVATE, and BINDING requests no longer apply to the job.

Redefining an existing agent with JBS REDEFINE

An existing Agent can have its attributes redefined through an operator command. For example, to begin recording in the system log all changes of status for the Agent 'IMS. REGION':

Adding notes to an agent

You can use the JBS DEFINE or JBS REDEFINE command to add descriptive information to an Agent:

Notes can be removed with the NONOTE keyword of the JBS REDEFINE command:

Linking an ISPF panel to an agent

Your installation can define an ISPF panel that contains information about an Agent for display using the UDF facility. The panel is linked to the Agent with the JBS DEFINE or JBS REDEFINE command:

You can remove the panel link by specifying the NOPANEL keyword of the JBS REDEFINE command:

Setting and resetting resource elements

A JBS Environment becomes available on a system when all of the Resource Elements in its definition have been set to the state that the definition has specified for that system. Although the definition can specify an initial state for each Resource Element, the usual way to set a state is by use of the JBS SET operator command:

To make a Resource Element unavailable for use in Environments, use the JBS RESET command:

This command places the Resource Element DAY_OF_WEEK in the RESET state on all systems, meaning that Environments that refer to it will not be available.

Verifying JBS environments

Before installing a JBS Environment definition, you can verify it using the JAL VERIFY command. In the context of JBS Environments, verification means that JAL is checked to determine whether any Environments that are referenced exist on the ambient system. The command is:

You can also use this command to verify a JAL that is not yet running:

These examples will produce a display of any referenced Environments that do not currently exist.

Displaying JBS environments

To display Environments, use the JBS DISPLAY command. To display all Environments in the current definition, use:

The display resembles this:

You can display individual environments by specifying the name with the ENV keyword:

The response looks like this:

If you add the DETAILS keyword, the display also shows you the current systems with the desired Resource/state combinations:

Displaying resource elements

The JBS DISPLAY command also allows you to display the Resource Elements in the current definition:

This command lists all the defined Resource Elements and their possible states:

Adding the DETAILS keyword displays additional information about the Resources, including a list of the Environments that reference the Resource:

In this display, note that the list of states also includes the systems on which a particular state is set. In this example, DAY is set to THU for all systems, and SHIFT is set to NIGHT on systems SYS2 and SYS3. On SYS1, however, it is listed as disabled, meaning that it is currently in the RESET state.

JBS command summary