Agents (HOST)

Agents are programs that run on the target system, which can be either an Operating System or an application such as SAP, PeopleSoft, Siebel, etc. They establish the connection between the Automation Engine and those target systems, start the execution of tasks and make both their monitoring and the corresponding reporting possible. Agents create log files that record what occurs. As an administrator user, you install and configure them.

There are two possibilities for installing the Agents:

As an administrator user, you create Agents manually in Client 0 in the Process Assembly perspective. You maintain and work with them in the Administration perspective. Agents are configured using their INI files. You can change some of their properties using the Automic Web Interface.

Important!

Tip: You may need to work with many objects, lists and monitors simultaneously. To make your work easier, you can open them in different browser windows and arrange them side by side on your screen. For more information about this and other useful functions, see Opening and Arranging Multiple Views.

Object Definition

This page includes the following:

Prerequisites

Do the following to be able to start working with an Agent:

Login and Connection

An Agent logs in only once and, once connected, it remains always connected. The following duplicate login validation takes place:

Agents List

You define the number of Agents to be displayed on the list in the AGENT_LIST_LIMIT key in the UC_SYSTEM_SETTINGS variable. For more information, see AGENT_LIST_LIMIT. The default is 5,000, the maximum is 20,000.

The number of agents currently displayed is shown on the list toolbar. A plus next to the number indicates that there are more Agents available than those displayed. For example, if the AGENT_LIST_LIMIT has been set to "200" and more than 200 Agents have been assigned to the Client, Agents (200+) is displayed on the toolbar.

The following columns are displayed by default:

The following columns are also available:

For more information, see Showing and Hiding Columns.

Displaying the Agent Variables

To see the variables that have been defined for a particular Agent, select it and click the Details button on the toolbar. The Details pane displays the variables and the values that have been defined for the Agent .

Filtering the Content of the List

It is possible to use different filters to customize the content of the Agents list. Click the Filter button on the toolbar to open the Filter pane. Agent Name, Status and IP Address are always displayed but you can add additional criteria.

Tip: You can share filtered lists with other users. You can also bookmark the filtered list to be able to access it quickly next time. For more information, see Bookmarking and Sharing Links.

Editing the Agent Properties

Once an Agent has been added to your Automation Engine system, you can edit its properties as follows:

  1. Right-click the Agent and select Open or Open in New Window.
  2. Edit the properties on the Agent pages described below.

Authorizations Section

Grant or remove the rights of the Agent on Clients.

Attributes Section

Service Manager Section

These properties are necessary for the connection between the Agent and the Service Manager, an external monitoring tool that allows you to start and stop the Automation Engine.

The Service Manager comes with a proprietary user interface. If you want to use the AWI instead, you can do so provided you enter the necessary information. This way, Agents can start directly via the User Interface or via the script element MODIFY_SYSTEM.

All values will automatically be replaced if the connection to the corresponding Service Manager service was successful.

To refresh the connection, right-click the Agent and select Update Service Manager Link from the context menu. The default port number 8871 is used, unless a different specification is provided in the SMGR_PORT_RANGE key in the UC_SYSTEM_SETTINGS variable. For more information, see ServiceManager Parameters.

Job Execution

If a Job is started on an OS Agent, it will be initiated in the OS independently of the Agent. The Agent monitors it and reports its status to the Automation Engine. When the Job finishes, follow-up Jobs can be triggered.

Job Reports

Job reports can be configured in the Job object. When the Job is executed they are transferred to the Automation Engine database. The OS Agent provides the report as a file. The Automation Engine loads the report as individual blocks into the database.
Should the report exceed a configurable limit, only data with the configured size will be transferred into the database, where the last block transferred always contains the file's end. Thus the beginning and end of a Job report are available in the database.

File Transfer Objects

A File Transfer is an executable object that is always executed between two OS Agents. A TCP/IP connection is created between both. The data transfer is encrypted.

The Agent sending files reports the Job status and the end of the Job execution to the Automation Engine system. The connection between the two Agents is closed at the end of the File Transfer. For more information, see File Transfers (JOBF).

Monitoring and Reporting

As soon as a Job is started, the Agent starts monitoring and reporting its status to the Automation Engine. Likewise, when the Job finishes, it reports it. For more information, see Reports for Servers and Agents.

See also: