Workload Automation / Scheduler Integration through Connectors

The AAI integration with schedulers (workload automation engines) happens through connectors. This means that for an AAI scheduler to work, the corresponding connector must be installed and up and running. A connector is a software component that gathers data that AAI needs from the scheduler, transforms it and sends it to the AAI server. That data is saved in a normalized fashion in the AAI database and it looks exactly the same, no matter which scheduler it comes from. The connectors gather two types of data:

  • Job definitions, for example job starting conditions, dependencies between jobs, calendar conditions that start jobs, and so on.

    The connector brings all the information of all the jobs that are defined in the scheduler into AAI. It is not possible to set up a connector to bring only a subset of jobs or of job definitions into AAI.

  • Event information, for example start time, end time, termination status, and so on.

    The connector brings all the information about every single run of those jobs into AAI.

The scheduler sends the information to the connector constantly. As AAI administrator, you can configure in which intervals this should happen. You can also configure how much historical data you want to bring from the scheduler to AAI. AAI uses this data for analysis, predictions and calculations.

You can also configure the connectors to use HTTPS using TLS to communicate to the AAI server. For more information, see Configuring the Connectors for TLS Authentication .

This page includes the following:

Which Schedulers Can AAI Integrate with?

AAI allows you to integrate multiple different schedulers into a single AAI Server and get analytics about them. The following Broadcom and third-party schedulers, both mainframe and distributed, can be integrated with AAI:

  • Broadcom mainframe schedulers:

    • ESP Workload Automation

    • CA Workload Automation 7

  • Broadcom distributed schedulers:

    • Automic Automation

    • AutoSys

  • Third-party mainframe schedulers:

    • BMC Control-M (z)

    • IBM IWSz

  • Third-party distributed schedulers:

    • BMC Control-M (d)

    • IBM IWSd

    • Tidal

Native Connectors

AAI provides native connectors for AutoSys, Tidal and CA7. They are built into the AAI Platform server and are installed along with it. for AutoSys and Tidal you do not have to install any other components to be able to define schedulers in AAI for those types of automation engines.

For CA7, which is a mainframe scheduler, you must also install and configure and additional component, the Data Provider, on the mainframe so that the CA7 Server for AAI can provide the data that AAI needs.

External Connectors

Automic Automation, IWSd, ESP and Control-M require a separate connector to integrate with AAI. You must install these connectors. You can also use the connector framework to create custom connectors to any scheduler or application.

External connectors are stand-alone components and, as such, run in their own process space, have their own installer and write their own log files. They communicate with the AAI Platform through the AAI REST API. External connectors consist of two main parts:

  1. The universal connector framework, which handles the communication between the respective connector and AAI. It also triggers, or determines, when the connector fetches job definitions and events (executions) from the scheduler.
  2. A mapper, which extracts job definitions and events (executions) from the integrated scheduler and translates them into a format that Automic Automation Intelligence can process.

Tip:

We recommend you to install the connector on a dedicated machine that is different to the AAI server. If you need more than one connector, you can install them on the same machine.

IWSz

In the case of the IWSz, there are two ways to integrate it with AAI. You can use batch processes to provide data to AAI or you can installa Data Provider component on the mainframe to provide data that AAI needs through the IWSz Server for AAI,

Automic Automation, Control-M, ESP

The Automic Automation, Control-M and ESP connectors use the same connector framework, their installers are very similar and they only have some different options. In the case of ESP, however, it is necessary to install a specific component on the mainframe to get the scheduler data to be passed on to AAI.

Single Pane of Glass Across Schedulers

All these connectors can coexist in AAI. This means that you can have any number of connectors in a single AAI instance. The data gathered by all the connectors resides is the same AAI database, which allows you to run reports across schedulers. It also lets you see executions (running, failed, successfully ended) of more than one scheduler in a single interface.

For example, you have a business area called Finance where there are some jobs that run in AutoSys and others in Automic Automation. The Finance business area can provide a holistic view of all your finance workload.

Important Considerations

  • Check the compatibility matrix (compatibility matrix) to find the relevant information on supported versions and possible dependencies. For more information, see Compatibility Information.

  • When upgrading AAI and connectors, make sure that you do the following:

    1. Take down the relevant connectors.

    2. Upgrade and start AAI.

    3. Upgrade and start each connector.

See also: