When concerns about skill availability and mandates to cut costs or consolidate IT infrastructure necessitate moving away from the mainframe, you can be secure knowing that your Adabas-Natural applications can easily be re-hosted to Linux®, UNIX® or Windows® (LUW) while maintaining reliably high levels of performance, availability and security. But once your application is re-hosted, you may wonder: “How do I continue operating batch processes and job scheduling on the new platform?” Learn how EspBatch/EspAuto and Entire System Management (ESM) make that happen with ease.
Batch processing
Traditional mainframe application environments contain many batch applications and jobs that are controlled by Job Control Language (JCL) definitions or job scheduling systems such as CA® Workload Automation AE (formerly CA AutoSys) and BMC® Control-M. To provide the same level of batch control and management, Software AG provides batch processing environments for Linux and UNIX.
How EspBatch works
The batch processing environment—EspBatch—converts mainframe JCL into Script Control Language (SCL) thus providing the same level of automation, work file management and monitoring capabilities as on the mainframe. EspBatch with EspAuto replaces the mainframe job scheduler and provides a strong integration for the Natural environment (i.e., Natural Remote Job Entries).
Traditional Mainframe JCL members (procedures and control cards) that are saved in text in JCL libraries or text members that are defined within the user application environment or Remote Job Entry (RJE) undergo a one-time conversion process to produce EspBatch SCL. EspBatch replaces the TSO capability to submit and manage single step or large multi-step SCL job streams.
IBM® mainframe utility programs, such as IEBGENER and IDCAM, are converted automatically to the corresponding ESP utility. Special condition-code checking and JCL controls are converted to the EspBatch equivalent.
Maintaining the SCL is easy with the user-friendly Natural program interface. By selecting a specific step, the developer can easily modify details such as the application library or program. Input/output management (i.e., report details, work file information, job parameters, security definitions or comment lines) is modified by selecting the corresponding function keys.
An Application Programming Interface (API) for third-party external schedulers is also provided.
Figure 1: EspBatch with EspAuto provides batch control and management on Linux and UNIX.
With EspBatch, you can:
- Limit the number of jobs running concurrently
- Limit operational times when a job class is available
- Secure at function and option level
- Security SCL user libraries
- Route reports to multiple destinations with individual report attributes, including automatic conversion to PDF formats that are delivered via email
- Substitute parameters dynamically at run-time for additional flexibility
EspBatch is used to implement, monitor and control batch processing on Linux or UNIX effortlessly. It’s easy to track batch tasks in real-time using a number of online functions that display current job status. The common batch control mechanism in EspBatch works independently of batch job submissions—thus these tasks can be controlled by different people from different locations. This ensures greater ease of use and reduced need for operator training. EspBatch also shields developers and other support staff from the underlying complexities of the open systems shell.
Schedule with EspAuto
By adding EspAuto to EspBatch, you setup and monitor complex schedules by making use of a range of user-friendly functions. Base calendars are provided for setting up the specific day(s) that a job is allowed to run for a given year. These dates can be overwritten at the job level. Relationships between jobs are achieved by defining predecessors, triggers (successors) and job concurrency.
Schedule ID provides the ability to define multiple schedules for a single batch job. Notifications can be defined to take place when a job starts, aborts, auto restarts and when it is overdue. Notifications can be delivered via email or text message; it can also interface directly with external third-party products via the user exit provided.
Multi-platform scheduling and print with Entire System Management
Software AG also provides the Entire System Management (ESM) solution as an alternative to EspBatch. ESM is a multi-platform job scheduling environment and integrated output management system that automates print and output processes. ESM Entire Operations (also known as ESM Job Scheduling) offers a graphical environment to model, execute and monitor most complex job networks across various applications and platforms (i.e., mainframe, LUW).
ESM Entire Output Management automates the electronic distribution and processing of print data before it is committed to paper or electronic distribution channels (e.g., email, file system). These systems have a graphical user interface that combines the ergonomics of ISPF with the convenience of a PC. All functions and objects can be accessed from applications via application programming interfaces.
Conclusion
With tools like EspBatch and ESM, you can feel confident that you will maintain the intellectual capital and competitive advantage built into your enterprise application that has driven your business for years when re-hosting from the mainframe to LUW.
Learn more about how easy it is to re-host Adabas-Natural applications to new platforms in our white paper “Preserve existing investments while moving off the mainframe”.