CONTENTS Title Page Copyright Page Preface 1 An Overview of POLYCENTER Scheduler 1.1 About POLYCENTER Scheduler 1.2 Features and Uses 1.3 How to Access POLYCENTER Scheduler 1.4 Comparing POLYCENTER Scheduler Detached Processes with VMS Standard Batch Processes 1.5 Privileges Needed to Use POLYCENTER Scheduler 1.6 Wide Area Network Support 2 How POLYCENTER Scheduler Works 2.1 How POLYCENTER Scheduler Automates and Manages Jobs 2.1.1 POLYCENTER Scheduler Job, Job Database, and Job Record 2.1.2 How POLYCENTER Scheduler Processes Jobs 2.1.3 How POLYCENTER Scheduler Reports a Completed Job 2.2 Job States 2.3 Job Database Listing 2.3.1 Specifying a Job 2.3.2 Using Wildcards 2.4 Accessing Jobs on Remote Nodes 2.5 Prefunctions and Postfunctions 2.6 Job Dependencies 2.7 Delta Time Formats 2.7.1 VMS Delta Time 2.7.2 POLYCENTER Scheduler Delta Time 2.8 Special Days 2.9 Using Batch Mode 2.9.1 POLYCENTER Scheduler Batch Characteristics 2.9.2 POLYCENTER Scheduler Batch Execution 2.10 How a VMScluster Supports POLYCENTER Scheduler 2.10.1 How the Default Node Runs a POLYCENTER Scheduler Job 2.10.2 Supporting Batch Mode Jobs in a VMScluster 2.10.3 Balancing Job Loads Among Nodes in a VMScluster 2.10.4 Recovering Jobs from Nodes That Fail 2.11 ULTRIX RISC and DEC OSF/1 Agents 2.11.1 Daemon Process 2.11.2 Required Ports 2.11.3 POLYCENTER Scheduler Commands 2.11.4 Running a Job 2.11.5 ULTRIX RISC Agent Requirements Checklist 2.12 The Microsoft Windows NT Agent 2.12.1 Windows NT Real-Time Listener 2.12.2 Required Ports 2.12.3 POLYCENTER Scheduler Commands 2.12.4 Running a Job 2.12.5 Windows NT Agent Requirements Checklist 3 Getting Started with POLYCENTER Scheduler 3.1 Roles and Responsibilities 3.2 User Interfaces 3.3 Steps Leading Toward Automation 3.4 Controlling Job Access 3.4.1 Identifier-Based Access to Jobs 3.4.2 Mixed Environments 3.5 System Management and Normal Maintenance 3.5.1 How Load Balancing Works 3.5.2 Dependent Jobs Relying on a Single Condition 3.5.3 Synchronizing Local and Remote Databases 3.5.4 Activating the Debug Log File 3.6 Troubleshooting Tips 3.7 Frequently Asked Questions 3.7.1 General POLYCENTER Scheduler Questions 3.7.2 Installing POLYCENTER Scheduler 3.7.3 Setting Up Jobs 3.7.4 Mail and Broadcast Messages 3.7.5 Stopped Jobs 3.7.6 Reports 4 Using the DCL Command Interface 4.1 Accessing POLYCENTER Scheduler and Entering Commands 4.2 General and Management Commands 4.2.1 General Commands 4.2.2 Management Commands 4.3 Creating a POLYCENTER Scheduler Job 4.4 Creating Job Dependencies 4.4.1 Job-Dependency Restrictions 4.4.2 Job-Dependency Processing Rules 4.5 Assigning a Job to a Group or Type 4.6 Special Days 4.6.1 Defining Special Day Classes 4.6.2 Restriction Expressions: Relating Special Days to Jobs 4.6.3 Special Day Actions 4.6.4 Showing Information Related to Special Days 4.7 Sending OPCOM Messages 4.8 Creating a Job in Batch Mode 4.9 Summary of POLYCENTER Scheduler Commands 4.9.1 General Commands 4.9.2 Management Commands 5 Using the DECwindows Interface 5.1 Getting Started with the DECwindows Interface 5.1.1 Using Mouse Buttons 5.1.2 Using Menus and Buttons 5.1.3 Starting POLYCENTER Scheduler with the DECwindows Interface 5.1.4 The Load Jobs Dialog Box 5.1.5 POLYCENTER Scheduler Graphical Display Window 5.1.6 POLYCENTER Scheduler Linear Display Window 5.1.7 POLYCENTER Scheduler Real Time Message Display Window 5.2 Interpreting Your Job Display 5.2.1 Symbols in Job Boxes 5.2.2 Selected and Unselected Job Boxes 5.2.3 Job Dependency Arrows 5.3 Loading Jobs to Display 5.4 Clearing and Changing the Currently Displayed Jobs 5.5 Adding to the Currently Displayed Jobs 5.6 Locating Jobs by Scrolling 5.7 Viewing Job Information 5.7.1 Viewing a Job's Attributes 5.7.2 Viewing Job Output Files 5.7.3 Viewing Job Resource Usage 5.8 Creating a Job 5.9 Creating a Job Dependency 5.10 Deleting a Job Dependency 5.11 Controlling a Job: Aborting, Holding, Running, and Releasing 5.12 Editing a Job 5.13 Deleting a Job 5.14 Sorting Jobs in the Linear Display Window 5.15 Creating a Graphics File of Your Display 5.16 Using Navigation Windows 5.16.1 Selecting and Displaying a New Portion of a Display Window 5.16.2 Resizing a Portion of the Graphical Display Window 5.17 Special Day Classes 5.17.1 Creating a Special Day Class 5.17.2 Editing a Special Day Class 5.17.3 Deleting a Special Day Class 5.17.4 Setting or Editing Day Class Restrictions 5.18 Exiting from the DECwindows Interface 6 Using the DECforms Interface 6.1 DECforms Interface Requirements 6.2 Getting Started with the DECforms Interface 6.2.1 Accessing the DECforms Interface 6.2.2 DECforms Main Screen 6.2.3 DECforms Menu Bar 6.2.4 Messages Area 6.2.5 Keyboard Functions in DECforms Screens 6.2.6 Choosing Menu Items 6.3 Using Job Lists 6.3.1 Listing Jobs 6.3.2 Clearing and Changing the Jobs Currently Listed 6.3.3 Adding to the Jobs Currently Listed 6.3.4 Redisplaying the Job Listing 6.3.5 Selecting Jobs for Job Actions 6.4 Creating Jobs 6.5 Controlling Jobs: Aborting, Holding, Running and Releasing 6.6 Deleting Jobs 6.7 Adding and Deleting Job Dependencies 6.7.1 Adding Job Dependencies 6.7.2 Deleting Job Dependencies 6.8 Copying Jobs 6.9 Editing Jobs 6.10 Special Day Classes 6.10.1 Creating Special Day Classes 6.10.2 Deleting Special Day Classes 6.10.3 Listing Special Day Classes 6.10.4 Editing Special Day Classes 6.11 Exiting from the DECforms Interface 7 POLYCENTER Scheduler Command Dictionary ABORT CHECK CLOSE LOG_FILE COPY CREATE DELETE DELETE NSCHED$:RETRY.DAT; HOLD MODIFY RELEASE RUN RUN NSCHED$:DB_UTILITY.EXE RUN NSCHED$:VSS_REPORTS.EXE SCHEDULE/INTERFACE= SCRIPT JOB SET DEBUG SET DEFAULT SET FISCAL_YEAR SET JOB SET LOAD_BALANCE SET LOGGING SET MAX_JOBS SET NETWORK EXPIRATION_RETRY SET NETWORK INTERVAL_RETRY SET PRIORITY SET RESTART_VALUE SHOW DEFAULT SHOW DELETES SHOW DEPENDENCIES SHOW FISCAL_YEAR SHOW HISTORY SHOW JOBS SHOW LOAD_BALANCE SHOW LOGGING SHOW MAX_JOBS SHOW NAMES SHOW NETWORK SHOW PRIORITY SHOW SCHEDULED_RUNS SHOW SD_CLASSES SHOW STATUS STOP TYPE NSCHED$:RETRY.LOG A POLYCENTER Scheduler Components A.1 Components B Logical Names, Global Symbols, and Event Logs B.1 POLYCENTER Scheduler Logical Names B.2 Run Time Global Symbols Available to Jobs B.3 Writing Job Events to a Log File Glossary EXAMPLES 2-1 Job Database Listing 4-1 Creating a Sample Job TABLES 1-1 POLYCENTER Scheduler Detached Processing and Standard VMS Batch Processing 3-1 Troubleshooting Tips for POLYCENTER Scheduler 5-1 Job Status Symbols 5-2 Displays for Selected and Unselected Jobs 5-3 Load Jobs Dialog Box Fields 5-4 Fields You Can Use in the Job Create Dialog Box 6-1 Fields in the Job Selection Screen 7-1 POLYCENTER Scheduler Event Classes B-1 POLYCENTER Scheduler Logicals B-2 Global Symbols