Advanced Systems Concepts, Inc. (ASCI), a leading provider of system software solutions that enhance Windows™, UNIX, Linux and OpenVMS systems, today announced the availability of ActiveBatch Version 6—Update 2, adding several new and useful capabilities to the industry’s most popular enterprise-class job scheduling software. Leading the list of requested features is a new ActiveBatch Job Step as part of the ActiveBatch Job Library for submitting, executing and monitoring the output of jobs in z/OS, IBM’s mainframe operating system. An enhanced directory services package for Microsoft Active Directory is also available, allowing both Windows and non-Windows users to benefit from ActiveBatch’s lineup of publishing and high-availability features.
Since its introduction in 1997, ActiveBatch has defined power and convenience for enterprises requiring a comprehensive, business-integrated scheduling solution for a wide range of manufacturing, operations, and data processing tasks. The application proactively supports the growing transformation of batch processing and job scheduling software from simply a back-office workhorse to a strategic corporate solution, providing both accountability and empowerment to those who must access enterprise data on a daily basis.
“Update 2, while not a major new iteration of ActiveBatch, will be of real value to enterprises running non-Windows systems—especially z/OS,” said Jim Manias, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Advanced Systems Concepts. “Our goal is to always provide seamless operation for ActiveBatch, regardless of the number or type of systems found in a particular enterprise environment. ActiveBatch Version 6—Update 2 is a valuable step forward in realizing that goal.”
z/OS Job Step
The new z/OS Job Step support in ActiveBatch 6—Update 2 allows users to include mainframe systems, as well as Windows, UNIX, Linux and OpenVMS platforms, in their job schedules. The new Job Step, AbatMainframeJob, runs jobs under the JES (Job Entry Subsystem) component of z/OS. Within JES, jobs can be submitted, initiated and monitored for completion status. z/OS jobs also can
trigger or be triggered by jobs on other platforms. Once done, the job’s spooled output can be captured and written to the corresponding ActiveBatch job’s log file.
Enhanced Directory Services
For some time, ActiveBatch has provided integrated support of the Microsoft Windows Security model as well as Microsoft Active Directory and ADAM (Active Directory Application Mode). By adding Enhanced Directory Services, users can now more readily identify and connect to the ActiveBatch Execution Agent on any system, whether Windows- or non-Windows-based.
The agent, visible through Active Directory, gives non-Windows users access to all of ActiveBatch’s publishing and high-availability features such as ActiveBatch Non-Cluster Failover and Generic Queues for failover as well as workload balancing.
Availability
ActiveBatch Version 6 is available for licensing as well as by automatic upgrade for companies participating in ASCI’s ActiveBatch Version Upgrade program. For more information, or to obtain a license quote on the ActiveBatch Version 6 job scheduler, log on to www.advsyscon.com.