2.9 Executing jobs in a cloud environment

This section describes a system configuration that uses a flexible job and the components of such a system.

A flexible job can be executed on execution agents that are not directly managed by the manager host. For example, a flexible job can be executed on execution agents in an auto-scaling cloud environment. An execution agent that executes a flexible job on a cloud is called a destination agent.

Figure 2‒60: Executing a job by using destination agents on a cloud

A job defined in an on-premise environment can be executed in a cloud environment by relaying a flexible job execution request via an agent host. An agent that relays the job execution request is called the relay agent.

The following figure shows an example of combining an on-premise environment and a cloud environment.

Figure 2‒61: Example of combining an on-premise environment and a cloud environment 1

Figure 2‒62: Example of combining an on-premise environment and a cloud environment 2

In a cloud environment, a flexible job can be distributed to specific execution agents by using a load balancer, or it can be executed by all execution agents in the cloud.

The following figure shows a system configuration that includes a load balancer and a relay agent. For details about the system configuration for executing the same job on all execution agents in an auto-scaling environment, see 2.10 Considerations for executing a job by broadcast execution.

Figure 2‒63: Example system configuration that includes a load balancer and a relay agent

Supplementary notes

If a load balancer is used, it is assumed that the load balancer can distribute TCP packets.
You can use only a load balancer or relay agent. However, if you do not use neither load balancer nor relay agent, we recommend that you use a PC job or a Unix job, not a flexible job.
For details about working through a firewall, see 2.3.2 Firewall and communication basics.
If you execute a job defined in an on-premise environment on a public cloud environment, connect the relay agent and cloud environment with VPN.
For communications between the relay agent and the cloud environment, use a communication environment in which safety and stability is ensured. For details, see 2.3.7 Communications used in a WAN.
The relaying function of a flexible job is executed as a job on a relay agent. Therefore, if a relay agent and an execution agent for other jobs is the same, execution of a flexible job might affect execution of other jobs, for example in terms of the number of concurrently executable jobs. Consider deploying the relay agent for a flexible job separately from execution agents for other jobs.
For cautionary notes on flexible jobs, see 7.8 Notes on using flexible jobs in the JP1/Automatic Job Management System 3 System Design (Work Tasks) Guide.

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