13.1.9 Executing jobs in an auto-scaling cloud environment
As the use of cloud services spreads, the need for efficient job operation (for example, starting only the required instances in a cloud and stopping those instances when processing finishes) is growing.
Imagine a company that previously used the JP1/AJS3 system in an on-premises environment introduces a cloud service. Assume that jobs are defined in the conventional on-premises environment and executed in an auto-scaling cloud environment. In such a case, this company might use flexible jobs that can be executed on an agent that is not directly managed by the manager host. In addition, the company might install a relay agent so that the manager host in the on-premises environment and an agent host in the cloud environment can communicate.
The following describes a case in which flexible jobs are defined in the on-premises environment and executed in an auto-scaling cloud environment.
- Organization of this subsection
(1) Operation
Assume that the following users are in each department.
|
No. |
Department to which the user belongs |
Role of the user |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Sales department |
Job operations manager: Designs, configures, and operates jobs in the sales department. |
|
2 |
General affairs department |
Job operations manager: Designs, configures, and operates jobs in the general affairs department. |
|
3 |
Information systems department |
JP1/AJS3 system administrator Manages the entire JP1/AJS3 system. |
In this company, JP1/AJS3 is implemented as follows to allow individual departments to execute their own tasks separately:
-
Logical hosts are set up on a physical host. A logical host is set up for each department and used as the manager host by each department.
-
Each department operates its own agent hosts.
-
In each department, the job operations manager executes jobs by using JP1/AJS3 - View.
-
The JP1/AJS3 system administrator of the information systems department manages the entire JP1/AJS3 system.
The following figure shows an example in which the manager host and agent hosts are operated in the on-premises environment of each department.
|
|
![[Figure]](GRAPHICS/ZJ130250.GIF)
(2) Goal
-
Execute jobs by deploying only agent hosts in the auto-scaling cloud environment.
-
Make minimal changes to the existing system configuration and firewall settings.
(3) Solution
By using Flexible jobs, you can execute jobs on agent hosts that are not directly managed by the manager host (such as the agent hosts in the auto-scaling cloud environment).
In addition, if you set up an agent that relays job execution requests (a relay agent), you can use the cloud environment as the job execution environment while minimizing the changes that need to be made to various settings.
The following figure shows an example in which a cloud is used as the job execution environment.
|
|
![[Figure]](GRAPHICS/ZJ130251.GIF)
(4) Configuration procedure
-
Set up the relay agent (AGT1).
-
In the cloud environment, set up the destination agents.
-
In the cloud environment, set up the load balancers (LB1 and LB2) and configure the settings for auto-scaling.
-
In the on-premises environment, use JP1/AJS3 - Manager to create a jobnet in which flexible jobs are defined.
For example, when you define flexible jobs for the sales department, define LB1 as the destination and AGT1 as the relay agent. When you define flexible jobs for the general affairs department, define LB2 as the destination and AGT1 as the relay agent.
-
Register the created jobnet (in which flexible jobs are defined) for execution.
(5) Manual references
|
Type |
item |
Location |
|---|---|---|
|
Overview |
Flexible job |
3.1.1(1)(a) Standard job in the manual JP1/Automatic Job Management System 3 Overview |
|
Example definition of flexible jobs |
2.4.10 Executing jobs in a cloud environment (example of defining a jobnet that uses flexible jobs) in the JP1/Automatic Job Management System 3 System Design (Work Tasks) Guide |
|
|
Notes on using flexible Jobs |
7.8 Notes on using flexible jobs in the JP1/Automatic Job Management System 3 System Design (Work Tasks) Guide |
|
|
Example system configuration |
2.9 Executing jobs in a cloud environment in the JP1/Automatic Job Management System 3 System Design (Configuration) Guide |
|
|
Configuration |
21.3 Setup to execute flexible jobs in the JP1/Automatic Job Management System 3 Configuration Guide |
|
|
Dialog boxes |
12.4.12 Define Details - [Flexible Job] dialog box in the JP1/Automatic Job Management System 3 Operator's Guide |
|
(6) Cautionary notes
If a relay agent receives many job execution requests from multiple manager hosts, the load on the relay agent might increase. In such cases, consider setting up multiple relay agents for load distribution.