Learn more about how SMA OpCon/xps can
work for you by reviewing frequently asked questions. If you
do not find your answer here,
please
feel free to contact SMA directly at
877-363-2305 or sales@smausa.com
No. SMA OpCon/xps uses a centralized database for
enterprise scheduling, which significantly reduces maintenance
and administrative
tasks. Since all scheduling messages are sent through the
TCP/IP protocol, true cross-platform integration can be achieved
without depending on connectivity. Back to top
Connectivity is a primary concern for all data centers. In
the rare event that communication is lost between machines,
the remote agent will continue processing all tasks that
have been submitted to it. Completion and status information
are cached until connectivity is restored. Back
to top
Theoretically, the number is unlimited but affected
by network traffic, process workload and machine capacity.
Daily workloads can average
6,000 - 8,000 jobs and more. To control the amount of concurrent
processes, SMA OpCon/xps lets you specify a maximum number
of jobs per machine. Back
to top
Administrators can control user access to specific
schedules, parts within a schedule or a single process through
a simple point-and-click
interface. They can also restrict user capabilities to viewing
only or allow full editorial control of processes. Back
to top
Thresholds are numeric variables that serve as data
dependencies. They can be used to delay the execution of
a process until a certain
dependency has been met. For instance, if you wanted to ensure
database availability prior to running reports, you could
set part of the database initialization routine to a threshold
value. Once the threshold value is met, the database is available
for queries, and dependant jobs will be available for execution.
Back to top
Tokens are alphanumeric variables primarily used
for establishing parameters for scheduled processes. Instead
of hard-coding command line
parameters, modifiable tokens can be used for unique parameters.
So if parameters for several jobs need to be changed daily,
simply changing the token eliminates the need to edit multiple
job definitions manually. Back
to top
The message structure in SMA OpCon/xps prevents
hackers from intercepting and modifying messages as well
as copying message sequences
to be replayed later. First, each SMA OpCon/xps message has
a ‘checksum’ embedded into it by the sender,
which identifies that specific message. The checksum is calculated
by processing the binary contents of the message; consequently,
if someone changes the contents of a message, the checksum
becomes invalid. Every component of SMA OpCon/xps will reject
a message that has an invalid checksum. Then, the solution
will report the attempted security breach in the relevant
log file.
A message counter prevents the replaying of old SMA OpCon/xps
messages. Each message from the scheduling engine to an agent
contains a counter that is continually incremented. The agent
checks this counter continually. Back
to top
SMA OpCon/xps defines a job as a task that the user
wants to have executed automatically. The definition of a
job typically includes
what job to run, where to run the job, on whose behalf to
run the job and when. SMA OpCon/xps has a job copy capability
that lets you give a copied job a new name. Then by simply
adding a second frequency, dependency or event to the copied
job, you eliminate the need to define a new job at length.
This approach, which is particularly useful for defining
similar jobs, reduces your maintenance workload.
Everything set up at the job level applies to ALL frequencies
of the job,
whereas something specified at the frequency level, for example,
only applies to that particular frequency. The ultimate benefits:
maximum flexibility with minimum overhead. Back
to top
