HCL Workload Automation for Z version 10.1 enhancements

HCL Workload Automation for Z version 10.1 includes the following enhancements.

HCL Clara integrated with the Dynamic Workload Console

HCL Clara, an Intelligent Virtual Assistant, is the Workload Automation product expert which you can contact directly from the Dynamic Workload Console to learn the product capabilities, execute routine tasks, and get troubleshooting assistance.

Find out more about Clara here: https://help.hcltechsw.com/solutions/clara/index.html.

For instructions about how to integrate Clara with the Dynamic Workload Console, see Integrating Clara in the Dynamic Workload Console.

Managed File Transfer
The File Transfer integration, already available on Automation Hub, now features three important enhancements:
  • Support for File Proxy: A new component, called File Proxy, is now available for you to install. Through the File Proxy you manage securely files to be transferred with the File Transfer integration on any workstation that runs a supported version of Windows or Linux operating system. All transfer operations are performed by HCL Workload Automation for Z with no need of third-party products.

    For a detailed description about how to install and start the File Proxy, see Installing the File Proxy and Starting the File Proxy.

  • Support for file transfers via the Workstation-to-Workstation internal protocol: You can easily transfer files to and from z-centric agents. You no longer have to specify the address of the workstations involved in the file transfer, but you can simply define the workstations from the File Transfer integration. Ensure that the agents are at version 10.1. For more information about the integration, see File Transfer integration.
  • Search on remote file systems: You can perform search operations on the file system of a remote workstation. On Linux, if you do not specify a path, the search is performed on the working directory. On Windows, the path is required.
A renewed experience of Workload Designer
Workload Designer: a new concept to manage your workload. An innovative infrastructure and design have been thought to simplify the user experience and create a more responsive, fast and fluid user interface. You do not need to switch among the Dynamic Workload Console pages to complete your business workflow anymore. The new Workload Designer contains everything you need. Automate business-critical processes from a single point of access and control.

Automate fast, automate better.

Detecting anomalies in your workload with AI Data Advisor (AIDA)
Starting from this release, a new component is available in HCL Workload Automation for Z: AI Data Advisor (AIDA), based on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, for early anomaly detection and analysis.

AIDA enables fast and simplified data-driven decision making, for an intelligent workload management. By analyzing historical data and metrics gathered by IBM Workload Scheduler and predicting their future patterns, AIDA identifies anomalies in the trend of Key Performance Indicators (such as the number of completed jobs in the current plan, the job duration, the job end-time) and sends alerts immediately to anticipate and prevent problems and delays. Alerts show up on the Workload Dashboard and can be notified via email.

For more information, see the AI Data Advisor (AIDA) User's Guide.

Chatbot based solution to enhance incident management process
When a problem arises, reacting is crucial. Identifying the issue, gathering possible solutions, choosing the best way to proceed are the fundamentals of problem-solving. In this realm, rapid communication becomes critical. By integrating with IBM Z ChatOps, HCL Workload Automation for Z provides you with a chat tool where you are notified about incidents and can share information with other team members. You are alerted through the chat platform of your choice (such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, or Mattermost) and communicate with the other chat users to share data and perform actions. Collaboration becomes easy, immediate, and effective for promoting teamwork and addressing daily issues.

For detailed information, see Posting incidents and sharing information through a chat tool.

For an overview of this feature, watch the video Chatbot based solution to manage incidents on the HCL Workload Automation YouTube channel.

Exposing metrics to monitor your workload
HCL Workload Automation for Z now exposes metrics about the status of your jobs by using OpenMetrics standard. The data collected can be processed by multiple data analytic tools, creating an easy and unified way to control and monitor your workload.

For details, see Exposing metrics to monitor your workload.

Ensure highest security and safety of your data with TLS V1.2
To ensure highest safety of your data, HCL Workload Automation for Z now supports the more secure and modern TLS V1.2.

TLS V1.0 and V1.1 are no longer supported. To communicate with the Dynamic Workload Console, master domain manager, and dynamic domain manager through TLS it is required that you configured secure ciphers, such as ECC or AES-GCM ciphers. For details about how to configure TLS, see Customizing TLS to connect components with HCL Workload Automation for Z.

Job running on a z-centric agent is set to Error if query job status is unknown

When a connection problem occurs between the Z controller and a z-centric agent where a job is running, if the query status for that job is unknown, the job is not set to Ready but it is set to Error with UNKN.

Rationalization of the JobManager.ini file
The contents of the JobManager.ini file have been trimmed and revised to remove some properties which are reserved for internal use. These properties have been moved to a file named JobManagerInternal.ini, which is located in the binary directory and is overridden at each product upgrade. This file is not documented because it is not relevant for the final user. For more information about the JobManager.ini file, see Configuring the agent.
New and improved command for password encryption
A new command is now available for encrypting and decrypting passwords that you use with HCL Workload Automation for Z with the xor, 3DES, and AES algorithms. For more information, see Encrypting passwords (optional).
Java software prerequisite changed to version 11
Java is a prerequisite for Java job plug-ins and other Java-based functions. With this release, the supported version has been changed to Version 11. This version of Java is not available on HP-UX and Solaris SPARC operating systems. If you install on these operating systems, use the Java Version 11 provided with the operating systems. This change applies to the twsinst script: before launching this command on HP-UX and Solaris SPARC operating systems, provide the path to Java. For more information, see twsinst.
SEQQSAMP JCL samples have incorrect or obsolete REGION size (RFE 66985)
The JCL samples with a region different from 0 MB have now a region of 64 MB.
DBGRANT script for DELETE authorization (RFE 103251)
By granting a user access to the reporting tables and views with the dbgrant script, users are now enabled to both edit and delete them.

Display USER LEVEL at controller startup (RFE 115863)
At controller and server startup, message EQQZ286I is issued to show the maximum user level supported by the system.
Increasing the limitation of potential successors in the current plan (RFEs 144541, 144596)
Product scalability has been improved by increasing the limitation of potential successors in the current plan from 1000 to 3000.

User-defined JCL skeleton should be available for EQQEMAIL solution (RFE 145320)
You can define your own JCL to be used when an email is sent upon an alert condition, instead of using the predefined EQQEMAIL members. You can use any text for the JCL, no parsing is performed by HCL Workload Automation for Z. For more details, see Sending an email when an alert condition occurs.

DYNAMICDEL(YES) should be the default (RFE 148581)
In Customization and Tuning, all users who significantly use the dynamic addition of special resources are recommended to set BATCHOPT DYNAMICDEL(YES). This setting prevents the size of the data space from increasing in time, with an initial performance degradation that worsens until the space available is exhausted and the batch job terminates with Abend 01D. For this reason, the default value of the DYNAMICDEL parameter in the BATCHOPT statement has been changed from NO to YES.

Pool dynamic workstation shows offline status if resources are unavailable to schedule jobs (RFE 150599 Workstation should show offline for agent pools tied to a DDM)
If a pool dynamic workstation is found without available resources, it is set offline until resources become available again; in that case, the workstation becomes active again.
When the PULSEIVL parameter of the HTTPOPTS or ROUTOPTS statement is set to 0 (which is the default), the heartbeat checking:
  • Is run for dynamic domain managers according to the policy established by the Z controller.
  • Is not run for z-centric agents.

Automatic health check performed periodically. A message is issued if vital services are no longer available. (RFE 151638 Startup message of the controller is needed when every service is available )
On the Z controller and tracker, a periodic check is performed to ensure that the following vital subtasks are active:
For the Z controller
General Service, Normal Mode Manager, Workstation Analyzer, Event Manager, Submit Task, Event Writer
For the tracker
Submit Task, Event Writer
A message is issued every time one of these subtasks is started, ended, or abended.
Enhance description on the number of occurrences (RFE 151653)
When setting the MAXOCCNUM parameter in BATCHOPT statement, it is advisable not to set the parameter to a larger number than required by actual workload needs, because the increased overhead incurred could cause a noticeable performance degradation.
Several integrations now available on Automation Hub
The following integrations are no longer available with IBM® Workload Scheduler and can be installed from Automation Hub:
  • Amazon EC2
  • Apache Spark
  • IBM BigInsights
  • IBM Cloudant
  • IBM Cognos
  • IBM InfoSphere DataStage
  • Enterprise Java Beans (EJB)
  • Hadoop Map Reduce
  • IBM SoftLayer
  • Informatica PowerCenter
  • J2EE (JMS)
  • Microsoft Azure
  • MQTT
  • Oozie
  • Oracle E-Business Suite
  • Salesforce
  • SAP BusinessObjects BI
  • SAP PI Channel
  • Web Services
  • IBM WebSphere MQ