Controlling heterogeneous systems

HCL Workload Automation for Z provides open interfaces to let you submit the workload to and report status from any operating environment that can establish communication with z/OS.

When an operation on a workstation that specifies a user-defined destination ID is ready to be started, HCL Workload Automation for Z calls the operation-initiation exit, EQQUX009. The exit is called for operations on computer workstations that have satisfied the normal HCL Workload Automation for Z submission criteria for job or started-task operations. The exit is passed information about the operation to be started, the destination on which it should be started and, if available, any JCL equivalent information from the HCL Workload Automation for Z job library (EQQJBLIB) or the job-setup file (EQQJSxDS).

The exit is responsible for transmitting the required data to the target destination. There are several methods available to transmit data to the various operating environments and to report the status of the operation back to the controller. For example you could use APPC, TCP/IP, or NetView® FTP.

The SEQQSAMP sample library contains samples that show how you can use HCL Workload Automation for Z to communicate with heterogeneous systems.
  • EQQCMV2 and EQQUX09N allow you to schedule and control the VM workload by defining operations exactly as you would for your z/OS workload.
  • EQQAIXTR and EQQX9AIX provide you with sample programs to communicate with an AIX® environment to start tasks or issue commands and report status back to the controller. This sample has been developed and tested in an AIX® environment but can be ported to any UNIX™ environment that uses a compatible shell script.
Sample library (SEQQSAMP) contains descriptions of all samples distributed with HCL Workload Automation for Z.

Status reporting for operations at user-defined destinations is achieved by using the OPSTAT command in native TSO, in a CLIST or REXX EXEC, or in SYSIN to the EQQEVPGM program, or by invoking the EQQUSIN or EQQUSINT subroutine.

Workstations that specify a user-defined destination are initialized to unknown status when the controller is started. The installation is responsible for setting the workstation to active status. Status reporting for the workstation is achieved by using the WSSTAT command in native TSO, in a CLIST or REXX EXEC, or in SYSIN to the EQQEVPGM program, or by invoking the EQQUSIN or EQQUSINW subroutine. The logic to set the workstation status to active should not be in EQQUX009 because the exit will never be called when the status is offline.

You should consider using the start?stop exit EQQUX000 to set workstation status for user-defined destinations. The sample library member EQQUX0N calls the EQQUSINW subroutine to set the status of a workstation. For more information about the EQQUX0N sample, see Start or stop exit.