Beyond cron – commercial batch job scheduling demands robust software
Unlike cron, COSbatch is an advanced batch scheduling and production automation package used by enterprises of all sizes with a Unix and Windows infrastructure. Generations beyond cron and similar utilities, it provides a simple means to automate complex workloads which include both system and applications tasks. The product is designed to operate across multiple, networked processing nodes and is ideal for use on the infrastructure commonly used for today's enterprise business applications such as SAP R/3 and Oracle Financials.
Because of its designed-in scalability, COSbatch is used in organizations of all sizes. Some installations are not concerned with all the more advanced features such as suite management and event-driven scheduling, but instead use the product as no more than a replacement batch utility for Unix (instead of the standard Unix tools cron and at). Others make full use of all its capabilities including the management of batch jobs executing in a Windows environment, thereby using it as a Windows task scheduler.
Like the other members of OSM's COSMOS family of system management products, COSbatch delivers broad functionality. A small number of staff are thereby equipped to provide secure management for an extensive, network-distributed job scheduling and production service across their enterprise.
Perhaps the greatest added value is realised when using COSbatch for automating the workload of large applications such as SAP R/3, Oracle Financials or PeopleSoft. Such enterprise-scale applications always provide some form of job scheduling, but they are often confined to modest control functions. COSbatch greatly improves on the standard facilities and raises the level of job control to equal that of the other functional areas. COSbatch has been certified for use with SAP R/3.
OSM's COSMOS family of products delivers a broad range of system control functions to enable a small number of system administrators manage a large number of systems from one or a small number of control points. COSMOS features three main branches: user management, production automation and output management.