Scheduling Jobs

Hyena's remote job scheduling functions can utilize either the older AT scheduling system built into Windows NT, or the newer Task Scheduler that is part of IE 5.0 and Windows 2000/2003.

Both scheduling systems utilize the Scheduler service that is installed by default on both Windows servers and workstations. However, by default, the Scheduler service is not automatically started. Before scheduling a remote job, the Scheduler service must be started, otherwise an error will occur when an attempt is made to schedule a job. The Scheduler service can be started by using either the Windows native tools, or by using Hyena's service functions. If a large number of workstations require a scheduled job, use the Service Control functions to configure and start the Scheduler service for multiple computers at the same time.

One powerful use of the scheduling function is to schedule jobs to run privileged tasks under a different user account. Normally, Windows does not allow a user to perform system-sensitive operations, such as making configuration changes, or loading service packs. Instead, an administrator must perform these tasks. Hyena can be used to configure the Scheduler service for multiple computers at the same time, and perform many of these administrative tasks automatically.

Adding New Jobs

To add a new job to a single computer, select either the Add New Job (AT) or Add New Job (Task) menu option from the Job Object for a computer from the left tree window.

To schedule jobs on more or more computers at the same time, first display the computers in the right list window, and select the desired computers.  Right click, and select either Add Remote Job (AT) or Add Remote Job (Task) from the More Functions popup menu.

The following information can be entered in the Add Remote Job dialog, depending upon whether the AT or Task interface was selected.

AT Job Dialog Properties

Command Line - Enter the command line for the scheduled job to execute.

Enable Job to Interact with Desktop - Enable this option to allow the job to display a window that the user can interact with. If the job is to execute in the background, leave this option disabled.

Job Time - Enter the time for the job to be scheduled.  To execute the job immediately, select the "Now" option for the Run Job (see below) setting.

Note: Always test on a non-production workstation before scheduling a job for the first time. This is especially important for workstations in different time zones.

Run Job - Select one of the four options for running the job:

Now - This option will execute the job immediately (actually after about one minute) on the selected computers.  The job time cannot be entered for these types of jobs.

Today - This option will setup the job to run only once for the indicated job time.  If the job time has already passed, the job will execute tomorrow.

Every - This option sets up a periodic job to run on every occurrence of the selected days of the week and/or days of the month.

Next - This option will run the job on the next occurrence of the selected days of the week or days of the month.  The job will automatically delete itself once the last job has been run.

Weekday Schedule / Days of Month - Select the days of the week and/or the days of the month to execute the job.

Batch Job Settings (only available when scheduling jobs on multiple computers)

Log Activity FileName (optional) - Enter the path and name of a log file to write to for each workstation that a job is scheduled for. The information logged consists of the workstation name, command scheduled, and success/fail status. Click on the Settings button to configure specific options related to logging and processing.

Number of Seconds to Add to each Job - If a job on multiple computers is being scheduled, it may be desirable to separate the jobs by a few seconds or minutes in order to better load-balance a particular resource. Enter the number of seconds to add to each job. If left zero, all scheduled jobs will execute at roughly the same time.

When scheduling jobs on more than one computer, this operation can take several seconds for each workstation selected and possibly longer depending upon the speed of the network. It is recommended that a refresh (F5) be done prior to starting this operation to ensure that an up-to-date computer list is available.

Task Job Dialog Properties

When adding a single task to a computer using the Task Scheduler options, Hyena will first prompt for a unique name for the remote task.  Once the initial task is created, Hyena will then display the task properties dialog, permitting the task to be customized and scheduled.

When adding a task to multiple computers, Hyena requires that the task be copied (or cloned) from an existing computer.  When the Add Remote Job (Task) is selected from the More Functions popup menu, use the following procedure to copy a remote task to multiple destination computers.

1.  First, select the computers in Hyena's right list window that you want to copy a task TO.

2.  Next, right click and select Add Remote Job (Task)...

3.  On the Copy Scheduled Task(s) dialog, first enter the name of the reference (source) computer that will be used to copy the task FROM, then click the Show Tasks button.

4.  Select one or more tasks from the task list, and optionally complete the Run As and log settings options.  

Hyena will then copy the selected task(s) from the source computer to the selected destination computer's task folder.  Note that all of the computers selected must already support the IE 5.0 task scheduler.

Modifying / Viewing Job Properties

To view the currently scheduled jobs on a single computer, simply double click on the Job Object for a computer from the left tree window.  To view the scheduled jobs for one or more computers, first display the computers in the list window, and select the desired computers.  Right click, and select View Scheduled Jobs.

To modify or view a single job's properties, simply double click on any job displayed in Hyena's list window.

Deleting Jobs

To delete one or more jobs, first display the jobs in Hyena's list window.  Select the job(s) to delete, and use the delete key, Delete toolbar button, or the Delete Job context menu option.

Viewing the Scheduler Log File

To view the scheduler's log file, select the View Task Log option from the context menu of any server's Scheduled Job object.