2.2 Deploying a Sample Job

One of the main functions of the Orchestration Server is to run application requests, called jobs, on grid resources. Because the Orchestration Server is capable of handling multiple application requests, it uses a policy-based broker and scheduler to decide when and how a job should run on the resources. These decisions are based on many controlled factors, including the number of resource nodes, their cost, and a variety of other factors as requested by the application, but managed under policy constraints set up by the administrator or the job developer.

Developing a job involves the creation of an application executable and a job file.

Before a job can run, the Orchestration Server administrator must deploy it, which involves moving it from a development state to a state where it is ready and available for users. Only the administrator has the necessary rights to deploy a job.

There are three methods you can use to deploy a job:

For this walkthrough, we will deploy a simple job developed for Orchestration Server customers to demonstrate how jobs are deployed and run. Although the walkthrough shows only the first method for deploying, the other methods are relatively simple, so no further explanation is provided.

  1. In the Explorer panel of the Orchestration Console, right-click the Jobs object, then click Deploy Job to open the Select the Component File to Deploy dialog box.

  2. Open the Look In drop-down list, then navigate to the location of the job you want to deploy.

    Although a job developer can store Orchestration Server jobs at any location on the network, the sample jobs shipped with the Orchestration Server are limited to the directories where the product is installed. For this walkthrough, navigate to the /opt/novell/zenworks/zos/server/examples directory on the Orchestration Server. If the Orchestration Console is installed on a Windows machine, the default location is c:\Program Files\Novell\zos\clients\examples.

  3. Select whoami.job, then click OK to deploy the job to the Jobs container.

    The whoami job appears in the all container and in the examples container in the tree.

    When deployed, the job is sent over the wire to the Orchestration Server with which it is associated. It is persisted there until undeployed.

When the job is available, you need to create a user who can run that job. For more information, see Section 2.3, Creating a User Account