AutoSys is an automated job scheduling system that allows users to create and manage job definitions. Jobs can be scheduled, monitored, and have their status reported on. Job definitions include attributes that specify when and where they run. Jobs can be defined through a graphical user interface or command line interface. AutoSys supports features like fault tolerance, load balancing, and reporting capabilities. Job types include boxes, commands, and file watchers. Boxes can contain other jobs and boxes to organize workflow. AutoSys tracks job statuses and uses them to determine when dependent jobs can run.

2. •AutoSys is an automated job control system for
scheduling, monitoring, and reporting.
•Each AutoSys job definition contains a variety of
qualifying attributes, including the conditions
specifying when and where a job should be run.

3. • Job definitions can be created by the following
methods:
• Using the graphical user interface ( GUI).
• Using the Job Information Language ( JIL) through a
command -line interface.

4. • GUI and Command Line Interfaces
• Graphical Calendar Facility
• Automated Restart and Recovery
• High Availability
• Fault-tolerance

5. • Load Balancing and Queue Management
• Framework Management Integration
• ERP Adapters Integration
• Multiple Time Zone Support
• Reporting Capabilities

7. • Box
• Containers that hold other jobs (including other
boxes)
• Command
• Execute commands
• file watcher
• Watch for the arrival of a specified file.

8. •A box job can be used to organize and control
process flow.
•The box itself performs no actions, although it
can trigger other jobs to run.
•An important feature of this type of job is that
boxes can be put inside of other boxes.

9. •Jobs run only once per box execution.
•As long as any job in a box is running, the box
remains in running state; the box cannot complete
until all jobs have run.
•Unless otherwise specified, a box will run
indefinitely until it reaches a status of SUCCESS
or FAILURE.

10. •Jobs in a box will start only if the box itself is
running.
•By default, a box will return a status of SUCCESS
only when all the jobs in the box have run and the
status of all the jobs is "success".
•Changing the state of a box to INACTIVE changes
the state of all the jobs in the box to INACTIVE.

11. •AutoSys keeps track of the current status, of every
job.
•The value of a job’s status is used to determine when
to start other jobs that are dependent on the job
•job report generated by the autorep command, and in
the job report you can view in the Job Activity
Console

12. INACTIVE : The job has not yet been processed. Either the
job has never been run, or its status was intentionally
altered to “turn off” its previous completion status
ACTIVATED :The top-level box that this job is in is now in
the RUNNING state, but the job itself has not started yet.
STARTING : The event processor has initiated the start job
procedure with the Remote Agent.

13. •SUCCESS : The job exited with an exit code equal to or less than the
“maximum exit code for success.” By default, only the exit code “0” is
interpreted as “success.” If the job is a box job, this value means that
all the jobs within the box have finished with the status SUCCESS (the
default), or the “Exit Condition for Box Success” evaluated to true
•RUNNING : The job is running. If the job is a box job, this value
simply means that the jobs within the box may be started (other
conditions permitting). If it is a command or file watcher job, the value
means that the process is actually running on the remote machine.
•

14. •FAILURE : The job exited with an exit code greater than the
“maximum exit code for success.” By default, any number
greater than zero is interpreted as “failure.” AutoSys issues an
alarm if a job fails
•TERMINATED : The job terminated while in the RUNNING
state. A job can be terminated if a user sends a KILLJOB event or
if it was defined to terminate if the box it is in failed. If the job
itself fails, it has a FAILURE status, not a TERMINATED status.
A job may also be terminated if it has exceeded the maximum
run time (term_run_time attribute, if one was specified for the
job), or if it was killed from the command line through a UNIX
kill command. AutoSys issues an alarm if a job is terminated.

15. • RESTART : The job was unable to start due to
hardware or application problems, and has
been scheduled to restart.
• QUE_WAIT : The job can logically run (that is,
all the starting conditions have been met), but
there are not enough machine resources
available.

16. •ON_HOLD : This job is on hold and will not be
run until it receives the JOB_OFF_HOLD event.
•ON_ICE : This job is removed from all conditions
and logic, but is still defined to AutoSys.
Operationally, this condition is like deactivating
the job. It will remain on ice until it receives the
JOB_OFF_ICE event.

17. • The difference between "on hold" and "on ice“:
• ON – HOLD:
• When an "on hold" job is taken off hold, if its starting
conditions are already satisfied, it will be scheduled to
run, and it will run.
• From the job that is "on ice" will run as though the job
succeeded. Whereas, all dependent jobs do not run
• ON – ICE:
• If an "on ice" job is taken "off ice," it will not start, even
if its starting conditions are already satisfied. This job
will not run until its starting conditions reoccur.
• When a job is on "on hold"—nothing downstream from
this job will run.

18. • AutoSys determines whether to start or not to start a job based on
the evaluation of the starting conditions (or starting parameters)
defined for the job.
• These conditions can be one or more of the following:
• Date and time scheduling parameters are met (it is or has passed the
specified date and time).
• Starting Conditions specified in the job definition evaluate to true.
• For jobs in a box, the box must be in the RUNNING state.
• The current status of the job is not ON_HOLD or ON_ICE.
• Every time an event changes any of the above conditions, AutoSys
finds all the jobs that may be affected by this change, and
determines whether or not to start them.

19. • Sendevent is used in AutoSys for a variety of
purposes, including starting or stopping AutoSys
jobs, stopping the Event processor, and putting a
job on hold.
• This command is also used to set AutoSys global
variables or cancel a scheduled event.

20. • sendevent is normally used with "-E" & -J
option
• -J job_name : Specifies the name of the job to which the
specified event should be sent. This option is required
for all events except STOP_DEMON, COMMENT,
ALARM, or SET_GLOBAL
• -E event :Specifies the event to be sent. This option is
required.

21. • STARTJOB
• KILLJOB
• DELETEJOB
• FORCE_STARTJOB
• JOB_ON_ICE
• JOB_OFF_ICE
• SEND_SIGNAL

22. • JOB_ON_HOLD
• JOB_OFF_HOLD
• CHANGE_STATUS
• STOP_DEMON
• CHANGE_PRIORITY
• COMMENT
• ALARM
• SET_GLOBAL

23. • Syntax:
• sendevent –E <Event Name> -J <Job Name>
• Example:
• sendevent -E STARTJOB -J
rfd_c_sample_job_priyanka

25. Syntax:
auto_delete: <hours in number>
Description:
Indicates whether job should be automatically deleted
after completion. The number of hours after the job’s
completion, at which time the job should be deleted ,
can be specified (including “0” for immediately). If it is
a box job, the box and all the jobs in the box will be
deleted. While -1 indicates that the job should not be
deleted.

26. Where Applicable:
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition
Example:
To set the job to be automatically deleted 5 hours
aftercompletion,
auto_delete: 5

27. Syntax:
auto_hold:<toggle>
Description:
This feature is only for jobs that are in a box. When a job is in a
box, it inherits the starting conditions of the box. This means that
By specifying “yes” to Auto_Hold , AutoSys automatically
changes the job state to ON_HOLD when the box it is in begins
RUNNING. To start the job, take the job off hold by sending the
JOB_OFF_HOLD event. This is done with the AutoSys sendevent
command. toggle can be 1 for yes; or 0 for no. The default value is
0 for no.

28. Where Applicable :
Command job definition, if the job is in a box
File watcher job definition, if the job is in a box
Box job definition, if the job is in a box
Example:
To set the job to be automatically placed on hold:
auto_hold: y

29. Syntax:
box_failure: <conditions>
Description:
The default condition for a box to be considered as
having failed is that any job in the box completed with a
failure condition. A box can contain complex branching
logic, which can take a number of different paths, one of
which can include recovery from a failed job. In this case,
you might not want the box to be considered a failure, even
though a job inside of it failed.

30. Where Applicable:
Box job definition
Examples:
1 To set the status of the box currently being created or updated to
FAILURE if “JobA” fails or “JobB” fails, but ignoring if “JobC” fails:
box_failure: failure(JobA) OR failure(JobB)
2 To set the status of the box currently being created or updated to
FAILURE only if all three jobs fail:
box_failure: failure(JobA) AND failure(JobB) AND failure(JobC)

31. Syntax
box_name: name
Description
Indicates the name of the box in which this job is to be placed.
Boxes allow for a set of jobs to be manipulated as a group. The
specified box must already exist.
Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition

32. Values
It can be any string of up to 30 alphanumeric characters, plus the
underscore character ( _ ). There is no default box name.
Example
To specify that the job currently being created or updated should be
put in the box named “Box1”:
box_name: Box1

33. Syntax
box_success: conditions
Description
The default condition for a box to be considered successful is that
every job in the box completed with a success condition. The
condition can be up to 255 characters.
Where Applicable
Box job definition

34. Examples
1. To set the status of the box currently being created or updated to
SUCCESS only when “JobA” succeeds or “JobB” succeeds, but
ignoring the status of “JobC”:
box_success: success(JobA) OR success(JobB)
2. To set the status of the box currently being created or updated to
SUCCESS only if jobs “JobA” and “JobB” succeed, and “JobC”
completes, regardless of its status:
box_success: success(JobA) AND success(JobB) AND done(JobC)

35. Syntax
box_terminator: toggle
Description
This attribute specifies whether the box containing this job should be
terminated if the job fails or terminates. toggle can be 1 for yes; or 0 for no.
The default setting is 0 for no.
Where Applicable
Command job definition, if the job is in a box
File watcher job definition, if the job is in a box
Box job definition, if the job is in a box

36. Example
To specify that if the job currently being created
or updated fails, the box it is in should be
terminated:
box_terminator: y

37. Syntax
chk_files: file_system_name size [file_system_name size]...
Description
This resource check specifies the minimum amount of file space that
must be available on designated file system(s) for the job to be started.
In the case of a file watcher definition, the file_system_name should
identify the location where the file is expected to arrive, as specified in the
“File to Watch” attribute, and the minimum file size should be the same
as the “Minimum File Size” attribute.
Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition

38. Values
The full pathname of the file system where the file space will be
needed, and environment variables exported in the profile can be
used in the pathname.
Size: Is the file space needed (in kilobytes). Many file_system_name size pairs can be
specified, separated by a space. The value can be up to 255 characters.
Enter one or more pairs of file_system_name size.
The default is to not check the file space available.
Example
To specify that the job currently being created or updated should have
100K of space available on the file system named “rootfs” and 120K of
space available on the file system named “auxfs1”, enter this (using the
full pathname):
chk_files: /rootfs 100 /auxfs1 120

39. Syntax
command: command_name command_runtime_args
Description
The command attribute can be the name of a command, shell script, or
application program that is to be run on the client machine (when all
necessary conditions are met). When issuing commands that are to be
run on a different operating system, you must use the syntax appropriate
to the operating system of the client machine. In addition, the job’s
owner must have execute permission for this command on the client
machine. AutoSys global variables can be used as part of the command
name itself, or as part of the command’s runtime arguments

40. Where Applicable
Command job definition
Values
The command_name can be the name of any command, shell script, or
application program executable.
There is no default command_name. The command, shell script, or
executable does not need to exist at job definition time. It must however
exist at runtime.
Examples
1 To specify that the UNIX date command is to be executed:
command: /bin/date
2 To specify that the “Backup” script in the /usr/common directory is to
be executed:
command: /usr/common/Backup

41. Syntax
condition: [(]condition[)][{AND | OR }[(] condition [)]]...
Description
When using the condition attribute, any number of job dependencies can
be specified. All dependencies must evaluate to “true” before the
dependent job will be run. Starting conditions can be one or more.
The condition can be up to 255 characters. There is no default.
Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition

42. Examples
1 If “JobC” should be started only when both “JobA” and
“JobB”
complete successfully or when both “JobD” and “JobE”
complete,
regardless of whether they failed, succeeded, or
terminated, specify the
following dependency in the job definition for “JobC”:
condition: (success(JobA) AND success(JobB)) OR
(done(JobD) AND
done(JobE))

43. Syntax
date_conditions: toggle
Description
This attribute specifies whether or not there are date
and/or time conditions for starting this job. If it is
set to “no”, the remainder of the date/time related
attributes will be ignored. If set to “yes”, the date
can be specified using the days_of_week attribute.
The default value is 0 for no. If the default is used, all
other date/time dependencies are set to off.

44. Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition
Values
toggle can be 1 for yes; or 0 for no.
Example
To specify that starting date and time conditions are to be
in effect:
date_conditions: y

45. Syntax
days_of_week: {day [,day]... | all}
Description
Indicates the days of the week when the job will be
run. One or more days can be selected, or all days
can be selected. AutoSys will schedule the job to
run on every day of the week specified by this
attribute, at the times specified in the start_timesor
start_mins attribute, one of which must be
specified if this attribute is used.

46. Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition
Examples
1 To specify that the job should be run only on weekdays:
days_of_week: mo, tu, we, th, fr
2 To specify that the job should be run every day of the week:
days_of_week: all

47. Syntax
delete_box: box_name
Description
The delete_box sub-command deletes the specified box and
all the jobs in that box. Jobs in the box, and the box itself that
are already scheduled to run, will still be deleted and will
not be run.
Example
To delete a box named “Box1” and all jobs inside it, you would
specify the following sub-command in the JIL script:
delete_box: Box1

48. Syntax
delete_job: job_name
Description
The delete_job sub-command deletes the specified job from the AutoSys
database. Even if the job is already scheduled to run, it will not be run.
Delete_job checks the job_cond table and notifies you if dependent
conditions for the deleted job exist. This functionality only works when
JIL is in job verification mode, which is the default setting.
If the specified job is a box, the box will be deleted. The jobs in the box
will have their box reference removed and will become stand-alone jobs.
Example
To delete a job called “Job1”, you would specify the following sub-command
in the JIL script:
delete_job: Job1

49. Syntax
description: text
Description
Specifies a description for the job; for documentation
purposes only.
Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition

50. Values
text can be any string of alphanumeric characters,
up to 255 characters. Spaces can be included. You
should enclose the string in double quotes to
ensure JIL properly interprets it. There is no
default.
Example
To specify that the job is an incremental daily backup
of the database:
description: “incremental daily backup of the
database”

51. Syntax
insert_job: job_name
Description
The insert_job sub-command adds a new command, box, or file
watcher job definition to the AutoSys database. The
insert_job: job_name command is followed by a list of attribute:value
statements, which are listed individually in this chapter. There are a set of
job attributes that are required for each job type.
For command jobs, the following attribute values are required:
insert_job: job_name
command: value
machine: value
For box jobs, the following attributes are required:
insert_job: job_name
job_type: value

52. For file watcher jobs, the following attributes are required:
insert_job: job_name
job_type: value
machine: value
watch_file: value
Examples
The following example creates a command job, specifying only the essential job
attributes. The job is called “time_stamp”, is to run on the real machine “tibet”,
and simply executes the time_stamp.sh shell script. To create this definition, enter
the following sub-command and job attributes in the JIL script:
insert_job: time_stamp
machine: tibet
command: time_stamp.sh

53. Syntax
job_load: load_units
Description
Specifies the relative amount of processing power the job will
consume. The range of possible settings is arbitrary and user-defined.
Where Applicable
Command job definition
Example
To set the job load for a job that typically uses 10% of the CPU, with a
range of possible load values from 1-100:
job_load: 10

54. Syntax
job_terminator: toggle
Description
This attribute specifies whether the job should be terminated if the box it
is in fails or terminates. By using this attribute in combination with the
Terminate the Box if the Job Fails attribute, you can control how
nested jobs react when a job fails. This attribute only applies if the job is
being placed in a box. The job is terminated with a KILLJOB event.
The default value is 0, for No.

55. Where Applicable
Command job definition, if the job is in a box
File watcher job definition, if the job is in a box
Box job definition, if the job is in a box
Example
To specify that if the box containing the job
currently being created or updated fails, the job
should be terminated:
job_terminator: y

56. Syntax
job_type: type
Description
Specifies whether the job is a command job, file
watcher job, or box job.
Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition

57. Values
Type can be any one of the following:
c (command)
f (file watcher)
b (box)
The default value is c, specifying a command job.
Example
To set the job currently being created or updated to
be a box job:
job_type: b

58. Syntax
machine: {machine_name [, machine_name]...|
‘machine_chooser_script‘}
Description
Specifies the client machine where the job will be run,
under the control of the Remote Agent. The owner of
the job must have permission to access this machine as
well as permission to execute the specified command
on this machine.

59. Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Note • For a file watcher, you must specify one real machine.
Values
machine_name can be any real machine, virtual machine, or set of real
machines. The name can be up to 80 characters.
Examples
1 To specify that the job be executed on either of the machines named
“tibet” or “socrates”:
machine: tibet, socrates
2 To run the script /usr/local/bin/my-machine-chooser at job runtime
to determine which machine to use:
machine: ‘/usr/local/bin/my-machine-chooser’

60. Syntax
max_exit_success: exit_code
Description
Specifies the maximum UNIX exit code with which the job
can exit and still be considered a success by AutoSys.
An exit code equal to or less than this value will be
considered a success. This attribute is used when a
command can exit with more than one exit code,
indicating either “degrees of success” or other
conditions that cannot indicate a failure. It’s useful
when defining complex branching logic based on real-time
Processing.

61. Where Applicable
Command job definition
Values
exit_code can be any integer representing a UNIX exit code.
The default is “0”, which is the normal exit code for UNIX
executables.
Example
To set the job to be considered successful when exiting with
any exit code of “2” or less:
max_exit_success: 2

62. Syntax
max_run_alarm: mins
Description
Specifies the maximum run time (in minutes) that a job
should require to finish normally. This “reasonability”
test can catch an error, such as the application stuck in
a loop or waiting on a system event that never occurs.
If the job runs longer than this time, an alarm is
generated. Alarms are informational only. You must
have a monitor or the Alarm Manager running to track
alarms in real time.

63. Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition
Values
mins can be any integer; it represents the maximum number of
minutes the job should ever require to finish normally.
Example
To set the job to be considered as running too long if it runs for more
than an hour and a half:
max_run_alarm: 90

64. Syntax
min_run_alarm: mins
Description
Specifies the minimum run time (in minutes) that a job
should require to finish normally. This “reasonability”
test can catch an error, such as the input file being
truncated due to an error. If the job runs in less than
this time, an alarm is generated. Alarms are
informational only. You must have a monitor or the
Alarm Manager running to track alarms in real time.

65. Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition
Values
mins can be any integer; it represents the minimum number of
minutes the job should ever require to finish normally.
Example
To set the job to be considered as completing too quickly if it
runs for less than an hour and a half:
min_run_alarm: 90

66. Syntax
n_retrys: attempts
Description
Specifies how many times, if any, the job should be restarted
after exiting with a FAILURE status. If a job is
TERMINATED, it will not restart.
Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition

67. Values
attempts can be any integer between 1 and 20.
The default is 0, indicating the job will not be restarted.
Example
To set the job to be automatically restarted up to 5 times
after an application failure (not system or network
related):
n_retrys: 5
This means that the job would start as scheduled, and, if
it fails, it would restart up to five additional times for a
total of six attempts.

68. Syntax
owner: {user@machine | user}
Description
Specifies the owner of the job. The owner is the user who invoked jil. This user will
own all jobs defined during the session, and will have edit permission on the jobs.
The UNIX command specified in that job will be run under the user ID
of the owner. When a command is started on the Remote Agent, the uid
of the process is changed to the owner of the job.
The default owner is defined as user@machine. Therefore, only the specific
user on the specific machine can edit the job. In order for the job to run,
this user@machine combination must have execute permission on the
UNIX command specified in the job, on the client machine for the job.
The owner cannot change this ownership designation. Only the Edit
Superuser can change the owner of a job. However, the owner can grant
other users edit permission, as well as execute permission, on the job.

69. Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition
Example
For the Edit Superuser to change the owner such that
“chris” on any machine in the network can edit the
job, and the job’s command will run with the
permissions of “chris”:
owner: chris

70. Syntax
permission: permission [, permission]
Description
The AutoSys permission scheme is based on the same permissions used
in native UNIX. It uses the user ID (uid), and group ID (gid) from the
UNIX environment to control who can edit job definitions and who can
execute the actual command specified in the job. (If you are defining jobs
that are to run on different operating systems, use the permissions
applicable to the operating system of the client machine.)
AutoSys uses the concept of three levels of users for any job. These levels
are:
Owner—The user who created the job.
Group—Any user who is in the same group as the owner.
World—Every user.
Also, as in UNIX, there are multiple levels of permissions associated with
a job. Every job has the following levels of permissions:

71. Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition
Values
When a job is first created, the user ID is retrieved from the environment
and attached to the job. Then the current value of the owner’s umask is
used to supply default permissions to the job. The umask “write”
permission is used as the default “edit” permission of the job, and the
umask“execute” permission is used as the default “execute” permission of
the job.
These are the possible values for the permission attribute:
gx - Group Execute
ge - Group Edit

72. mx - Execute by any authorized users, regardless of the machine they are on
(otherwise they must be logged onto the machine specified in the
owner field, i.e., user@machine)
me - Edit by any authorized users, regardless of the machine they are on
(otherwise they must be logged onto the machine specified in the
owner field, i.e., user@machine)
wx -World Execute
we - World Edit
The order of occurrence is not important.
The default group and world permissions are based on the user’s umask
setting. Machine permissions are turned off.
The owner of the job always has full edit and execute permissions.
Example
To set the job to allow anyone to execute it, but to allow only members
of your group to edit it:
permission: ge, wx

73. Syntax
priority: priority_level
Description
Specifies the queue priority of the job. Each job is
assigned a load as well. If a job is ready to run and designated to run on
that machine, but the current load on that machine is too large to accept
the new job’s load, the job will be “queued” for that machine.
Although boxes cannot be queued, they can be assigned priorities. This
permits boxes within other boxes to be run according to their priority,
rather than the order in which they were defined, which is the default.
Where Applicable
Command job definition
Box job definition

74. Values
priority_level can be any integer 0 or larger. priority_level 0 indicates
that the job should always be run immediately, regardless of the current
machine load. The lower the priority_level number, the higher the
priority; therefore, 1 is the highest possible queued priority.
The default is 0, indicating the job will not be queued at all; instead it will
run immediately, regardless of the current machine load.
Examples
1 To set the job to always run, regardless of the current load on the client
machine, accept the default which is 0.
2 To set the job to run with the highest priority, while not overriding the
machine load control mechanism:
priority: 1
3 To set the job to run in the background when the machine load is low,
enter this:
priority: 100

75. Syntax
profile: pathname
Description
Specifies the profile that is to be sourced by the Bourne shell before the
specified command is executed. If a profile attribute is specified, that
profile is searched for on the machine on which the command is to run.
The full pathname cannot exceed 80 characters.
Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Example
To set the user’s profile called my_profilein their home directory called
/usr/home:
profile: /usr/home/my_profile

76. Syntax
run_calendar: calendar_name
Description
Indicates the name of the custom calendar to be used
when determining the days of the week on which a job
will run. This attribute is useful for complex date
specification, such as running a job on the last business
day of the month. The custom calendar will list the
dates and the times when the job is to be run. The
calendar must have been previously created using the
Graphical Calendar Facility or the autocal_asc
command. This attribute and the days_of_week
attribute are mutually exclusive.

77. Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition
Values
calendar_name must be the name of a custom calendar that has
already been created.
The default is that no run calendar will be used.
Example
To specify that the job should be run on the last business day of the
month, as specified in the previously created custom calendar named
“last_business”:
run_calendar: last_business

78. Syntax
run_window: “time-time”
Description
Indicates the time span during which the job will be allowed to start. If
this attribute is specified, then when the job is eligible to run (based on
its starting conditions) AutoSys will check if the current time falls within
the specified run window. If it does, the job will start. If it does not, the
following calculations are used to determine whether or not to run the
job. The end of the last run window and the beginning of the next run
window are determined. If the current time is closer to the beginning of
the next run window, the job will be scheduled to start when the next run
window starts. If the current time is closer to the end of the last run
window, the job does not start and its status is changed to INACTIVE.

79. Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition
Values
time-time must be entered in quotes, using the format “hh:mm-hh:
mm” where the hh specifies hours, in 24-hour format, and the
mm specifies minutes.
Example
To specify that the job should be allowed to start only between
11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., regardless of other conditions:
run_window: “23:00-02:00”

80. Syntax
start_mins: mins [, mins]...
Description
Indicates the number of minutes past the hour, every hour, on the specified
days or dates, when the job will be started. The days or dates must be
specified using one of the following attributes: days_of_week or
run_calendar. This attribute overrides any times set in a run calendar.
The start_mins attribute and the start_timesattribute are mutually exclusive.
Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition

81. Values
mins must be a number 0–59, representing the
number of minutespast each hour when the job
will be run. The total number of characters must
not exceed 255. Multiple lines can be used without
specifying a continuation character. The default is
that no start time in minutes will be set.
Example
To specify that the job be run at a quarter past and a
quarter before each hour:
start_mins: 15, 45

82. Syntax
start_times: “time [, time]...”
Description
Indicates the times of day, in 24-hour format, on the specified days or
dates, when the job will be started. The days or dates must be
specified using one of the following attributes: days_of_weekor
run_calendar. This attribute overrides any times set in a run
calendar. The start_times attribute and the start_mins attribute are
mutually exclusive.
Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition

83. Values
time must be specified using the format “hh:mm” where the hh
specifies hours, in 24-hour format, and the mm specifies minutes.
The total number of characters must not exceed 255. The keyword
start_times is omitted.
The default is that no start time will be set. This is an error if days or
dates
are specified for this job, and no time has been specified in the other
field.
Example
To specify that the job be run at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on every
specified day or date:
start_times: “10:00, 14:00”

84. Syntax
term_run_time: mins
Description
Specifies the maximum run time (in minutes) that a job
should require to finish normally. If the job runs longer
than this time, it will be automatically terminated by
AutoSys.
Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition

85. Values
mins can be any integer; it represents the maximum
number of minutes the job should ever require to
finish normally. The default is “0”, indicating the
job should allowed to run forever.
Example
To set the job to be automatically terminated if it
runs longer than 90 minutes:
term_run_time: 90

86. Syntax
timezone: zone
Description
Allows you to schedule a job based on a chosen time zone.
When the timezone attribute is specified in a job
definition, the time settings in that job are based on the
zone time zone.
Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition

87. Example
1 To set the time zone for a job definition to Chicago time:
timezone: Chicago
2 To set the time zone for a job definition to Pacific time:
timezone: US/Pacific
3 If you specify a time zone that includes a colon, you must quote the time
zone name if you are using JIL, like this:
timezone: “IST-5:30”

88. Syntax
update_job: job_name
Description
The update_jobsub-command updates an existing command, box, or
file watcher job definition in the AutoSys database. The
update_job statement is followed by a list of attribute:value
statements, which are listed individually in this chapter.
Where Applicable
Command job definition
File watcher job definition
Box job definition

89. Example
To change a pre-existing command job called
“time_stamp” to run on the real machine
“paris”, rather than on the originally specified
machine, enter the following sub-command
and job attribute in the JIL script:
update_job: time_stamp
machine: paris

90. Syntax
watch_file: pathname
Description
Specifies the file for which this file watcher job should
watch. The name of the file to watch for must be a legal
UNIX filename, and it must identify the full pathname
of the file. Variables exported from the profile script or
AutoSys global variables can be used in the pathname
specification.
Where Applicable
File watcher job definition

91. Examples
1 To set the file watcher to watch for a file named
/tmp/batch.input:
watch_file: /tmp/batch.input
2 To set the file watcher to watch for a file whose
name has been assigned to a global variable
named “file_1”:
watch_file: $${file_1}

92. Syntax
watch_file_min_size: bytes
Description
Specifies the watch file minimum size (in bytes) which determines when
enough data has been written to the file to consider it complete. AutoSys
doesn’t consider a file complete until both the minimum file size is
reached, and the watch interval has detected a “steady state” (i.e., the file
size has not changed between checked intervals). A reasonable file size
should be specified in order to ensure that a nearly empty file doesn’t
appear to be complete, while a size that is smaller than usual doesn’t
prevent the file from being considered complete.

93. Where Applicable
File watcher job definition
Values
bytes can be any integer; it represents the minimum number of bytes
in the file before it is considered complete.
The default is “0”, meaning the mere presence of the file is enough to
consider the file complete.
Example
To set the file to be considered complete when it reaches 10K bytes
(assuming the file has reached “steady state” as well):
watch_file_min_size: 10000

94. Syntax
watch_interval: seconds
Description
Specifies the interval (in seconds) at which the file watcher job will check
for the existence and size of the watched-for file. A “steady state” is said
to have been reached when the file hasn’t grown during the specified
time interval. When the “steady state” has been reached and the file is at
least as large as the minimum file size specified in watch_file_min_size,
the file is considered complete. A reasonable interval should be specified
to ensure that the file doesn’t appear to be at “steady state” when it really
isn’t.

95. Where Applicable
File watcher job definition
Values
seconds can be any integer; it represents the time interval
between
checks of the file existence and file size.
The default is interval is 60.
Example
To set the file to be checked for a steady state every two
minutes:
watch_interval: 120

96. • Insert_job
• Update_job
• Delete_job
• Command
• Box_name
• Owner
• Machine
• permission
• Date_conditions
• Days_of_week
• Start_times
• Start_mins
• Run_window
• Condition
• Description
• N_retrys
• Term_run_time
• Box_terminator
• Job_terminator
• Min_run_alarm
• Max_run_alarm
• Max_exit_success
• Chk_files
• Profile
• Job_load
• Priority
• Auto_delete
• Box_success
• Box_failure
• timezone