What's New in adTempus 3
adTempus 3.0 is the next step in the evolution of adTempus. It includes many major
enhancements, even more minor changes to improve usability and functionality, and
architectural changes to make it easier for customers and developers to integrate
with adTempus.
adTempus 3.0 fully supports Windows Vista and Windows Longhorn, and is also available
for 64-bit versions of Windows.
This page presents an overview of the significant changes in this version. See the
Release Notes for a more extensive
list.
adTempus has many new features to improve usability. Following are a few of the
major changes; for complete information see the
Release Notes.
Job Queues
Newly-introduced
Job Queues allow you to set limits on the number of jobs that can
be run concurrently, enabling you to better manage resource usage on a server. For
example, you may have two jobs that use so much CPU time that you don't want to
let them run at the same time. Previously this required setting conditions between
the jobs, and could be difficult to enforce, especially if jobs were run manually.
Now you can simply assign both jobs to the same queue, and limit the queue to one
job at a time. If a second job is submitted for the queue, it will be held until
the first job finishes.
Job Variables
The new
Job Variable feature makes it easier to change parameters for job
tasks and to "templatize" jobs so they can be easily duplicated or copied
from server to server. Job Variables are user-defined variables that can be used
in many places within a job (in the same way that environment variables can be used
in earlier versions). The values can be changed easily to simplify changes to jobs.
For example, you may have a group of jobs that all act on files in a particular
directory. Within each job, you call a program, passing it the directory name. Instead
of "hard-coding" the path on the command line for each job or job step,
you can now use a Job Variable (such as "%TargetPath%") that is defined
for the group. At runtime, the "%TargetPath%" token is replaced with the
actual path you have specified. If you subsequently need to change the path (or
copy the jobs to another server where the path is different), you can change the
path in a single place and all jobs will use the new value.
Job Variables can be inherited (from server-level variables to group-level to job-level
to step-level) and overridden at any level.
Users running a job manually can also override variable values. This allows you
to set up parameterized on-demand jobs, where a user can specify parameters such
as selection criteria without needing to modify the job definition.
Credential Profiles
Credential Profiles allow users to schedule jobs under a Windows
security account without needing to know the password for that account, provided
that they have been granted permission to use the Profile. This allows administrators
to set up a standard "batch" account that is used by all jobs, without
having to give adTempus users the password for this account.
Improved Scripting
adTempus now supports
scripts written in VB.NET and C#, and features a much-improved
script editor. Now many routine administrative tasks can be easily automated through
.NET programs that are written and maintained within adTempus. There's no need to
write (and keep track of) a standalone program or to suffer with creaky VBScript
scripts.
Improved Desktop Selection
adTempus allows jobs to run "interactively" (visible to the user), but
in previous versions an interactive job was only visible from the computer's console
session, and not from Remote Desktop sessions. Changes in the
desktop selection options now make it possible to run a job
in the console session, the session of the user whose account is used on the job,
or the session of the user who is running the job manually.
Security Inheritance
The adTempus security framework has been overhauled to support
security inheritance,
similar to the security inheritance of folders and files in Windows. This greatly
simplifies security administration compared to the old model, which required that
security changes be made separately to each job.
Web Request Task
A new
Web Request Task has been added that allows your job to request a Web URL. This
can be used to request a page that triggers processing on the remote server, or
to download content from the server. The page or file returned by the Web server
can be saved to disk and/or saved as a captured file in the job's history.
SQL Server Job Task
In previous versions of adTempus, the Job Wizard could be used to generate
a script that could run and monitor SQL Server Agent jobs. In adTempus 3.0 this
has been replaced by a full-fledged
SQL Server Job Task that offers the same functionality but is easier to
configure.
More Flexibility When Running Jobs Manually
More options are now available when a user runs a job manually from
the Console, offering better control over job execution. The user can now select
which step(s) of the job should run, and determine whether Responses for the job
should be executed.
Responses Based on Execution Time
Responses can now be triggered based on the length of time a task has
been running. For example, you can now configure a Response to send a notification
message if a program runs for more than one hour. Previously, the only action that
could be taken based on task execution time was to terminate the task after a specified
time had elapsed.
Job Management and Monitoring Enhancements
Failure Acknowledgment
Previous versions of adTempus allowed you to "acknowledge"
failed job instances shown in the failed job view by changing the filter date to
exclude those instances. adTempus 3.0 introduces true acknowledgment: a user can
selectively and permanently "acknowledge" the failure of any instance,
and doing so removes the instance from the failed jobs view of all other users as
well.
History Comments
System operators or other authorized users can now add comments to
a job's history. For example, if a job fails, the operator may want to record details
of what caused the failure and what error resolution steps were taken. Comments
for each instance are viewed and edited on the new Comments page
of the Job Instance Details window (displayed when you view the details from an
instance on the History page of the main job list).
Job Status Override
System operators or other authorized users can override the status
of a completed job, forcing adTempus to show a "Succeeded" or "Failed"
status for the instance. This can be used when you need to let jobs that depend
on the job execute despite a failure.
Manual History Purge
In previous versions of adTempus, a job's history (execution history, log messages,
and captured files) could only be purged through the automatic process controlled
by the retention settings for the job. The adTempus Console now provides the option
to purge the job's history complete on demand, and optionally to reset the statistics
for the job as well. This new option can be found on the Statistics tab when the
job is selected in the main job list.
User Interface Improvements
Many changes have been made to the adTempus Console to improve usability:
Support for Windows Vista and Longhorn
adTempus is now fully compatible with Windows Vista and Windows Longhorn. Some visible
changes to support these operating systems include:
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When configuring a job that runs under an administrator account, you can specify
that the job should be run "with highest privileges," which is equivalent
to running the program "As Administrator" from the Windows shell. adTempus
will then run the program with full administrator privileges enabled, without a
user access control (UAC) prompt.
XML-Based Export/Import
Previous versions of adTempus used an undocumented binary file format for exporting
and importing data. adTempus now uses XML for exports and imports, making it easier
for customers to modify exported data before it is imported into adTempus.
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