HCL Workload Automation, Version 9.4

Sharing and reusing standard workload process templates

This scenario shows how, after developing a workload process that efficiently answers your needs, you can standardize it by virtualizing the workload, regardless of its topology, and exporting it to a new environment where it can be easily deployed.

Scenario goal

Successful, efficient workload processes can be reused in multiple environments. For example, you might want to move your tested and fine-tuned workload from your development to your production environment. Also, you might have standardized a solution that can work in your local environment as well as in all your branch offices. Alternatively, you might want to produce a set of standard, virtualized solutions that can be commercialized or shared with a community of HCL Workload Automation users.

Business Scenario

A service provider that produces and delivers software products for the banking sector has defined a workload application to detect fraud in banking financial flows. After defining a set of job streams containing the jobs and dependencies to detect and block fraud attempts, the service provider includes these job streams in a workload application and exports it as a compressed file. The service provider then makes this workload application available to the banking sector. An important central bank that has been struggling against fraud problems for years, purchases the workload application from the service provider. To run the workload application, the bank just has to customize a mapping file to specify the names and information typical of its environment and then deploy the workload application. The same fraud-detecting workload, fine-tuned by the service provider, is now running in the bank environment. The central bank can share this workload application with all its branch offices to ensure all banking operations are safeguarded against financial frauds.

The same workload application can be stored on a server and shared with the whole authenticated banking community to be further improved by the contribution of other users who adapt it to the latest international tax regulations. As a result, the workload application might also become a type of open-source HCL Workload Automation product that is continuously improved and run by its users.

Roles

This section lists the user roles required to run the scenario:

HCL Workload Automation Developer: Defines the jobs.
HCL Workload Automation Job Scheduler: Manages HCL Workload Automation workload by submitting and monitoring jobs.

Running the Scenario

To complete the scenario, perform the following steps:

About this task

Procedure

Create the jobs, job streams, and dependencies that satisfy your requirements.
Create and export the workload application template by performing the following steps:
1. In the Working List pane, select New > workload application template. The workload application template is created in the Details view and its properties page is displayed.
2. In the Properties pane, specify the properties for the workload application template that you are creating, using the available tabs. For more detailed information about the UI elements on each tab, see the Dynamic Workload Console online help.
3. Click Save to save the Dynamic Workload Console in the database.
4. From the Details view, right-click the Dynamic Workload Console and add the created job streams to it. Together with the job streams, the corresponding dependencies are also automatically added to the Dynamic Workload Console.
5. Right-click the Dynamic Workload Console and click Export to produce a compressed file containing all the files and information required to make the workload to run also in another environment.

Results

The compressed file contains:

workload application template name_Definitions.UTF8.xml: XML file that contains the definitions of all the exported objects. These definitions will be deployed in the target environment so as to populate the target database with the same objects existing in the source environment.
workload application template name_Mapping.UTF8.properties: Mapping file that the target user will modify replacing the names of the objects in the source environment with the names that these objects will have in the target environment.
workload application template name_SourceEnv_reference.txt: Reference information containing the definitions of the workstations used in the workload application and other information that can be useful to correctly map the source environment into the target environment and allow the workload application to run.

Deploying the workload application

About this task

The central bank must then deploy the workload application template in its environment, creating all the required objects to run the workload. Deploying a workload application template is a two-step process beginning with customizing the mapping file by specifying the names of the objects as they are defined in the target environment (for example, the names of the workstations on which the job streams will run) and then importing the mapping file and definitions file into the new HCL Workload Automation environment. All the import and customization steps must be performed in the target environment by using the command line.

Procedure

Customize the mapping file. Assign to each object listed in the mapping file the name it must have in the target environment. For example:
```
CALENDAR_GALAXY=WORKINGDAYS
JOBSTREAM_JSA01=BANK1
JOBSTREAM_JSA02=BANK2
JOBSTREAM_JSA03=PAYROLL
JOBSTREAM_JSA04=ACCOUNTS
JOBSTREAM_JSA05=FOREIGN
JOB_JOB1=PAY
JOB_JOB2=CASH
JOB_JOBDEF6=HOMEOFFICE
RESOURCE_RES1=ROME1
VARIABLEVALUE_VALE_PARAM1=date
VARIABLEVALUE_VALE_PARAM2=root
VARTABLE_VALE=VALE
WORKSTATION_WSNAME=UNIX
```
The mapping file creates a relationship between objects in the source environment, where the workload application is created, with objects in the target environment. If you specify a target object name that is the same as an object already in the target environment, then the import operation fails.
From the command line, submit the following command, indicating the file names of both the definitions file and the customized mapping file:
```
-import  <wkldappname_Definitions.UTF8.xml> [wkldappname_Mapping.UTF8.properties]
```
where,
wkldappname

Represents the name of the workload application you want to import.

For more information about the command usage and syntax, see wappman in the User's Guide and Reference.

What to do next

You can subsequently update a workload application if a newer version becomes available. Any objects already present in the HCL Workload Automation database of the target environment are replaced with the updated versions, any objects that do not already exist in the target environment are created, and objects are deleted from the target environment if the object definition has been removed from the updated workload application. The same mapping file used to originally deploy the workload application can be used to update it, customizing any new objects being deployed with the update.

If you need to delete an object from the workload application in the target environment, you must import an updated version of the workload application removing the definition of the object you want to delete from it so that the object in the source environment is deleted also.

In the future, the central bank might decide to share the workload application with a community of HCL Workload Automation users belonging to the banking sector to keep it as an alive and continuously-improving application.

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