Overview
Consolidation job is designed to collect data from multiple agents onto storage servers. This job can be useful, for example, to collect periodic reports from workstations. It's reusable, so new files can be later added to the source agents. To re-use the job, just manually launch it with "Start" button or restart any of the previous Job Runs.
How to configure Consolidation job
1) Create a new job
Go to JOBS -> Configure jobs -> Create new job -> Consolidation.
2) Give it a name and description
It's optional and defaults can be used. Check option to use SHA2 hashing if preferred, but Agents running Connect version 2.0 and older will not be able to participate in this job.
3) Choose the source groups
Agent belonging to this group will be uploading their data. You can create a new group or use the one(s) that you already have. Also, you can separately select some agents for that job, provided agents do not produce conflicts. When creating a group, you can specify a schedule by which agents will be uploading data. Specify the path from where agents will be uploading files. These directories must exist and files shall be there before you start the job.
See here for more details on creating and managing groups.
4) Choose the destination groups
Agents from this group will be collecting data from source agents. You can create a new group or pick an already existing one, or also select the agents separately, provided agents do not create Conflicts. Specify the path from where agents will be storing the files. Using Agent tags is also possible.
5) Specify Triggers (optional)
Consolidation job supports post commands which make it possible to run a command once transfer is complete. Triggers indicate the moment when the script will be executed. This step can be skipped.
- Before file-indexing begins: right after job is created, the agent will start indexing files in the specified directory. A script, triggered at this moment can "cook the files before serving", for example, re-arrange the them, add/remove new and do things alike, so that the folder is indexed and distributed in a proper manner the way you need.
- After an agent completes downloading: the script will run on each destination agent after it finishes download. Other agents may be still downloading the files, thus it's recommended not to remove or update the distributed files with this trigger. Otherwise the file will be re-downloaded from source again. It's possible to schedule the script for the agent's local time
- After all agents complete downloading: as opposed to the trigger above, in this case script will run only after all destination agents finish downloading all the files. This script will also be executed on the source agent.
6) Job scheduler
defines when the job will be launched. Shows current admin's local time, which may be different from time the physical server where Console is installed!
- Run at - at the preferred date/time (local agents' time);
- Run manually - job won't start until manually launched with "Start" button;
- Repeat hourly/daily/weekly - job will run at a specified frequency. It's possible to select the when the first run shall be started (a starting point for schedules run) and when schedule expires.
By default, if time to start next run has come but the previous run hasn't finished yet, active run will be aborted and new one started. There's a checkbox to change this behavior and not launch the new run until active finishes:
Run At: new job run should be started in case the previous one completed no later than ran_at_time + 5 mins. Examples:
- job run was launched manually and finished at 11:00. scheduler is "run at 10:56". A new job run starts during a minute.
- job run was launched manually and finished at 11:00. scheduler is "run at 10:54". No new run.
Run every minute/hour: start a new job run asap in case job run was completed later than expected schedule time. otherwise default behavior. Examples:
- job run started at 11:00 and finished at 11:08, scheduler is "run every 5 minutes". A new job run starts during a minute.
- job run started at 11:00 and finished at 11:03, the same scheduler. Wait till 11:05.
Run daily/weekly at specific time: the same principles as in Run At. Examples:
- job run started 01.01 at 11:00, finished 02.01 at 12:00. scheduler is "run every day at 11:30". New run is expected 03.01 at 11:30
- job run started on Monday at 11:00, finished on Wednesday at 12:03. scheduler is "run on Mon at 11:00, Wed at 12:00". A new run starts during a minute.
7) Settings
Select Job's priority and Job's profile.
8) Notifications
Setup and e-mail notification if necessary.
Done! Depending on the job scheduler, the job will be launched or shall be started manually. Watch its execution on Job Runs page.