Server Manager
The Server Manager is the main console for the Enterprise Server. From here you can observe and control all of the tasks running in the Enterprise Server.
The Server Manager consists of 5 separate screens that each have a specific function. They are as follows:
- Subsystems - A listing of subsystems and their currently running jobs.
- Job Queues - A listing of job queues and the jobs that are queued.
- Users - A listing of currently logged in users.
- Database Connections - A listing of database connections that are open.
- Server Properties - The properties of the enterprise server.
To understand the way the Enterprise Server management console organizes tasks, let's compare it to how customers are handled at a bank. When customers enter a bank they go into the line. Customers and their requests are like Jobs while the line is like a Queue in the Enterprise Server. The set of bank tellers act as the Server Manager. They handle the customers requests(Jobs) as they move through the line. Some customers are given differing amounts of time and priority depending on what they need done. Merchant accounts, safety deposit box holders, new accounts and simple deposits and withdrawal activities are handled by different bank employees, these are like Subsystems. Once an employee or teller finishes with a customer(a completed Job) bank transactions and logging take place. Then the next customer's request is handled from the line (Queue).
Your server side tasks can be handled much the same way as are customers in the bank example. Below is a graphical explanation of the Enterprise Server console framework.
Your Jobs are maintained in several screens in the in the Enterprise Server menu. A Job's event logging is handled in the Job Log Inquiry, it's event type and queuing properties are set in Event Maintenance and the ability to set up job streams is handled in Job Stream Maintenance.
The purpose of this scheduling and queuing system is to allow you to control exactly when the server processes tasks instead of simply running logic as soon as it is requested to be run. Often in business there is a set of tasks that should be run in a stream or queue so that the last one run is using data or calculation results generated by the tasks run prior to it.
A Job is any server-side task that needs to be run. It is in the Event Maintenance screen that you determine exactly what type of process a job actually is. Does the job kick off a JavaBean to execute a calculation or other business logic? Does it run a database stored procedure then return data to certain client applications? Does it run a server module you built with the JDesignerPro 3.0 Visual Server Application Builder which runs an end of day report drawing from several databases? The possibilities are limitless within this framework.