Scheduling recommendation

[PhilfromGermany]

Hello, I'm currently working in BASE (no DI) on Oracle using SAS/ACCESS to Oracle. I have written several programs and I use Windows Task Scheduler to execute a .BAT file which runs the .SAS programs. I have now been asked to provide end-users with a scheduling table. This table must hold the scheduling configuration (time, interval, etc.) which will then be loaded by the scheduler to create a new scheduled task. Has anyone ever done anything similar to that? Allowing end-users to create their own scheduled tasks by entering information into a database table? If so, is there a scheduler you can recommend? I'm using Windows Server 2008. Thanks! Regards Phil

[jakarman]

Phil what you are describing is the basics demand for any commercial scheduler. Sas is often coming with LSF when there is a need for scheduling.

More likely in any bigger organization there is already such tooling with an operational support staf within the it department.

In those cases SAS is some paria difficult to get aligned with IT people. As a bypass you can build scheduling on your own based on polling all programmed in Sas.

[RobertWoodruff]

Let me concur with Jaap. LSF would be a fine tool for this, but it is part of SAS BI, which you are not using. No matter what the tool, having end users to create their own schedules against a shared resource may get into policy and resource issues (like overloading the machines or resource contention). This is why FIFO queuing is a popular scheduling methodology. Come up with a procedure and policies that suit your needs. Then decide how to implement.

[PhilfromGermany · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your answers. I think LSF is a bit overkill for this. From my understanding LSF also necessitates a shared file system? Another reason why this may be overkill. For anyone interested in how I solved the problem: I decided to provide the end users with a table which stores the scheduling configuration. I then built them a web interface. They enter the scheduling configuration, click the ADD button, and the configuration gets inserted into the SAS table. A SAS program gets executed reading the configuration from the table and builds an AT script. The AT script then gets executed and the scheduled task is added. Works alright 🙂 Thanks!

[acfarrer]

Have you tried playing with any of the options? From my archives, I found this syntax to output a CSV :

schtasks.exe /query /fo csv

Regarding LSF, it is a fine scheduler and flow manager but you don't have to use it with SAS/Grid and a shared file system. IBM bought Platform Computing some time ago and will happily sell a non-SAS version.