CA-Autosys Workload Automation

Reference Code: TA001448IMT Publication Date: July 2008 Author: Balachandar Ganesh and Alan Rodger

CA – CA AutoSys Workload Automation Published 07/2008

© Butler Group. This Technology Audit is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied Page 1

TECHNOLOGY AUDIT

CA AutoSys Workload Automation CA

BUTLER GROUP VIEW

ABSTRACT

CA AutoSys Workload Automation, the result of the evolution of CA’s market leading portfolio of job management and job scheduling tools, is an event-driven scheduling and automation solution for distributed computing environments. The solution provides configurable workflows and adopts a policy-driven approach, in combination with traditional job scheduling techniques (which include IT-centric and calendar-based events processing) to automate processes across multiple platforms. The dynamic workload allocation capability enables higher resource utilisation while increasing application availability. Butler Group is impressed with the representation of job flows’ business relevance, allowing a service level-based workload management approach. All administrative tasks are carried out through the browser based CA Workload Command Center, which also offers role-based user access along with real-time monitoring and historical performance analysis. Further integration is needed between acquired product elements, and is planned as part of an extensive roadmap of functional and architectural enhancements. The solution is targeted at large enterprises with a requirement to optimise performance in a distributed infrastructure and diverse application environment.

KEY FINDINGS

Browser-based interface for all administration tasks.

Business-centric approach to workload management.

Dynamic workload allocation to optimise resource usage.

Application adapters enable workload management of packaged applications.

Strong scalability and resilience features.

Provides integration with CA Service Desk, and CA Unicenter NSM.

Requires additional component (JAWS) for predictive analysis and forecasting.

Further integration needed (and under development) with acquired product elements.

LOOK AHEAD

A roadmap of planned enhancements includes: Grid-based workload placement; standardising on the Cybermation agent architecture; and single automation engines for distributed and mainframe environments.

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FUNCTIONALITY

It has long been recognised that many scheduled batch processes can be run to completion without human interaction. Until recently, automation was undertaken by job scheduling and job management solutions that handled routing of jobs through a series of tightly defined steps. These solutions were typically used to automate batch processes by chaining them together in a schedule, and were characterised by static workload placement and job management driven by IT events. However, an agile business landscape creates a need to transcend such an IT-centric approach to scheduling, in order to incorporate greater flexibility to adapt to dynamically changing business needs.

Product Analysis

CA AutoSys Workload Automation (WA), the result of the evolution of CA’s portfolio of job management and job scheduling tools, is an event-driven scheduling and automation solution for distributed computing environments. It adopts a policy-driven approach in combination with traditional job scheduling techniques (which include IT-centric, and calendar-based, events processing) to automate batch processes across multiple platforms. An embedded workflow engine can be used to design and build processes based on standard operating procedures, and integrate these processes with standard job flows. A business-centric approach to workflow management can be adopted, as it enables users to create business flows relevant to a particular organisational function (e.g. payroll, or a transaction-oriented process such as customer billing). Butler Group believes that the business-level approach to workload management, which is consequently enabled by CA AutoSys WA, can help in achieving greater manageability of related jobs and processes that would otherwise appear disparate, by combining them into a cohesive workflow and managing them in real time. Users can identify critical job streams and their associated business impact, and the organisation can prioritise accordingly.

The solution can orchestrate the alignment of business processes and IT services by embedding workload triggers into existing workflows. It offers a ‘Service Oriented Automation’ approach that leverages Web services to expose workload management as a service, and hence facilitates integration, and potentially enables greater value to be delivered. CA AutoSys WA can also build on the traditional workload management focus on IT event information, by offering support for business-level events such as Service Level Agreement (SLA) violation. Other forms of events that can trigger workloads include calendar-based events (i.e. date/time), status change of a preceding job, file arrival, or triggering via GUI, scripts, Command Line Interface (CLI), or Software Development Kit (SDK).

CA Workload Control Center (WCC) offers the Web-based administration interface from CA AutoSys WA, and provides the sole interface necessary for distributed workloads, as well as a common interface to CA 7 Workload Automation, used to manage mainframe-based workloads. Administrators can create, design, and edit job flows, and also visualise and monitor end-to-end business processes and associated job streams across UNIX, Windows, and Linux platforms. The GUI-based capabilities (see Figure 1) also aid in identifying and rectifying potential bottlenecks within workload execution cycles. WCC is also a centralised platform for defining and managing security policies, which can incorporate flexibility of granularity (e.g. definition of security policies at asset and field level, or applying to a particular user or at user group level). Role-based access control is incorporated, and CA AutoSys WA can integrate with existing identity stores such as Light Weight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), and Microsoft Active Directory (AD) structures. Organisations can enforce user rights based on role, and manage which jobs can be viewed by particular users based on parameters such as job status, job type, and the machine on which a particular job is executing. All user interactions are captured to maintain an audit trail, which can address compliance requirements.

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Figure 1: Screenshot – CA Workload Command Center

Source: CA D A T A M O N I T O R

CA AutoSys WA incorporates a reporting engine, which can generate reports via standard report templates, and display results as graphical views, tables, and text or a combination of these. Customisable reports can be published in different formats to suit particular needs. Enterprise-standard reporting capabilities from Business Objects and Crystal Reports enhance the analytics available.

Enterprise requirements for managing workload originating from packaged applications are met within CA AutoSys WA through the use of application adapters, which allow integration of workflows across source type. Application adapters are separately licensable and are currently available for applications from SAP, PeopleSoft, and Oracle. The Command Line Interface (CLI) within CA AutoSys WA enables management of batch processes, and integration of processes for custom applications or any other third-party packaged application – this positions the solution as a single platform for management of enterprise workloads.

CA has a stated vision, branded Enterprise IT Management (EITM), of unifying and simplifying all aspects of organisational IT management, and which extends to this solution in integration with CA Service Desk. Help desk tickets can be automatically generated by CA AutoSys WA in the event of failure, or raised manually using a Service Desk interface which is available as a configurable option.

The solution can also integrate with Unicenter NSM (via the Unicenter Notification client library), sending notifications in the form of messages regarding the success or failure of a job. SNMP traps generated within

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CA AutoSys WA can provide similar notification to third-party systems management tools such as IBM Tivoli, and HP OpenView.

To facilitate service improvement, CA AutoSys WA provides logical pooling of multiple production servers and can dynamically allocate workloads to the resource pool with most available resources. Also, JAWS Workload Service Manager (a component that can be integrated as an option) can provide real-time, business-level views of critical job streams, and can automatically compute critical paths for job streams based on historical data, and combine real-time monitoring with historical Gantt charts to aid analysis.

Product Operation

Figure 2: Solution Architecture


The following components comprise the CA AutoSys WA solution:

• Event Server is the database within CA AutoSys WA, and serves as a repository for all events and system information as well as job, monitor and report definitions. The solution can be configured to run with dual event servers for resilience.

• Application Server is used to provide controlled access to information in the Event Server, using a request/response protocol. Its introduction changes the architecture of CA AutoSys WA to a three-

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tier model (i.e. client, server, and database). Application Server securely consolidates business logic at one point in the architecture, between applications and the Event Server.

• Scheduler (formerly called Event Processor), interprets and processes all events in the database. It runs as a UNIX process or a Windows service, and manages two scheduler sub-types (Active, and Shadow schedulers). Active Scheduler (alternatively titled Primary Scheduler) continually scans Event Server for events to be processed. Upon finding an event, the Scheduler verifies whether the event should trigger any job in the database, and if so instructs the appropriate Agent process to perform the actions (such as starting or stopping of jobs, checking for resources, monitoring existing jobs, or initiating corrective procedures). Shadow Scheduler can be configured to work in conjunction with the Active Scheduler, taking its place if Active Scheduler fails.

• An Agent (formerly called Remote Agent) is a UNIX process or a Windows service that performs tasks as directed by the scheduler – usually this is to start the command specified for a given job; send information to the Event Server during running, and completion; and subsequently terminate. Agents can store information if its transfer to Application Server is interrupted, retrying until communication is successful.

Figure 2 illustrates how all of the components discussed above interact between each other in an operational environment. Multiple instances of CA AutoSys WA can be operated across enterprise environments, if required. It is highly scalable and can support a very large number of agents per instance, and an equally large number of users per instance. The Scheduler, Event Server, and Application Server elements can be situated on multiple machines to handle increased workload. High availability and fault tolerance requirements can be accommodated by numerous configuration options such as synchronised databases.

Product Emphasis

The CA AutoSys WA offering is a core component of CA’s EITM vision, and its emphasis on ‘unifying and simplifying’ all aspects of IT management. It provides a single management interface (in WCC) for administrating automated management of distributed workloads across multiple platforms, an approach which promotes consistency, efficiency, and technical simplicity. All administrative tasks are performed through the same browser-based console, including role-based security policy definition, real-time performance monitoring of job streams from a business level perspective, and report generation using historical data. A number of planned future enhancements also demonstrate a strong inclination towards the emphasis CA places on “unifying” the management approach, within this solution’s scope and beyond – for example, leveraging the Management Database (MDB) to support dynamic work allocation across a grid, and providing a single Workload Automation Engine for distributed and mainframe computing environments. However, although Butler Group believes this is a very strong offering, integration improvements with mainframe and third-party scheduling (which CA already has planned) will close the small gaps there are, and provide further value.

DEPLOYMENT

CA AutoSys WA can be installed by a system administrator, or anyone with similar expertise and privileges. Typically, installation takes one or two days, including setting up Scheduler, Event Server, Agent, and WCC.

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Similar installation dialogues across Linux, Windows, and UNIX platforms simplify the installation process. Scheduler, Event Server, and at least one agent have to be deployed at the same time – subsequently, additional agents can be deployed when required. Generally, components can be deployed independently, other than the necessity for WCC to be supported by Event Server – overall the solution is modular in design.

Customers using CA AutoSys WA must also have deployed components from CA Common Services, including the Embedded Entitlements Manager for enforcing role-based user access rights and security privileges, and both CA Portal and CA Workflow as a foundation for WCC. Integration with legacy implementations of previous releases is facilitated by Scheduler being backward-compatible with agents from earlier versions of CA AutoSys WA, and WCC is similarly compatible with older software versions.

Once deployed, the maintenance overhead for CA AutoSys WA is minimal except in the creation of new job flows which is usually performed by the scheduling administrators, or the application development team, or both. Routine tasks related to server and database maintenance require little or (in some cases) no management overhead due to the solution’s capability to automate these tasks. Resource savings resulting from automation vary depending on the size and complexity of the organisation’s infrastructure environment, and therefore the levels of manual support prior to automation.

Extensive operating system platform coverage is a strength, with CA AutoSys WA offering support for Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2003 Server, Windows XP SP2 Professional (Agent/Client only), Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SuSE Linux Enterprise Server, AIX, HP-UX, SunOS, z/Linux, OpenVMS, OS/400 (Universal Job Management Agent) V5R1-V5R4, and Tandem NSK (Universal Job Management Agent). Supported databases include Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or 2005; Oracle 9i, or 10g; and Sybase 12.5.2, or 15.0.

CA offers training courses for new and advanced users that cover installation/deployment, security implementation, reporting, and advanced tips and tricks. This can be delivered either via a classroom-based instructor-led approach, or using Web-based resources (either self-paced, or with an instructor). Support is available via telephone, or through the CA SupportConnect Web site – with both means, CA offers Level-1 and Level-2 support for all issues raised.

The basic components that are required in any CA AutoSys WA environment are CA AutoSys Workload Automation Manager, and at least one CA AutoSys Workload Agent. WA Manager incorporates components like scheduling server, event server, application server, and enterprise reporting server, pre-defined reports, enterprise security management server, process workflow manager, Java/C++/Web Services Software Development Kit, Workload Management Interfaces, Command Line Interface utilities, and High Availability Environment (shadow server/agent). Optional licensable components include CA AutoSys Workload Automation Remote Agent, CA Workload Automation Business Adapters for SAP/PeopleSoft/Oracle Applications, CA Job Visualization (for job modelling, design, and analysis), CA AutoSys Connect Option (for integration with CA and 3rd-party mainframe schedulers), and CA JAWS Workload Service Manager.

PRODUCT STRATEGY

The solution is applicable to any industry sector, and there have already been successful deployments within organisations in the manufacturing, financial services and banking, retail, health care, education, and government sectors. CA states that the solution has a notable installed base in the financial services sector, with deployments within some of the largest institutions in the world. The ideal target market is organisations that have 2,000 employees or more. The Return On Investment (ROI) for this solution is largely a factor of the

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size and complexity of the IT infrastructure, and is achieved in the form of increased productivity of IT resources (human, and machine) due to automation, as well as better application availability. CA claims 30%-50% cost savings or efficiency gains in some areas where benefits arise from WA.

Sales are primarily made direct though CA’s sales teams, although the company also has partnerships with global and regional Systems Integrators (SIs) that sell the solution along with value-added services. These partnerships include EDS, Accenture, CSC, IBM, and HP. Mid-market customers are catered for by CA’s channel distributors. CA has also formed technology partnerships with Sun MicroSystems, Business Objects, Terma Software Labs, SAP, Oracle (PeopleSoft software), and IBM

The license for CA AutoSys WA can be procured either on a subscription or perpetual basis –.80% of the initial fee is the licence cost while 20% is for support, maintenance, and enhancements (the same rate that covers annual maintenance and support costs subsequent to the first year). There is no typical proportion of licensing costs to services costs during WA deployments. Some smaller scale implementations do not warrant the extra commitment to services provided by CA, while large-scale deployments benefit more from services (which can vary from around 10% to 20% of the licence costs, depending on the complexity of implementation) and also training. Accounting for all of this, CA states that typical implementation costs vary from US$60,000 to US$100,000 – however, Butler Group believes that this range would reflect only a small-scale implementation in which few integrations were needed, and that organisations wishing to use the extensive facilities afforded by CA AutoSys WA should expect to incur significantly higher costs.

The development of AutoSys WA has benefitted from CA’s acquisition of Cybermation, an enterprise-class workload automation software provider, in May 2006. With this acquisition, CA added to its portfolio Cybermation’s mSeries management solution for mainframe-based workloads, and the dSeries solution set (a workload automation solution for medium-sized distributed environments, which CA also OEMd prior to the acquisition). CA continues to offer the dSeries solution as ‘CA dSeries’ and plans to integrate some of its key functionality in the AutoSys WA offering, eventually consolidating towards a single ‘engine’ for workload automation on all distributed environment types. The company’s release strategy involves a new product version every 18 to 24 months with service pack releases in between to address minor features and bug fixes.

In Butler Group’s opinion, the Cybermation acquisition has enabled CA to devise a more comprehensive approach to workload automation, which is planned eventually to extend across both mainframe and distributed environments – it has also enabled CA to address mid-sized customers, a market segment that has been poorly served with solutions of this type. The Cybermation products enable CA to adopt standardised agent architecture and other feature enhancements, and also to shorten considerably the planned development cycle, while improving its scope, which now incorporates some highly advanced features and capabilities in future releases.

CA is gradually building further integration between its workload automation capabilities, and broader capabilities within products, to ensure that CA AutoSys WA is positioned as a leading solution for business service automation. It saw the first phase as foundational – the introduction of a common management platform with role-based management and administration, and business process-oriented monitoring of workloads across multiple platforms. Its subsequent phase (corresponding to this release of CA AutoSys WA) has added support for Web services integration, dynamic workload placement, virtualisation support, SLA-based monitoring, and support for Java EE job types. The next release, planned early in 2009, will

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incorporate standardised agent architecture, further integrate CA dSeries features within the broader workload automation products, and bring together AutoSys WA and CA ESP (managing mainframe workloads) from both a management perspective, and in the context of shared agent architecture.

Subsequently, CA plans development of a single mainframe automation engine and a single distributed engine with capabilities for concurrent job processing, conditional schedules and multi destination job submission. This phase would also see CA ESP agents as universal agents for all automation tasks (i.e. system-, application-, and database-related). The final phase currently planned includes grid-enabled workload placement, and features such as cross-platform SLA management for workload automation, and a common scheduling language.

COMPANY PROFILE

CA, Inc. (NYSE:CA), positions itself as one of the world’s largest management software providers. CA software and expertise unify and simplify complex IT environments – in a secure way – across the enterprise for greater business results. CA calls this Enterprise IT Management (EITM™) – a clear vision for the future of IT. It’s how an enterprise can manage systems, networks, security, storage, applications and databases securely and dynamically. Founded in 1976, CA is headquartered in Islandia, N.Y., has 14,500 employees, operates in more than 150 offices in 45 countries, and has achieved ISO 9001:2000 certification.

Revenues and operating income for the last three fiscal years were as follows:

Table 1: Financial Details

Year ending 31 March 2008 (pre-audit) 2007 2006Revenue (US$ Million) 4,277 3,943 3,772Change on Previous Year (%) 8 5 5Total Net Income/(Loss) (US$ Million) 500 121 160 Source: CA D A T A M O N I T O R

CA has a stated policy to enhance and protect its clients’ IT investments by integrating a wide range of systems in heterogeneous environments. To maintain this stance it has a wide range of partnerships with technology vendors, systems integrators, and IT consultancies.

CA currently serves 99% of the Fortune 1000 companies across every major industry worldwide.

SUMMARY

CA has a clear vision of how it can help customers towards achieving greater efficiencies, and real benefits, in the areas of batch job scheduling and management. The company has demonstrated commitment to achieving a strong portfolio in this area, with its key acquisition of Cybermation’s products, which broaden and deepen the range of capabilities that CA can offer. In Butler Group’s opinion, CA has a well-defined product roadmap that capitalises well on the potential of its range of solution elements – however, much-needed

TECHNOLOGY AUDIT


© Butler Group. This Technology Audit is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied Page 9 age 9

integration between different acquired products is further in the future in CA’s plans than we believe customers would prefer. Nevertheless, customers of CA AutoSys WA will be well placed in future to benefit from CA’s intention to ‘service-enable’ workload management and, along with an extensive range of strong features, this is proof of CA’s credentials as one of the market leaders in the job scheduling and management market. We believe CA AutoSys WA to be a strong solution, capable of responding to customers’ dynamic business needs.

integration between different acquired products is further in the future in CA’s plans than we believe customers would prefer. Nevertheless, customers of CA AutoSys WA will be well placed in future to benefit from CA’s intention to ‘service-enable’ workload management and, along with an extensive range of strong features, this is proof of CA’s credentials as one of the market leaders in the job scheduling and management market. We believe CA AutoSys WA to be a strong solution, capable of responding to customers’ dynamic business needs.

Table 2: Contact Details

CA Inc. World Headquarters One CA Plaza Islandia NY 11749 USA Tel: +1 (800) 225 5224 Fax: +1 (631) 342 6800 www.ca.com

CA Inc. EMEA Headquarters, Ditton Park Riding Court Road Datchet, Slough Berkshire, SL3 9LL UK Tel: +44 (0)1753 577733 Fax: +44 (0)1753 825464


Headquarters Europa House, 184 Ferensway, Hull, East Yorkshire, HU1 3UT, UK Tel: +44 (0)1482 586149

Butler Direct Pty Ltd. Level 46, Citigroup Building, 2 Park Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia Tel: + 61 (02) 8705 6960 Fax: + 61 (02) 8705 6961

Butler Group 245 Fifth Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10016, USA Tel: +1 212 652 5302 Fax: +1 212 202 4684

Important Notice

This report contains data and information up-to-date and correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of preparation. The data and information comes from a variety of sources outside our direct control, therefore Butler Direct Limited cannot give any guarantees relating to the content of this report. Ultimate responsibility for all interpretations of, and use of, data, information and commentary in this report remains with you. Butler Direct Limited will not be liable for any interpretations or decisions made by you.

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Documents

CA-Autosys Workload Automation