Running automated utilities using maintenance windows

The Db2 Automation Expert Automation Console panels contain extended functionality to allow you to set up and control automated running of your utilities. Use the Automation Console panels to:

• Create and schedule the maintenance windows in which utilities are permitted to run.
• View the exceptions (also called symptoms) and utilities (also call actions) that are generated by a Db2 Automation Expert build.
• Review utility execution output run in the maintenance window.
• Evaluate your maintenance window workload.
• Fine-tune the maintenance workload by adjusting priorities for actions, symptoms, and objects, thereby ensuring your most important jobs are run first when the maintenance window opens.
• Configure Db2 Automation Expert to send notifications by email or text message when Db2 Automation Expert job profiles are built in batch.

Utility actions are generated when Db2 Automation Expert job profiles that are configured for active or passive action are built. From output of a job profile build, Db2 Automation Expert creates either active actions that are scheduled to be run when the assigned maintenance window opens, or passive actions that do not run when the maintenance window opens. For both active and passive actions, you can review the actions, objects, and symptoms that generated the actions on the Automation Console panels.

Both the Db2 Automation Expert utility JCL batch builds and builds that generate actions resolve wildcarded and dependent objects, gather object information, and evaluate exception criteria. However, instead of writing JCL, builds that generate actions update several Db2 Automation Expert repository tables, as follows:

• Utility actions on the objects are written to a Db2 Automation Expert actions table.
• Exception criteria that triggered the action is written to a Db2 Automation Expert symptoms table.

To allow the Db2 Automation Expert stored procedure to run the actions in the actions table, you must define a maintenance window and then schedule the maintenance window to run. A maintenance window is a specific time period that allows the actions to be run on your objects.

Once a maintenance window is associated with the job profile, when you build the job profile, the actions are generated from the build. After the associated maintenance window is scheduled and the time period that it is scheduled to run opens, the Db2 Automation Expert stored procedure retrieves actions from the table and starts running them, until it runs out of actions to perform or the maintenance window closes.

 AUTOXPRT V1R1 ------------ Automation Console ----------- 2023/10/05  14:14:51 
 Option  ===>                                                                   
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        Options: 1 - Object Prioritization           Db2 Subsystem ID: SS01     
                 2 - Maintenance Windows             Current SQLID . :          
                 3 - Execution History               Userid  . . . . : TWUSR    
                 4 - Actions                                                    
                 5 - Statistics Monitor Profiles     Configuration ID: DAJ      
                 6 - Symptom Registry Editor                                    
                 7 - Action Registry Editor                                     
                 8 - Action/Object/Symptom Priority                             
                 9 - Event Notifications