Distributed agents

A distributed agent is a computer running IBM Workload Scheduler on which you can schedule jobs from IBM® Z Workload Scheduler. Examples of distributed agents are the following: standard agents, extended agents, fault-tolerant agents, and domain managers.

The following is a description of the types of distributed agents:
Domain Manager
The management hub in a domain. All communications to and from the agents in a domain are routed through the domain manager.
Backup Domain Manager
A fault-tolerant agent or domain manager capable of assuming the responsibilities of its domain manager for automatic workload recovery.
Dynamic workload broker
It is installed on the domain manager and performs the job management and resource management activities. It always presides over the dynamic scheduling.
Fault-tolerant Agent (FTA)
A workstation capable of resolving local dependencies and launching its jobs in the absence of a domain manager.
Standard Agent
A workstation that launches jobs only under the direction of its domain manager.
Extended Agent
A logical workstation definition that helps you launch and control jobs on other systems and applications, such as PeopleSoft, SAP, and z/OS® JES2 and JES3.
z-centric Agent
A workstation that runs jobs scheduled from IBM Z Workload Scheduler. The controller directly handles the communication with this type of agent.
Pool
Pools are groups in which you add specific dynamic agent workstations according to the requirements of the job. Jobs are assigned dynamically to the best available dynamic agent applying a load balancing policy by choosing the agent with the lesser amount of jobs to run.
Dynamic pool
Dynamic pools are groups in which you specify the requirements and jobs are assigned dynamically to the best available dynamic agent meeting the requirements and applying an optimization policy to identify the best agent.

Distributed agents replace tracker agents in IBM Z Workload Scheduler. The distributed agents help you schedule on non-z/OS systems with a more reliable and scalable agent.

In the IBM Z Workload Scheduler plan, the logical representation of a distributed agent is called a fault-tolerant workstation or a z-centric workstation.