As part of Oracle Utilities Application Framework V4.3.0.2.0 and above, a new API has been released to allow customers and partners to schedule and execute Oracle Utilities jobs using the DBMS_SCHEDULER package (Oracle Scheduler) which is part of the Oracle Database (all editions). This API allows control and monitoring of product jobs within the Oracle Scheduler so that these can be managed individually or as part of a schedule and/or job chain.
Note: It is highly recommended that the Oracle Scheduler objects be housed in an Oracle Database 12c database for maximum efficiency.
This has a few advantages:
- Low Cost - The Oracle Scheduler is part of the Oracle Database license (all editions) so there is no additional license cost for existing instances.
- Simple but powerful - The Oracle Scheduler has simple concepts which makes it easy to implement but do not be fooled by its simplicity. It has optional advanced facilities to allow features like resource profiling and load balancing for enterprise wide scheduling and resource management.
- Local or Enterprise - There are many ways to implement Oracle Scheduler to allow it to just manage product jobs or become an enterprise wide scheduler. It supports remote job execution using the Oracle Scheduler Agent which can be enabled as part of the Oracle Client installation. One of the prerequisites of the Oracle Utilities product installation is the installation of the Oracle Client so this just adds the agent to the install. Once the agent is installed it is registered as a target with the Oracle Scheduler to execute jobs on that remote resource.
- Mix and Match - The Oracle Scheduler can execute a wide range of job types so that you can mix non-product jobs with product jobs in schedules and/or chains.
- Scheduling Engine is very flexible - The calendaring aspect of the scheduling engine is very flexible with overlaps supported as well as exclusions (for preventing jobs to run on public holidays for example).
- Multiple Management Interfaces - The Oracle Utilities products do not include a management interface for the Oracle Scheduler as there are numerous ways the Oracle Scheduler objects can be maintained including command line, Oracle SQL Developer and Oracle Enterprise Manager (base install no pack needed).
- Email Notification - Individual jobs can send status via email based upon specific conditions. The format of the email is now part of the job definition which means it can be customized far more easier.
Before using the Oracle Scheduler it is highly recommended that you read the Scheduler documentation provided with the database:
We have published a new whitepaper which outlines the API as well as some general advice on how to implement the Oracle Scheduler with Oracle Utilities products. It is available from My Oracle Support at Batch Scheduler Integration for Oracle Utilities Application Framework (Doc id: 2196486.1).