Working with Machines in AutoSys

How to Define, Configure, and Manage Machines for Job Scheduling

In AutoSys, jobs don’t run in a vacuum — they must run on machines configured within the AutoSys environment. Before scheduling any jobs to execute, you first define the machines where those jobs will run. This foundational step ensures that AutoSys knows where jobs can execute and how to interact with those machines.

What Are Machines in AutoSys?

In AutoSys terminology, a machine refers to a server where jobs can execute. Machines must be defined in the AutoSys database before jobs can be scheduled to run on them. There are three main types of machines you can work with:

1. Real Machines

A real machine is an actual physical or virtual server that meets these conditions:

It must be reachable on the network.
It must have an AutoSys agent (such as Workload Automation Agent) installed.
It must be defined in AutoSys using JIL.

Only then can AutoSys run jobs on it.

2. Virtual Machines

A virtual machine (VM) in AutoSys isn’t a separate physical system — instead, it’s a logical grouping of one or more real machines. By submitting jobs to a virtual machine:

You can centralize resource management across multiple physical machines.
AutoSys can distribute workload using policies like load balancing and queuing.

Recent AutoSys releases even support mixed OS virtual machines — so a virtual machine can contain both UNIX and Windows machines.

3. Real Machine Pools

A real machine pool is similar to a virtual machine but is specifically used for integration with tools like CA Automation Suite for Data Centers for advanced load distribution and resource management. When jobs reference a machine pool, the suite assigns the exact machine on which the job should run.

The Special `localhost` Machine

AutoSys has a reserved machine name: localhost. By default, it refers to the server where the AutoSys scheduler is installed. If your setup uses machine: localhost in a job definition, AutoSys resolves which actual machine should run the job based on your configuration settings.

It’s important to create a machine definition in the AutoSys database for the machine that localhost resolves to — otherwise jobs defined with machine: localhost may fail.

Defining Machines in AutoSys

To schedule jobs on a machine, it must first be defined in the AutoSys database using JIL (Job Information Language). Here’s how you do that:

Example Structure of a Machine Definition


insert_machine: eagle
type: a
node_name: myagenthostname
opsys: linux
agent_name: WA_AGENT
max_load: 100
factor: 1.0

Key parameters explained:

insert_machine – Unique identifier for the machine.
type – Type of machine (e.g., a is an AutoSys agent).
node_name – Hostname or IP address.
opsys – Operating system type (like linux, windows, solaris).
agent_name – Name of the installed AutoSys agent.
max_load / factor – Resource thresholds used when AutoSys balances workloads across machines.

Managing Machines

Deleting Machines

To remove a machine from AutoSys using JIL:


delete_machine: jaguar
remove_references: y

remove_references: y removes the machine from any virtual machine or pool definitions — ensuring it can be deleted cleanly.

Machine Pools and Virtual Machines

Whether you’re deleting a real machine, a virtual machine, or a pool, AutoSys provides JIL subcommands to manage those definitions safely and efficiently — making sure that job references and machine hierarchies are honored.

Control Load and Processing Power

AutoSys allows you to assign load units and processing power factors to machine definitions, which helps the scheduler make decisions about where jobs should run:

max_load – Indicates how much workload (in arbitrary units) a machine can handle.
job_load – Defined in the job itself to show how much resource it will use.
factor – Indicates the relative processing strength of a machine — the higher the factor, the more powerful the machine.

These settings help AutoSys balance jobs across multiple machines intelligently.

Machine Status

Machines report their runtime status to the scheduler so AutoSys knows whether a machine can run jobs right now. Possible machine statuses are:

Online – Available for jobs to run.
Offline – Manually taken out of service.
Missing – Not responding, so AutoSys won’t dispatch jobs to it.
Unqualified – Being assessed or initializing.

If a machine is offline or missing, jobs will go into a pending state until the machine becomes available.

Conclusion

Machines are the foundation of AutoSys job execution. Whether physical servers, logical clusters, virtual groupings, or pools, defining and managing machines effectively ensures that your workflows run reliably and efficiently across your infrastructure. With proper machine definitions in place, AutoSys can balance loads, respect resource limits, and schedule jobs intelligently — making automation work at enterprise scale.

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Friday, 27 February 2026