Stonebranch Reviews

Centralized scheduling and file transfers running on a couple of hundred agents (Windows/Unix/Linux).

• We migrated multiple scheduling applications to UAC for less costs and more efficient management.
• Scripting is also centralized in one library.
• UAC has a lot of scheduling options for various tasks.

• The possibility to connect multiple tasks in a workflow across domains and operating systems.
• Also the UDM file transfers and the possibilities which can be achieved with UDM scripting.
• The GUI is also easy to operate and does not need installation since it is web-based.

• Virtual resource priorities could be better.
• Maybe in the future, the use of queues.
• Promoting objects to multiple environments at once.

Stability of UAC is good. When problems do arise, they can be quickly solved most times, so downtime is minimal. We are running a high-availability environment.

Its processes are easily scalable.

Throughout the years we have been working with UAC, the experience we have had with support has been very good. Technical know-how is great and also second line support is very helpful.

We used: 

• IBM Tivoli Workload Scheduler
• Redwood CPS for scheduling SAP tasks
• Redwood Cronacle
• Opalis, also
• AT scheduling on Windows, and
• Crontab scheduling. 

We switched to UAC because we did not want all the other schedulers and corresponding teams. It is also more cost-efficient.

Since we do have many security rules in our company, we needed to use some external scripting for setting permissions, etc. Without these, installing is a breeze.

We hired an external business consultant who helped us with the installation. Also had a small vendor team (one person) to help us migrate one scheduling application to UAC.

No clue.

Choose an enterprise license to have unlimited agents, tasks, etc.

We did look at UC4 (Automic Software), but after evaluation, UAC had more to offer.

No additional comments.

Using Universal Agent as a distributed agent (like extended agents), managed with IBM Workload Scheduler for z/OS.

It runs unbelievably good because when we installed it, it ran perfectly. It is really stable and just needs minimal maintenance.

• Runs without problems 
• The joblog (STDERR, STDOUT) is spooled online to z/OS, so it is easy for the z/OS user to manage a distributed job.

• Run in Unix and Windows environments
  

Additional features:

• Migration tool for encrypted username/password to use the new Keystore feature
• UDM third-party file transfer
• Enable proxy certificates for IBM System SSL.

We are currently converting a segment of our distributed batch scheduling requirements from another vendor. The new model will give each application the ability to build, maintain and monitor their own batch flows.

This product will allow us a safer HA environment both in production as well as development /preproduction.

The bundling promotion feature will greatly save time and improve implementation by reducing the manual intervention required to move workflows from our test/staging environment.

• The API's need to fully meet the capabilities of the user interface.
• Better support of workload balancers (F5).

We had a number of schedulers over the years, leading the conversion discussion is usually surrounding vendor support as well as reliability issues.

We evaluated seven products and brought in three for proof of concept.

Universal Agent is used as a distributed scheduling agent with IBM Workload Scheduler for z/OS. It's used in different environments (development, production) for scheduling jobs on open systems.

Universal Agent and its infrastructure make it very easy to schedule jobs on every system using one scheduler.

• Universal Agent runs very stable and just needs very less maintenance. 
• The easy-to-use interface gives access to the shell environment of the target system.

• A migration tool for encrypted username/password to use the new keystore feature.
• Enabling proxy certificates for IBM's System SSL would be great.

It runs very stable.

It is easy to scale the environment by adding new clients to the server pool. However, you have to do some manual work.

In most cases, the customer service replies in less than one working day.

Setting it up for your environment and security concepts needs advanced knowledge about the basics.

Scheduling Linux and Windows tasks from a 3rd party scheduler running on IBM z System. Integrating mainframe workload with distributed ones.

Provided us with a central overview of our Linux and Windows agents and the ability to monitor the exact software-versions of the installed agents.

Agent overview with clustering, monitoring and filtering the different operating systems and/or software versions.

Dealing with customer requirements and enhancements. The process now is a little bit non-transparent. 

The product is very stable. When problems occurred, they were due to the environment and not the product itself.

Can be scaled.

Customer service and technical support are very good and have quick reaction times. 

Initial setup is straightforward but finding the optimal settings is not always trivial.

IBM zCentric

We use UAC on a daily basis to serve our internal customers. My team uses UAC to create workflows based on business requirements, creating patching campaigns and provide support. 

It provides good automation capabilities, our company decided that UAC will be a group standard. It provides great value to our business. 

From a Product Owner perspective, I can say that for me, the most valuable features are: web interface, business services allowing to segregate users, reporting capabilities. 

In my opinion, training materials and FAQ/support should be improved. For people who start using UAC in a DevOps model, it's hard to understand configuration and how UAC works, how to create workflows, etc. More online classes or tutorials. 

Yes, it happens from time to time that UAC is not available, we work with the Stonebranch support team when it happens, it's not 100% bulletproof. 

Good, but response time should be improved. We had to chase the support team several times after P1 to get RCA.

No.

I wasn't part of the team when setup was done.

We are scheduling applications and tasks for our internal customers.

My peers are often contacting the Stonebranch Universal Automation Center to get some help and they often get necessary feedback.

Most valuable option is creating tasks and triggering them on scheduled time. It is so helpful that tasks can be added to Workflows and many dependencies can be created between those tasks. 

In my opinion, scheduler sometimes is getting turned off due to causes that Opswise was not predicted.

Sometimes it fails.

No, I did not use any other schedulers. 

Automate batch processing jobs that used to run on cron and had very ambiguous logging. It really helped us automated many manual jobs as well that were time-consuming and tedious.

UAC has improved our organization by exposing many dependencies between our batch jobs that would not be visible before. This helped us improve our job scheduling by managing dependencies and better scheduling of jobs.

Workflow editor and the ability to visually see how a particular job or set or jobs will run together, when and under what conditions. 

REST API can be improved by exposing more information about running instances. For example, the failed error message of a Stored procedure task cannot be seen through the API. Other features that would be helpful is to dynamically insert new tasks to be run at run time when certain conditions are met. Currently, that's possible with a web service task but only one task can be inserted at a time for one instance which is limiting possibilities.

No issues.

No issues.

We always get great service and support from all of the staff. Lisa has been one of the main contacts and helpful support representatives that has helped us through the years. Thank you Lisa!

No.

I was not part of the initial setup of the system so I'm unfamiliar.

I was not part of the decision process of picking a solution.

Keep up the great work and awesome support!