"Configuring high availability for System agents in AutoSys

Products

• Autosys Workload Automation
• Workload Automation Agent

Issue/Introduction

Users requiring high availability for WA Agents on systems often seek automatic failover.
While AutoSys does not natively support an automatic "identity takeover" between two independent agent installations, a robust high-availability solution can be achieved using Virtual Machine groupings.

• Need for agent redundancy during scheduler failover.
• Communication failures (e.g., CAUAJM_E_10229) when the secondary scheduler cannot reach the primary agent installation.

 

Environment

• Product: AutoSys Workload Automation 12.x and higher
• Component: Workload Automation Agent 

Cause

AutoSys does not support pairing two independent agents to automatically assume the same identity via an external load balancer.
This can lead to unreliable log retrieval and job "chase" failures.

Resolution

To configure high availability for System agents, use the following steps:

1. Network Prerequisite: Open port 7521 bidirectionally between the primary (####) and secondary (####) servers. Whichever scheduler is active must be able to reach the agent on both nodes.
2. Define Real Machines: Ensure each agent installation is defined as a unique Real Machine in AutoSys (e.g., Host1 and Host2).
3. Create a Virtual Machine: Define a Virtual Machine that groups both real machines together.
4. Update Jobs: Update job definitions to reference the Virtual Machine name instead of the individual real machine names.
5. Manual Failover Management:
   • Under normal conditions, force the secondary machine offline: sendevent -E MACH_OFFLINE -N Host2
   • During a scheduler failover, take the primary machine offline and bring the secondary online: sendevent -E MACH_OFFLINE -N Host1 sendevent -E MACH_ONLINE -N Host2

Additional Information

• See  Real and Virtual Machines for more details.
• To speak with a customer representative or a Support Engineer see Contact Support. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on your respective region.