About Batch Servers

Batch servers provide the command needed to run the programs that have been submitted for scheduling. Several batch server types are supported, each of which provides the command to run a scheduled SAS job from a specific application in a specific environment. This command is included in the metadata definition for each server. The batch server's commands are independent of the type of scheduling server used.

Batch server metadata objects are components of the SAS Application Server (for example, SASApp), and can be created by using the Server Manager plug-in in SAS Management Console. Each batch server object includes the following attributes:

the network address of the associated machine
Note: This address is for documentation purposes only. The batch job executes on the machine that is specified in the scheduling server's metadata.
a command that runs in batch mode on the machine that is specified in the scheduling server's metadata

The following types of batch servers are supported:

SAS Java Batch server

is used for scheduling Java applications that are supplied by SAS and that are invoked and launched by the standard java.exe shell. This server definition is used for reports that are created by applications such as SAS Web Report Studio and campaigns created by SAS Marketing Automation. The subtype of the server specifies which Java application is invoked (for example, the report subtype runs outputgen, and the marketing automation subtype runs malauncher). Each SAS Java Batch server instance provides the command for a single application, so if you need to schedule jobs from multiple applications, you must configure a SAS Java Batch server for each application (for example, one server for SAS Web Report Studio and one for SAS Marketing Automation).

SAS DATA Step Batch server

is used for scheduling SAS programs that contain DATA step and procedure statements. These programs include jobs that are created in and deployed from SAS Data Integration Studio.

The metadata definition for a SAS DATA Step Batch Server must include a SAS start command that will run in batch mode.

SAS Generic Batch server

is used for scheduling jobs from Java-based SAS applications that are not specifically supported by the SAS Java Batch server types. If a SAS application adds support for scheduling jobs before a new type of SAS Java Batch server has been created, you can use the SAS generic batch server to provide a command to run jobs from the application.