Introduction
If an Agent should no longer be used, then it can be taken out of operation. This is a process that is not limited to deleting an Agent but requires taking a few steps for decommissioning the Agent.
The JS7 Controller keeps track of a consistent inventory of scheduling objects such as Workflows:
- If an Agent should be deleted that is assigned a Job in a deployed Workflow, then the Controller will deny deletion of the Agent as otherwise Workflows will become inconsistent.
- If Orders are submitted for a deployed Workflow, then the Controller will deny removal of the related Workflow as otherwise Orders will become inconsistent.
- An Agent can be deleted after no Workflows and no File Order Sources referencing the Agent are available with the Controller.
Taking a running Agent out of Operation
The operation to take an Agent out of operation includes to cleanup references to the Agent from deployed Workflows and File Order Sources.
- Cleanup is performed while the Agent is running and is connected to the Controller.
- Deletion of the Agent from the Controller and optionally from the inventory is performed after cleanup.
Cleaning up Agent References
Agents can be deleted if they are not assigned to any Jobs in deployed Workflows and to any deployed File Order Sources.
How to identify Agent References
The Workflows view offers to filter Workflows by Agents:
- In the left panel the tree view offers the
(chevron down) icon at folder level that will display all Workflows of the current folder and of any sub-folders recursively in the right panel. - The right panel offers
- the Agents button that allows to select one or more Agents for filtering of Workflows displayed.
- the Order Filter button that allows to select the All option to display any orders for future start times assigned the Workflows displayed. The first line of the right panel displays related orders per state and offers JS7 - Orders - Bulk Operations.
How to bulk update Agent References
Users can apply the Search & Replace operation for Agent assignment at Workflow level that is available in the JS7 - Workflow Editor.
- When displaying the Workflow in the Inventory sub-view, the Search & Replace operation is offered from the right upper corner of the view.
- The operation allows to select one or more Agents that should be replaced.
- The operation expects an Agent to be selected that acts as a replacement.
Users can apply the JS7 - Inventory Search operation to replace Agent assignments across Workflows:
- Search for the return type: Workflows
- Open the Advanced search criteria and select the Agent that should be replaced across Workflows.
- Optionally specify one or more folders where to look up Workflows.
- Optionally specify that deployed/released objects only should be considered.
- Hit the Search button to get the list of resulting Workflows that reference the Agent.
The list of resulting Workflows can look like this:
- Select desired Workflows from the result list.
When hitting the Update Job button, a popup window will be displayed that allows to specify values that will be updated in all Jobs of selected Workflows:
- Select the Standalone Agent or Subagent Cluster that should act as a replacement.
- Consider that the checkbox right to the Agent selection has to be checked to activate the replacement.
How to deploy/revoke objects holding Agent References
Users first should check if Orders are assigned existing versions of Workflows and File Order Sources. Such orders should be completed or should be cancelled as they prevent deletion of current versions of Workflows and File Order Sources from the Controller.
Users can deploy changes to Agent references or can revoke related objects from the Controller:
- Agent references in Workflows and File Order Sources can be modified manually or by bulk operations explained above. Such changes to Workflows and File Order Sources have to be deployed to a Controller to make changes effective.
- As an alternative, users can revoke Workflows and File Order Sources from a Controller. The objects will be deleted from the Controller but will remain with the inventory in draft status.
Deleting/Revoking an Agent
Users find the following options in the Manage Controllers/Agents page:
- Each Agent's action menu offers the operation to delete and to revoke the Agent. A number of Agents can be selected for bulk operations to delete/revoke Agents.
- If the Agent is deleted, then it will be removed from the Controller and from the inventory.
- If the Agent is revoked, then it will be removed from the Controller and will remain in the inventory in undeployed status.
Taking an uninstalled Agent out of Operation
Users should avoid this scenarion and should take Agents out of operation while they are running.
If users first did uninstall an Agent that they want to delete from the inventory later on, then they can follow the instructions available from the JS7 - How to remove an Agent or an Order from the Journal article.
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