Batch Scheduler Integration

The Oracle Database includes an enterprise wide scheduler to simplify the scheduling of background processes. The scheduler is implemented by the DBMS_SCHEDULER package. The product provides an integration with the Oracle Scheduler to facilitate scheduling background processes shipped with the product.

At a high level, the integration with the Oracle DBMS Scheduler supports the following entities:

DBMS Program. A program should be defined for each Batch Control that needs to be scheduled by the DBMS scheduler. A program would typically invoke a batch job, but it could be configured to set certain options instead.
DBMS Chain. A Chain defines a series of steps with dependency rules between them. A step references a program, with the program performing the actual work for that step. A rule is attached to each step to identify its dependent steps and the condition for when that step should be executed. For example, in a chain consisting of STEP_A and STEP_B, where STEP_B can only start if STEP_A was successful, the rule for STEP_B to start would specify a condition of "STEP_A SUCCEEDED".
DBMS Schedule. A predefined frequency for jobs that need to be run periodically, for example, nightly jobs.
DBMS Job. Defines a plan to perform a specific program or a chain periodically on a specific schedule or ad-hoc.

The product provides a set of business services to maintain these entities as well as submit jobs, manage submissions and report on past submissions. Refer to business services that start with the prefix "F1-DBMS" for more information.

Note: For details on the integration, refer to the Server Administration Guide which contains the API. In addition, refer to the technical reference paper Oracle Scheduler Integration that provides guidelines for using this integration.