Can you have your desired number of Workload Automation (WA) agent, server and console instances running whenever and wherever? Yes, you can!  
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Starting from the Workload Automation version 9.5 fix pack 2, you can deploy the server, console and dynamic agent by using Openshift 4.2 or later version platforms. This kind of deployment makes Workload Automation topology implementation 10x faster and 10x more scalable compared to the same deployment in the on-prem classical platform. ​

If you want to avoid a potential business disruption in your Workload Automation environment, you should leverage the Master/Backup Master configuration. But, what happens if the RDBMS connected to Workload Automation crashes? 
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In this article, we will describe how to manage both Workload Automation components and DB2 HADR to allow business continuity during a disaster event. ​

Nowadays, the global marketplace requires systems that can react to fluctuating loads and unpredictable failures, with the end-level agreement (SLA) goal of being available 99.999% of the time. Mitigating the negative impacts of failures, disasters and outages cannot even be contemplated in today’s competitive world. A disaster recovery strategy is too error-prone and resource-consuming: businesses need to operate following an “always on” model. ​

​HCL and IBM are pleased to announce a new release for Workload Automation, version 9.5.0.2, with enhancements that expand the innovations delivered with version 9.5 and enable the orchestration of new scenarios, particularly for datacenter automation.
 
A new website, the Automation Hub, has been launched to allow our customers to easily find all the integrations available to orchestrate their business-critical processes.

​Forewords: coping with a crisis 
It is with an intense sense of modesty that we are approaching this topic, since this article is written in the midst of the most severe crisis for humanity our generation ever faced. 

Consequently, writing about how an IT solution can help recovering from - and coping with - a planetary health emergency is not an easy task at all.

This Blog aims to showcase a Case Study on how Inventory Management can be managed through Workload Automation .A Company runs a production Plant where Inventory Management is to be Automated using Workload Scheduler. The Production Plant wants to be as close to Balanced plant as possible by reducing Inventory when in excess and increasing Inventory when low . ​

​Workload Automation (WA) simplifies and accelerates application delivery.
It automates and orchestrates application workflows across hybrid environments to satisfy SLAs and improve efficiency and productivity.

Forewords: is Automation the ultimate answer?

IT automation is nowadays pervading the market, especially in conjunction with virtualization. Hence, one may be tempted to consider those two initiatives as the magical solution to reduce IT costs.

​They may indeed, but let’s start with confirming and arguing few simple statements:

You can use the agent for z/OS  - aka D-Driven - to schedule work using IBM Workload Scheduler. You install and configure the agent for z/OS in the z/OS system and this work as any other dynamic agent. ​As soon as it is configured, the agent automatically links with the dynamic domain manager component of IBM Workload Scheduler through the HTTP or HTTPS protocols. With the agent for z/OS you can define jobs and schedules on IBM Workload Scheduler and submit a subset of the jobs to a z/OS system and you run the planning tasks on IBM Workload Scheduler while the execution is demanded to the z/OS system. 

Securing communications in the Workload Automation environment is an essential step to meet your company’s security requirements. Does Workload Automation use a secure communication mechanism? The answer is yes! All communication is implemented over SSL protocol TLSv1.2. Read this blog to find out how to implement security correctly in a v9.5 environment by customizing default certificates.