Using the Export or Import Transporter Interface

This section describes how to perform export and import operations using the Transporter user interface.

Alternatively, all of these operations can also be performed using the command line interface as described in Using the Export or Import Command Line Interface.

Note: If you want validate a job or job group or calendar import prior to performing the actual import, use the command line interface.

About the Transporter Export Import Mode

The Transporter user interface typically displays the “transporter mode” user interface that supports transporting TA objects from one active TA system directly to another active TA system. The Transporter user interface also provides an “export import mode” which is accessed via the Options menu. This interface provides options to export and import TA objects (jobs, job groups, calendars, and their artifacts) between an active TA system and the file system.

To use the Export Import Mode, click the Options menu to view the export import functionality.

Note: The same export import functionality provided in the Transporter interface is also provided in the Export Import command line interface. You can use the Transporter user interface described in the sections instead of, or in combination with, the command line interface described in Using the Export Import Command Line Interface.

Note: When the IGNOREJOBDEPEXPORTIMPORT parameter is set to true in the transporter.props file, the Transporter export function will export only direct predecessor jobs. The Export log will have details of the exported job group.

Exporting Jobs, Job Groups, and Calendars

You can export jobs and job groups or calendars and their related artifacts from an active TA system to your file system. This section describes how to export these objects using the Transporter user interface.

To export jobs, job groups or calendars using the Transporter interface:

  1. Open Export > Export Jobs or Export Calendars from the Transporter Options menu.

    Note: Now there is an Export button, and the Destination side of the panel has a Browse button.

  2. Choose the Source TA system from the drop-down list.

  1. Click Browse on the Destination side of the panel and choose the export directory (or create a new directory).

  1. Click Connect.

  1. Click Read Data.

  1. Optionally, you can:

    • Click Configure to configure how the TA objects are exported. For example, you can choose to include or exclude duplicates, include parent or child objects, export business views, export indirectly related artifacts, and so on.

    • Click Filter to filter the list of TA objects displayed using the standard Transporter filter dialog.

    • Enter text in the Search field above the table and click Find to locate a particular object.

  1. Navigate to the list of Jobs, Groups or Calendars, choose the boxes next to the TA objects that you want to export.

    Note: You can right-click and use the menu to help in your selection process.

  1. Click Export. When the export is successful, Transporter displays the Job Export Completed dialog.

  1. Click OK.

You can verify that the jobs, groups, calendars, and their artifacts are exported by navigating to the specified export directory. All TA objects are exported as XML files. The \static directory contains static artifacts, see Static Artifacts. An export.log text file is also included, see Log File for Export Operations.

Importing Jobs, Job Groups, and Calendars

You can import jobs, job groups, or calendars and their related artifacts from an export directory in your file system to an active TA system. You must have already exported the objects to the file system. This section describes how to import these objects using the Transporter user interface.

Note: As with Transporter mode, how the export import functionality works can be configured using the configuration options as described in “Configuring Transporter Options” section of the Tidal Automation Transporter User Guide.

To import jobs, job groups or calendars using the Transporter interface:

  1. Click Import > Import Jobs or Import Calendars on the Transporter Options menu.

    Note: Now there is an Import button, and the Source side of the panel has a Browse button.

  2. Click Browse on the Source side of the panel and choose the directory that contains the TA objects you want to import.

  3. Choose the Destination TA system from the drop-down list.

  1. Click Connect.

  1. Click Read Data.

  1. Optionally, you can:

    1. Click Configure to configure how the TA objects are imported. You can:

      • Choose to include or exclude duplicates, include parent or child objects, import business views, and so on.

      • Check the Import Override option on the Job Import Options tab to force update of the relationships with referenced artifacts in the destination during import. Unchecked, the relationships with referenced artifacts are not updated during an import and only the job is updated in the destination. This option has the same effect as the -O option used in the importjob command.

      • Check the Export indirectly related artifacts option on the Job Export Options tab to export indirectly related artifacts. Using this option causes the export of additional artifacts that are not directly related to the exported jobs.

    2. Click Filter to filter the list of TA objects displayed using the standard Transporter filter dialog.

    3. Click Mappings to define the mappings of the imported TA objects.

    4. Enter text in the Search field above the table and click Find to locate a particular object.

  1. Navigate to the list of Jobs, Groups or Calendars, choose the boxes next to the TA objects that you want to import.

    Note: You can right-click and use the menu to help in your selection process.

  2. Click Import.

    The Transporter displays the Processing dialog. Any tabs with conflicts are displayed in blue type, and a blue arrow indicates the field or mapping that needs resolution.

    Note: If there are mapping or other issues, resolve them in the Processing dialog.

  1. Click Accept or Accept All. When the import is successful, Transporter displays the Job Transport dialog that tells the number of jobs successfully copied.

  2. Click OK.

  3. Click Read Data to see the jobs, groups, calendars in the destination TA system.

Comparing Jobs, Job Groups, and Calendars

You can compare the jobs or job groups or calendars and their related artifacts in your export directory with the TA objects in an active TA system. You must have already exported the TA objects to the file system. The result of a compare operation is a report. This section describes how to compare jobs or job groups or calendars using the Transporter user interface.

To compare jobs or job groups or calendars using the Transporter interface:

  1. Click Compare > Compare Jobs or Compare Calendars on the Transporter Options menu.

    Note: Now there is an Compare button, and the Source side of the panel has a Browse button.

  2. Click Browse on the Source side of the panel and choose the directory that contains the TA objects you want to compare.

  3. Choose the Destination TA system from the drop-down list.

  1. Click Connect.

  1. Click Read Data.

  1. Optionally, you can:

    • Click Configure to configure how the TA objects are to be imported. For example, you can choose to include or exclude duplicates, include parent or child objects, import business views, and so on.

    • Click Filter to filter the list of jobs or job groups or calendars displayed using the standard Transporter filter dialog.

    • Click Mappings to define the mappings of the jobs or job groups or calendars.

    • Enter text in the Search field above the table and click Find to locate a particular job or job group or calendar.

  1. Navigate to the list of Jobs, Groups or Calendars, choose the boxes next to the jobs or job groups or calendars that you want to compare.

    Note: You can right-click and use the menu to help in your selection process.

  1. Click Compare Jobs or Compare Calendars. When the import is successful, Transporter displays the Job Transport dialog that shows the path and file name of the comparison report that was generated.

  2. Click OK. A report file named compareReport.txt is created one of these directories:

    • Windows: C:\Users\Administrator\.transporter\report\.

    • UNIX: /root/.transporter/report/

You can view the comparison report with a text editor.

To exclude certain fields during comparison process only for jobs and job groups:

The main objects available in the transporter.props file, support during the exclusion of certain fields in the comparison process:

  • [ACTION]

  • [BUSINESSVIEW]

  • [EVENT]

  • [JOB]

  • [JOBCLASS

  • [RESOURCE]

  • [VARIABLE]

You should enter the relevant field names under respective objects that has to be excluded during comparison process.

Note: You need to take backup of the existing tranporter.props file as the old file will be overridden with the new file. You can then change the same settings in the new transporter.props file.

The relevant property fields and value fields can be excluded during the comparison process. The field names of the individual objects must be similar to the tag names generated in the exported XML of relevant objects. The tag names are not case sensitive. The improper field names (misspelled names) are not excluded during comparison process. You can refer the exported XML of the relevant objects to enter the valid field name.

Note: The existing objects must not be edited or deleted to achieve dynamic exclusion of fields during comparison process. Only the field names can be added or deleted or edited.

Example: To exclude the field name <tes:command>ipconfig</tes:command>, enter command as tag name under [JOB] object. This field will be excluded from the compare report. Similar way, you can enter the corresponding tag names for the required fields of the relevant objects.

To exclude certain job relations during comparison process only for the jobs and jobs groups:

Enter the relevant field names as specified in this table:

Job Relations

Relevant Field Names

Actions

[JOBDEPENDENCY]

depjobname

Exclude comparison of dependent jobs.

[FILEDEPENDENCY]

filename

Exclude comparison of dependent files.

[VARIABLEDEPENDENCY]

variablename

Exclude comparison of dependent variables.

[JESDEPENDENCY]

jobname

Exclude comparison of dependent JES.

[EVENTJOBJOIN]

triggername

Exclude comparison of events associated with jobs.

[RESOURCEJOBJOIN]

resourcename

Exclude comparison of resources associated with jobs.

Note: The relevant field names must be maintained strictly to exclude the comparison of relations with jobs specifically for dependencies, events, and resources associated with job. Only the mentioned exclusion objects can be excluded.

You can also exclude the actions associated with events. The relevant field name for [EVENTACTIONJOIN] is actionname.

Creating a Delta Data Set

Creating a delta data set is the process of choosing two previously exported sets of objects, then creating a third delta directory that contains only the differences between the two exports. This section describes how to create a delta directory using the Transporter user interface.

To create a delta directory using the Transporter interface:

  1. Click Create Delta on the Transporter Options menu.

  1. Enter the requested information:

    • Version 1: Browse for an export directory that you previously created. See Exporting Jobs, Job Groups, and Calendars.

    • Version 2: Browse for an export directory that you previously created. The exported objects must be the same object type as the Version 1 objects.

    • Delta Directory: Browse for or create a new directory to contain the delta files. The delta directory must be empty.

  1. Click Create Delta. The Transporter confirms that the delta directory was created.

  1. Click OK.

    The /delta folder contains the delta information between the export repository version-1 and the export repository version-2. The /source folder contains the entire content of the source repository so that the context for the delta information can be maintained. The export.log file documents the creation date, export type, and TA version number.

Importing a Delta Data Set

You can import the job, job group or calendar objects from a delta directory that has been previously created to a TA system.

Note: A delta data set might show that an object has to be deleted. However importing such a delta data set does not result in deletion of an object in the destination machine. The import process only creates new objects or updates existing ones.

To import a delta directory using the Transporter interface:

  1. Click Delta Import > Delta Import Jobs or Delta Import Calendars on the Transporter Options menu.

  1. Enter the requested information:

    • Destination Machine: Select the TA system into which you want to import the delta objects. The TA system must be active.

    • Delta Directory: Browse for the delta directory that you previously created. See Creating a DeltaData Set.

    • Delta Map File: Optionally, specify a map file that you previously created and saved using the Transporter.

  1. Click Import Delta.

    The Transporter imports the delta data set in the specified delta directory into the Destination Machine.

Deleting Jobs, Job Groups, and Calendars

You can delete jobs, job groups and calendars from a TA system using the Transporter Export Import Options menu.

To delete jobs, job groups or calendars using the Transporter interface:

  1. Click Delete > Delete Jobs or Delete Calendars on the Transporter Options menu. Notice that now there is an Delete Jobs or Calendars button.

  1. Choose the Source TA system from the drop-down list.

  1. Click Connect.

  1. Click Read Data.

  1. Optionally, you can:

    • Click Filter to filter the list of objects displayed using the standard Transporter filter dialog.

    • Enter text in the Search field above the table and click Find to locate a particular object.

  1. Navigate to the list of Jobs, Groups or Calendars, choose the boxes next to the objects that you want to delete.

    Note: You can right-click and use the menu to help in your selection process.

  1. Click Delete Jobs or Delete Calendars.

  1. Type yes in the Input dialog to confirm the deletion. The Transporter confirms that the jobs or job groups or calendars were successfully deleted.

  1. Click OK.