BMC Control – M Workload Automation Interview Questions
| Question |
| Explain about BMC Control-M Workload Automation |
| Answer |
| Control M Workload Automation is a solution to batch processing production control requirements, which lets you automate the scheduling of batch flows, and lets you monitor the processing of your batch flows. With Control-M you can schedule Shell Scripts, Batch Scripts, SAP BO Reports, File Transfer Jobs etc. |
| Question |
| List the features of BMC Control-M Workload Automation? |
| Answer |
| It can automate the below: 1. Shell scripts 2.SAP BO Reports 3.Informatica Jobs 4.File transfer 5. Batch Scripts 6. Database Scripts 7. Java Jobs 8. VM Jobs |
| Question |
| Through Control-M is it possible to do FTP with SSH Key. |
| Answer |
| Yes it can be done. For that you can go to Configuration manager, right click on the file transfer account and click on “Generate ssh key”. Remember to save the generated public key. You need to activate authentication on the destination server using this public key. |
| Question |
| Suppose I’m scheduling an AFT job. Let’s say I have to transfer file from Windows Server A to B. Configuring the account details in Control-M/EM server only. How Port #21 be opened? A. From Server A and B to Control-M/EM server B. From Server A to Server B |
| Answer |
| Port should be opened Control-M EM to both source & destination servers. |
| Question |
| What are the different methots to achieve high availability. |
| Answer |
| You can do this with one of the below methods: Control-M server mirroring databases Control-M with active/passive (high availability) clusters Control-M with active/passive (high availability) clusters |
| Question |
| Do port #21 to be opened between the Agent servers? |
| Answer |
| I don’t think it is required, are you facing any issue? Once the port is open between Control-M/EM it should work. |
| Question |
| Utility “ctmstvar” is used for what purpose. |
| Answer |
| The ctmstvar utility displays the current value of a variable or function. |
| Question |
| What is the need of this tool in Telcom & banking industry? |
| Answer |
| This is an automation tool which helps to automate different types of jobs eg. SAP BO Reports, Shell Script Jobs, Informatica Jobs, etc. Due to this automation lots of manual work becomes less and chance of error is also less. |
| Question |
| What are the different paramenters for configuring LADP. |
| Answer |
| 1. LDAP Directory Server Type 2. LDAP Directory Search User 3. LDAP Directory Search Password 4. Transmission Protocol 5. Server Host Name & Port 6.LDAP Directory Search Base |
| Question |
| Can we generate mail & sms alert? |
| Answer |
| Yes you can do by going to properties of a job and then define it under Action Tab |
| Question |
| Can we transfer file from one server to another? |
| Answer |
| Yes you can do through FTP |
| Question |
| How is the file flow in AFT? “I just wanted to understand the file flow. Is it from Server A to the server where the account is configured to Server B. Or directly from server A to Server B. When we get a new request for file transfer” |
| Answer |
| Please follow the below details in case you have firewall in your environment: Configuring an FTP firewall in active and passive mode Control-M for AFT supports both the Active Data Transfer Process, and the Passive Data Transfer Process, enabling it to work behind a firewall and connect to remote FTP servers. The FTP mode is defined in the Connection Profile utility, when you define the connection definition. This procedure describes how to configure an FTP firewall in active and passive mode. To configure an FTP firewall in active and passive mode: 1.Open the following communication channels in the FTP server firewall:FTP server’s port 21 from anywhere (Client Connects the Server)FTP server’s port 21 to ports greater than 1023 (Server responds to client’s control port)FTP server’s port 20 to ports greater than 1023 (Server initiates data connection to client’s data port)FTP server’s port 20 from ports greater than 1023 (Client sends ACKs to server’s data port) Active mode can be problematic for FTP clients behind a firewall because the FTP client does not initiate the connection to the data port of the server; rather the server connects to the client port as defined in the PORT command. Usually an outside system initiating a connection to the client is blocked by the client firewall. The FTP Passive Data Transfer mode was developed to resolve this issue. In Passive mode, the following sequence of events occurs: 1.The client initiates both connections to the server, by first connecting to Server command port 21. 2.The client then issues the PASV command, (which requests that the Server open a random unprivileged port for the data port, and sends the PORT command to the client). 3.The client then connects to the data Server port as specified in the PORT command. 2.Open the following communication channels in the FTP server firewall, to support Passive mode FTP: FTP server’s port 21 from anywhere (Client connects the server) FTP server’s port 21 to ports greater than 1023 (Server responds to client’s control port) FTP server’s ports greater than 1023 from anywhere (Client initiates data connection to random port specified by server)FTP server’s ports greater than 1023 to remote ports greater than 1023 (Server sends ACKs (and data) to client’s data port) Problems can occur if an FTP server is behind a firewall, when FTP clients try to use passive mode to connect to a temporary random port number on the FTP server machine. The most common of these is that the firewall blocks the connection from the client to the server. When a restrictive firewall (one that denies a connection except for a few well known ports) exists on both the server and client sides, you should configure the firewall on the server side.Many FTP servers allow the administrator to specify a range of ports for the FTP server to use. The administrator can then limit the port range for the FTP server, and the firewall can then be configured to allow connection for the specified FTP server port range. |
| Question |
| Is it possible to run jobs on same agent through different Servers. |
| Answer |
| yes through different Control-M Servers. |
| Question |
| Is it possible to transfer file with out opening FTP port on Servers, In Control-M/EM 8.0 |
| Answer |
| No |
| Question |
| We have Postgre SQL as Control-M database. Is there any direct way to access the database, without using the ctm_menu? |
| Answer |
| Yes, You can use postgres Client to connect directly to the Control-M databases(ctm800,em800). |
