Understanding Control-M IN and OUT Conditions | Generated by AI

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Question: How do conditions work in Control-M, including what IN and OUT conditions are?

Answer:

In Control-M (a workload automation/scheduling tool from BMC), conditions (also called prerequisite conditions or events) are the primary way to create dependencies between jobs. They act as flags or signals in the system to control job execution order.

Core Concept

• A job will not run until all of its IN conditions are satisfied (i.e., they exist in the active environment).
• When a job completes (usually successfully), it can create or remove conditions via its OUT conditions.

IN Conditions (Prerequisites / “wait for”)

• These are the conditions a job requires before it can be submitted for execution.
• Defined in the job’s definition (Conditions tab or IN conditions section).
• A job waits in Wait Condition status if any IN condition is missing.
• Common format: JOB1-OK or DAILY-START-OK.
• Date handling: Often use ODAT (Original Scheduling Date) or specific dates like PREV, NEXT, or explicit YYMMDD.
• Special types:
  • Maybe conditions (prefixed with #- or similar in some versions) — optional dependencies; Control-M can “fake” them if the predecessor isn’t scheduled.
• Multiple IN conditions act as AND logic (all must be present).

OUT Conditions (Signals / “post”)

• These are the conditions a job adds or removes when it finishes.
• Defined with a sign:
  • + (ADD / plus sign): Adds/creates the condition (most common for signaling success).
  • - (DELETE / minus sign): Removes/deletes the condition (often used to clean up after a downstream job finishes).
• Typically placed in post-processing rules or directly in the OUT conditions section.
• Common pattern:
  • Job A: OUT condition JOB-A-OK + (adds it on success).
  • Job B: IN condition JOB-A-OK → waits for Job A to succeed.
  • Job B: OUT condition JOB-A-OK - → removes it after Job B finishes (prevents stale conditions).

Typical Flow Example

1. Job A runs and ends OK → adds JOB-A-OK (OUT +).
2. Job B has IN condition JOB-A-OK → now becomes eligible and runs.
3. Job B ends OK → deletes JOB-A-OK (OUT -) to clean up.

Related Concepts

• Global Conditions: Static or long-lived conditions not tied to specific jobs (managed via Tools → Global Conditions).
• Resources (separate from conditions):
  • Quantitative Resources (now often called Resource Pools): Limit concurrent usage (e.g., 5 database connections → jobs require 1 unit each).
  • Control Resources: Exclusive or shared access (e.g., lock a file/table).
• Conditions are stored in the Control-M server’s Conditions table/database.
• You can view/add/delete conditions manually in Control-M/EM (Planning or Monitoring domain) or via utilities like ctmcontb.
• In flows, conditions appear as arrows/links in the graphic view.

This mechanism enables complex workflows like job chaining, fan-in/fan-out, and conditional paths without needing scripts in many cases.

References:

• Introduction to Control-M - BMC Documentation
• Prerequisite Conditions explanation
• Stack Overflow discussions on Control-M conditions

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