Chef Alternatives

Chef vs. ActiveBatch Workload Automation

Chef and ActiveBatch Workload Automation are both enterprise-grade scheduling solutions. Both platforms provide cross-platform automation (Windows, Linux, UNIX, and more) and programmatic interfaces for managing the automation environment (like provisioning systems, configuration management, and more.) However, ActiveBatch excels in the area of end-to-end workflow orchestration, workflow visualization, resource optimization, and overall ease of use and access.

One of the most notable differences is in accessing the environment. While ActiveBatch does support programmatic interfaces, it offers several intuitive user interfaces to automate workflows, including on-premises thick clients for seamless DevOps, web interfaces, mobile applications, and self-service portals for help desks and business users.

ActiveBatch's primary Console and Web Console support low-code job assembly using drag-and-drop workflow actions, and unified monitoring of all workflows, systems, and service levels. ActiveBatch also offers innovative intelligence features that use historical and predictive analytics to optimize and dynamically scale IT infrastructure to meet real-time demands. Plus, self-documenting workflows, unified security, auditing, version control, and change management provide the core tenants for continuous delivery and IT service and application deployment.

ActiveBatch Workload Automation

ActiveBatch is a workload automation and enterprise job scheduling system that enables IT automation teams to coordinate cross-platform processes or job chains. ActiveBatch supports script scheduling and execution of any programming language, from Python to PowerShell, and Ruby to legacy scripts.

ActiveBatch also supports low-code connections to API endpoints for tools without direct integration, like Ansible or Google Cloud, and can perform command line functions for ultimate flexibility. So anything you might have already downloaded from GitHub, including open source job schedulers, can be consolidated into ActiveBatch if it can’t be outright replaced.

ActiveBatch readily integrates with virtually every solution and technology on the market, including:

All major operating systems, including Windows, Linux, UNIX, and IBM iSeries AS/400

Other schedulers, including cron and Windows Task Scheduler

Configuration management tools like Microsoft System Center apps

Numerous vendors, with prebuilt integrations for Informatica, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, VMware, Amazon (AWS), Apache Hadoop ecosystem, and more

Multiple back-end databases like SQL Server, Azure SQL, and Oracle DBs

With ActiveBatch's powerful workload automation and job scheduling capabilities, IT teams can automate and orchestrate cross-platform workflows that:

Provide data in real-time

Use load balancing to reduce wait times

Perform enterprise file transfers that support FTP, SFTP (SSH), or FTPS (TLS)

Execute database procedures and integrate with ETL and data warehousing applications

Include alerts and self-remediation

Provision resources and manage cloud and virtual infrastructure

Other programmatic schedulers and management software: Puppet Enterprise / Puppet Agent, Jenkins, Saltstack, CFEngine

Frequently Asked Questions

⤷ Is ActiveBatch a Chef alternative?

ActiveBatch Workload Automation provides universal workflow actions for common IT tasks and operations right out-of-the-box, so IT can develop cross-platform processes without paying extra. Plus, with low-code API accessibility, dozens of event triggers, alerting and monitoring, and more, IT can automate and orchestrate dependable end-to-end processes. Explore what you can accomplish with ActiveBatch.

⤷ Is there logging for jobs and instances in ActiveBatch?

Yes. By default, ActiveBatch generates and retains logs for all jobs and workflows. Logs can be stored in a remote location or can be centrally managed by the ActiveBatch database. Users can easily customize log retention periods and even archive all processes. Explore ActiveBatch’s workflow automation capabilities.

⤷ What can ActiveBatch do for daylight savings time issues?

ActiveBatch users can select timezones for each scheduler. ActiveBatch will apply Standard and Daylight Savings Time rules by default. ActiveBatch supports granular date/time scheduling, event triggers, constraints, and more. Explore ActiveBatch’s advanced scheduling capabilities.

⤷ Can ActiveBatch be used to manage multiple dependencies?

Yes. ActiveBatch Jobs support any number of dependencies including constraints, conditional logic, and variables. Those dependencies can then be passed to other jobs as part of a larger workflow. Explore ActiveBatch’s job scheduling capabilities.