When the ReportCaster Distribution Server starts, it verifies that it can communicate with the following components:

• ReportCaster Repository. If you are using a FOCUS repository, the ReportCaster Repository resides on the WebFOCUS Reporting Server. In this case, the ReportCaster Distribution Server verifies that it can communicate with the WebFOCUS Reporting Server.
• WebFOCUS on the Web/Application server. The ReportCaster Distribution Server stays active if the Web/Application server is unavailable. Previously scheduled jobs continue to run but no new scheduling is possible. Distribution to Managed Reporting will not be successful until the Web/Application server is available.

Under certain conditions, the ReportCaster Distribution Server will open in console mode. ReportCaster console mode allows you to configure ReportCaster from the WebFOCUS Administration Console. The Distribution Server will open in console mode if:

• The Distribution Server cannot connect to the repository. Connection issues result if the JDBC Driver cannot be found, the database is unavailable, or the database user ID or password is incorrect.
• There is an issue with the repository, for instance if the repository tables have not yet been created, the repository is not at the correct release level, or if you are configuring for Distribution Server failover and the BOTSTATE table has not been created.

Note: Check the scheduler.log file for information specific to your Distribution Server opening in console mode.

From the WebFOCUS Administration Console, you can verify the connection settings and test connectivity to the Repository. If you can connect to the Repository, but ReportCaster still opens in console mode, then the Repository does not contain its tables and you must create them.

Note: If Remote Authentication is set to Yes or to HTTP Header in the ReportCaster Configuration tool, then the value of IBIMR_RC_SVCUSER and the value of the default Administrator in the ReportCaster configuration file (which must be the same) must be the ID used to Remotely Authenticate to ReportCaster. For information on ReportCaster Remote Authentication, see the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual.

Upon successful initialization, the ReportCaster Distribution Server checks for jobs that need to be recovered and jobs that need to run as specified by the Recovery and Scanback parameters.

To verify or change the Repository connectivity settings:

To create the Repository tables:

The purpose of the Recovery parameter in the ReportCaster Server Configuration tool is to recover jobs that were placed in the ReportCaster Distribution Server queue but did not complete schedule execution processing, which could be due to the ReportCaster Distribution Server or WebFOCUS Reporting Server being stopped. You can activate the recovery feature by setting Recovery to ON in the ReportCaster Server Configuration tool.

When you create a schedule and the Recovery parameter is set to ON, the RECOVERY field for the schedule is set to N in the BOTSCHED repository table. When the schedule is placed in the run queue, the RECOVERY field is set to Y. This means that if the ReportCaster Distribution Server becomes unavailable while the job is still in the queue, ReportCaster will recover the job when the ReportCaster Distribution Server becomes available even if the Recovery parameter is set to OFF in the ReportCaster Server Configuration tool. After the job is run and all log records have been written, the RECOVERY field is set back to N.

Any job that is running because the Recovery parameter is set to ON runs only once. After the job is placed in the run queue, its NEXTRUNTIME is updated to the next time it should run after the current time. For example, if a job is scheduled to run hourly and the ReportCaster Distribution Server is unavailable for four hours, when the ReportCaster Distribution Server becomes available the job will run only once and will resume running on an hourly basis thereafter.

In certain instances, the ReportCaster Distribution Server may be unavailable for a period of time. During this time, no scheduled jobs can run. By default, when the ReportCaster Distribution Server becomes available again, it searches for and runs all jobs with a next run time less than the current time and resets the next run time according to the job’s next scheduled run time. If the Distribution Server is unavailable for a long time, you may want to adjust this behavior. Using the Scanback parameter you can run only those jobs found in a specified time period of the outage, or just reset the next run time of all un‑executed jobs without running them.

The Scanback parameter is available in the ReportCaster Server Configuration tool and has the following settings:

• An integer value greater than zero. An integer that represents the number of 24 hour periods (beginning with the Distribution Server restart time) that the ReportCaster Distribution Server will scan back to look for and run jobs with a next run time less than the current time.

  For example, if the Distribution Server is unavailable for three days and Scanback is set to 2, then the Distribution Server will only run those jobs it finds with a next run time within the previous 48 hours of the server restart time.

  A valid value is any integer from 1 to 365. The default value is 15.

• Reset Next Run Time. Looks for all jobs with a next run time less than the current time and resets the next run time to the job’s next scheduled run time.
• Off. Turns off Scanback. This means the Distribution Server follows its default behavior to find, run, and reset all jobs with a next run time that is less than the current time.

Note: