JAMS Pros and Cons

The ability to use import custom DLLs. Our company has a lot of very specific scheduled tasks, so we found the integration with our own code to be very useful. Also, very knowledgeable Customer Support. JAMS has a lot of different execution methods and different ways to accomplish tasks, so it's hard at first to understand its full power, but Customer Support and the online support knowledge base always has a good answer Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There are a few limitations in version 6 that we've found, but there is usually a simple workaround available. For example, custom scheduling (which I know is available in version 7). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Enables self service , many features for the price Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I dislike the fact that there is no underlying Job Definition Language. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

We had a myriad of Windows Scheduled Tasks and SQL Agent Jobs spread about on multiple servers. Just keeping track of what jobs, lived where was a job unto itself. There was also risk associated with these jobs running as the SQL Agent or System account when often that was not the best choice. JAMS delivered as advertised by giving us a single place to create, manage, and monitor all of our scheduled processes!

In many cases we were able to leave the functional code in place (i.e. SSIS packages, custom PowerShell scripts, custom executables.) We simply eliminated the SQL jobs and scheduled tasks and replaced them with entries in JAMS. This approach allowed for a quick conversion with greater control over security and an immediate improvement in our ability to monitor jobs execution. Now we're finding many of our new jobs are more easily implemented directly through JAMS using the numerous templates for things like (s)ftp transfers, database maintenance, emailing daily reports, etc. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

This may be an odd "dislike", but I did find JAMS to be too "all-inclusive" in one regard......

We have a non-prod and prod instance of JAMS. The former is used as our develop and test environment. JAMS provides it's own version control for every job and an interface that makes it easy for an authorized user to copy a job from non-prod to prod as a means of deploying to production.

So what's not to like about all of that?

Once you get used to using the same tools for all of your development, source control, builds, and deployments, it can be a hard habit to break when something like JAMS includes all of that functionality. And while we have tried to make JAMS work using our regular toolset (i.e. Visual Studio, Git, TeamCity, and Octopus Deploy) thus far it has proven more trouble than its worth. Instead we've been working on ways tailor our change control process and continue to use JAMS as designed. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

We can schedule and run many tasks on a repeated basis individually or in a bunch, without having to worry about humane interactions and errors, add dependencies and also notifications, which cuts down the effort by a significant amount. Also the support we get from jAMS is very quick and efficient!We can count on them at any time of the day! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Mainly Price!! Sometimes some tasks are inconsistent, like triggers , permissions, security etc .,it would be helpful to add more time and date customization , more logging or maybe add a debug logging level if needed.

Errors are pretty generic most of the times. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Ease of complete automation using underlying coding for any module that you need to create. Plus the workflows are pretty cool if you're not a coder. Also, if you are a coder, you can automate almost anything. Gennaro at MVP is a stellar employee and always ready to help. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It is pretty heavy IO based, so it can take some time loading. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Task Automation that can be distributed across the enterprise.

A number of self help articles provided by the vendor. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have yet to find a problem or dislike for this software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The ease with which copies of jobs (e.g., used as a templates, test/prod reuse, etc.) can be created and managed. Job or Folder Parameters can be used to isolate changes between these instances. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I sometimes struggle with the interface. Of course, part (all?) of the problem is due to our own reluctance to expend resources to upgrade to current version - we are way behind on 6.3.27. Amazingly, I am successful using their help resources even though our version is so old - their support is tenacious! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

JAMS has a comprehensive .NET API that allows the programmatic creation, maintenance, and activation of jobs and job components. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

JAMS has some good basic documentation, but not much past very cursory use of that API from a programmatic viewpoint. Our usage dynamically creates jobs, from information collected from Users, data streams, and other sources. Building that framework required some trial and error to find the proper class attributes and methods to perform those tasks. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

JAMS is user friendly, easy to use, yet robust enough to get any job done. Their support team is one of the best I have worked with, with fast responses and a knowledgeable team. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Knowledge base could be updated more frequently and provide more examples. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The converting of SQL Agent jobs into JAMS made me realise that it can replace SQL agent.

We deploy standard sql maintenance jobs on each sql instance and use SCOM to alert on failures.

We have our own inhouse deployment process with scheduled scripts run from SCOM database server.

JAMS removes the need for

1. deploying scripts against all sql instances

2. use one template that all sql instance utilise

- code changes done in one place

- new jobs automatcially pickup by others

3. scom only needs to monitor JAMS

- customised alert templates

- one place to check all DBA sql jobs

4. window scheduled tasks

- one place to see\manage all customised SQL tasks

Once relevant access and setup is done there is no need to use local SQL agent or windows schedule task for any DBA specific task.

JAMS to me can be a one all consuming SQL Agent job view. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have not yet found anything that I cant do as yet. Roadblocks were removed once I realised JAMS has the capability to try anything within powershell capabilities. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.