My system already has cron on it, so why would I need Xi-Batch?
Very simple schedules can be handled by cron, but it has many limitations. Interdependencies between jobs cannot be handled directly by cron, nor can it handle coordination of jobs across hosts. There is no display of jobs, no load leveling capability and no means of controlling jobs once cron has started them. Cron has limited security features, no job monitoring and no graphical interfaces. While talented programmers can create complex job flows and use cron to initiate these processes, cron remains essentially a timer function to start the process in motion, similar to pushing over the first domino in a chain. Is Xi-Batch just a layer over cron?
