Something that would cure a lot headaches for me is the ability to create a task which triggers a job on a remote VisualCron server.
For example, if Server A has VisualCron installed with this job:
+ Job ABC
- Task X
then I'd like to be able to do something like this on Server B which also has VisualCron installed:
+ Job XYZ
- Task P - local SQL Task
- Task Q - local Execute Task
- Task R - trigger Task X from Job 1 on Server A
- Task S - local Execute Task
Task R would simply send a "start Task X" signal to Server A and it would run on Server A as if it had been started by a trigger there. Task R would wait for a response from Server A to say it had completed (or timed out).
At the moment I've only got VisualCron installed on Server B and I'm using a jumble of psexec, batch files and powershell scripts to recreate a poor-mans version of this behaviour. I know I could install VisualCron on Server A and set up task X on an independent schedule, but I need it to run in between Tasks Q and S on Server B (and also *not* run if task Q fails) so I have to use psexec like this.
Adding this feature would plug a hole that I fall into on practically every task I set up at the moment. I'd ditch psexec in a heartbeat and buy an additional VisualCron license for Server A (and servers C, D, E, etc) if it had this functionality.
In terms of security, you might need to configure an authorisation key or certificate or something to Server A which says "Server B is allowed to trigger jobs here" (either server-wide, or for specific jobs / tasks) to prevent unauthorised users triggering tasks on Server A from a rogue server.
Cheers,
Mike