Imagine your organization runs a configuration enforcement job every night at 2:00 AM across hundreds of Linux servers.
At 11:15 AM, an administrator discovers that SSH password authentication has been enabled on several production systems. Waiting until the next scheduled run would leave those systems exposed for nearly 15 hours.
Instead of modifying the existing schedule or creating a one-off automation, the administrator simply selects Run Job for the existing Courier job. Chef 360 immediately executes the workflow, remediates the affected systems, and records the execution as a separate manual job instance, all without changing the original schedule.
This is exactly the type of operational scenario that Run Job On Demand in Progress® Chef® 360™ Courier is designed to address.
Infrastructure automation isn't always predictable. While scheduled jobs handle routine maintenance, compliance scans, and patching, real-world operations often require immediate action. A critical vulnerability may need to be remediated immediately, a failed service might need to be restarted across hundreds of systems, or an administrator may want to validate a newly created automation before the next scheduled execution.
Why Scheduled Jobs Aren't Always Enough
Most organizations rely on scheduled automation for predictable operational tasks such as:
- Daily compliance scans
- Weekly patch deployments
- Configuration enforcement
- Log cleanup
- Service health verification
However, operations teams frequently encounter situations where waiting for the next scheduled execution isn't an option.
Some common examples include:
- A zero-day vulnerability requires immediate remediation.
- An application outage requires restarting services across production servers.
- A newly enrolled group of servers must immediately receive the latest configuration.
- A configuration drift needs correction before the next compliance window.
- An administrator wants to validate a newly created Courier job before placing it into production.
In these situations, manual execution provides the flexibility to respond instantly without disrupting the existing automation strategy.
What Is Run Job on Demand?
Run Job On Demand allows an administrator to manually execute an existing Courier job immediately, regardless of its configured schedule.
Unlike modifying the job schedule, a manual execution:
- Executes immediately
- Does not change the original schedule
- Is recorded as a separate manual execution
- Maintains complete auditability
- Preserves the existing recurring schedule for future runs
Think of it as pressing an Execute Now button while leaving your automation policy untouched.
How to Enable Manual Execution
Manual execution is controlled at the individual job level. When creating or duplicating a Courier job, administrators can choose whether to enable or disable the Allow Manual Execution option for that specific job.
The default value for this setting is inherited from the tenant-level configuration, but it can be overridden for individual jobs if permissions allow. This gives administrators the flexibility to decide which jobs can be executed on demand and which should remain schedule-only.
When Allow Manual Execution is enabled:
- The job displays a Run Job option in the Courier UI
- Authorized users can manually execute the job whenever required
The initial value of this option is inherited from the tenant-level configuration, although it can be modified during job creation if permissions allow.
This design gives organizations control over which automations may be executed manually.
For example:
| Job Type | Manual Execution |
| Production patch deployment | Disabled |
| Service restart | Enabled |
| Compliance scan | Enabled |
| Database schema migration | Disabled |
How to Execute a Job from the Chef 360 UI
Running a job manually requires only a few clicks.
- Navigate to Courier Jobs.
- Locate the desired job.
- Open the Actions (kebab menu) menu.
- Select Run Job.
Alternatively, administrators can open the Job Details page and select Run Job directly.
The job begins execution immediately without waiting for its configured schedule.
How Run Job On Demand Works
When an administrator manually triggers a Courier job, the Chef 360 platform doesn't modify the existing job or its schedule. Instead, it creates a new manual execution based on the current job definition.
This approach ensures that the job's recurring schedule remains intact while allowing the automation to execute immediately.
When you click Run Job, the following sequence occurs:
- The existing Courier job definition is retrieved.
- The platform creates a new manual execution using the current job configuration.
- The execution request is submitted for immediate processing.
- Chef Courier dispatches the job to the targeted nodes defined in the job configuration.
- The configured workflow executes on the targeted nodes, while the Chef 360platform collects execution status, logs and results.
- The completed execution is recorded in Job History as a manual run, where administrators can review its status, logs and execution details.
This design enables administrators to respond quickly to operational events without modifying the original job definition or disrupting its scheduled execution.
How to Gain Visibility on Manual Job Executions
After a job is triggered manually, the Chef 360 platform records it as a separate job instance while preserving the original scheduled executions. This gives administrators complete visibility into how, when and why a job was executed.
The Job Details page provides a consolidated view of every execution instance, allowing operators to compare scheduled and manually triggered runs from a single interface.
Understanding the Job Details Page
The screenshot shows a compliance scan job that has been executed multiple times.
Job Summary
At the top of the page, the Chef 360 platform displays key information about the job, including:
- Job description
- Target node collections
- Associated actions
- Configured schedule
- Active job status
This gives administrators a quick overview of what the job is designed to do before reviewing individual executions.
Manual Execution Doesn't Replace Scheduled Runs
One of the key benefits of Run Job On Demand is that it doesn't overwrite or modify scheduled executions.
In the screenshot, you can see two different execution types:
| Instance Type | Purpose |
| Scheduled | Automatically triggered according to the configured schedule |
| Manual | Started immediately by an administrator using Run Job |
This distinction makes it easy to understand whether an execution was part of normal operations or an on-demand response to an operational event.
Execution History
Every execution generates its own Job Instance.
For each instance, the Chef 360 platform records:
- Job Instance ID
- Instance Type
- Triggered By
- Execution Date
- Status
- Start Time
- Run Time
- Number of Target Nodes
- Status Breakdown
This information provides complete traceability for operational and compliance audits.
Operational Dashboard
The dashboard cards provide an at-a-glance summary of execution health.
Administrators can quickly identify:
- Successful executions
- Failed executions
- Running jobs
without opening each job instance individually.
This helps operations teams rapidly identify issues that require investigation.
Drill Down into Individual Runs
Selecting a Job Instance allows administrators to inspect execution details, including logs and node-level results.
This is especially useful when:
- validating newly created jobs,
- troubleshooting failed executions,
- verifying remediation activities,
- confirming successful configuration changes.
Why This View Matters
The Job Details page shows that every manual execution is recorded as a distinct job instance rather than simply as a rerun of an existing schedule.
Because every execution is recorded independently, administrators gain:
- Complete execution history
- Clear separation between scheduled and manual runs
- User-level accountability
- Easier troubleshooting
- Better compliance reporting
This execution history also simplifies operational audits by showing who initiated a manual run, when it was executed, its outcome and the affected target nodes. Rather than relying on external logs or change records, administrators can review this information directly within the Chef 360 platform.
CLI Support for Manual Execution
Organizations that automate operations through pipelines or external orchestration systems can also trigger manual executions using the Chef Courier CLI.
A manual execution request is defined in a JSON payload containing:
- organization ID
- tenant ID
- job ID
- triggering user
- timestamp
- optional description
The execution is then initiated using:
$ chef-courier-cli scheduler jobs create-manual-job --body-file manual-job.json --profile <COURIER_OPERATOR_PROFILE_NAME>
Chef Courier returns a unique identifier for the manual execution record, allowing teams to trace exactly which manual trigger initiated the resulting job instance.
This capability integrates well with incident response workflows, external ITSM platforms, and CI/CD pipelines.
Best Practices
To maximize the value of Run Job On Demand:
- Enable manual execution only for jobs where immediate intervention is appropriate.
- Reserve scheduled jobs for predictable operational workflows.
- Use manual execution for emergency remediation, validation or operational troubleshooting.
- Review execution history regularly to understand when manual interventions occur.
- Include meaningful descriptions when triggering jobs programmatically to improve audit records.
Conclusion
Automation should provide both consistency and flexibility.
The ‘Run Job on Demand’ capability within Chef 360 Courier enables administrators to respond immediately to operational events without compromising governance or disrupting carefully planned schedules. Manual executions are isolated from scheduled workflows, fully auditable and seamlessly integrated into the same operational interface.
Whether responding to an incident, validating a new automation or remediating unexpected configuration drift, Run Job On Demand gives operations teams the speed they need while preserving the control and traceability expected in enterprise environments.
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