Teradata PT provides the tbuild -n option to allow a job to continue even if it encounters a fatal error. tbuild -n is valuable mainly for multi-step jobs that group related extract and loading steps together. If a step fails, the job can pick up from where it left off based on the checkpoint taken within that failed step. While grouping multiple extract and load steps into a job minimizes the use of system resources and reduces the number of jobs to be executed, you must take the following into consideration before using the –n option:
- Job steps must be independent of each other. The result of one step should have no effect on the other steps.
- Checkpoints of a previous failed step would be erased before the next step starts; which means the job can not be restarted.
- Each of the failed steps needs to be evaluated and redoing a failed step may require a separate job or procedure to be executed. This is because the other steps within the same job might have been successfully executed or cannot be restarted.