I have an application which has components on Windows and Unix. I need to run overnight jobs which initiate tasks/jobs on both environment.

These need to be sequenced so I cannot simple use Cron / Task Scheduler.

For each job, there will be a controlling script either on Windows or Unix, but this script will need to initiate jobs on the other environment and detect when they are complete and a success/failure code.

In the past I have achieved this using 'flag files' on a samba share. This worked but required 'polling' behaviour on the receiving end which I do not consider optimal.

I would prefer not to have to embed user credentials in script if possible.