Introduction

Ultra Tasks define the configuration to run a pipeline that can process incoming documents on a Snaplex. When you activate an Ultra Task, the associated Snaplex starts one or more pipeline instances that continuously process documents from a Feedmaster or another message queue. If you modify assets related to an active Ultra Task, in some cases, the Snaplex restarts the pipeline instances automatically.

For high availability and disaster recovery, you can run a pipeline in multiple regions. To do this, create multiple Ultra Tasks for the same pipeline using the same alias. Assign each Ultra Task to a Snaplex in a different region. If a pipeline in one region fails, a Snaplex in another region can run the Ultra Task by invoking the Ultra Task with the same alias.

You can tune Ultra Task performance by specifying the number of pipeline instances to run and the maximum number of documents that one instance should process at a time. Also, you can specify how many times a pipeline can fail before the Snaplex disables the Ultra Task. Configuration Options describes the fields that control these behaviors: Instances (per Snaplex), Max In-Flight, and Maximum Failures.

Instances per Snaplex

When you create an Ultra Task, you have the option to load balance processing across nodes. The number of instances controls how many pipelines are started to process the Ultra requests. Since the pipelines are automatically started and are always running, the number of pipelines needs to be balanced. Having too many instances uses up slots, resulting in extra load on the node. Having too few could result in delays for requests if the request volume is higher than running instances.