Misfires in Scheduled Tasks

A Scheduled Task does not run the associated pipeline at the scheduled instance. In this context, such missed Scheduled Tasks are referred to as misfires. For pipelines scheduled to run daily or hourly, Scheduled Tasks have a grace period of 15 minutes after the scheduled time to execute. If a Scheduled Task fails to run as scheduled, it still has a 15-minute grace period to run the pipeline from the scheduled time.

This grace period applies to the first scheduled instance of the pipeline run. For example, if a Scheduled Task is set to run at 9 AM local time, but you disable the task at 8 AM and re-enable it at 9:10 AM, the Scheduled Task runs because it considers the grace period of 15 minutes from when it was scheduled to run.

Time zones and blackout dates for Scheduled Tasks

Scheduled Task times and blackout dates are based on the value set in the Time Zone field. The time zone selector includes 595 options, accommodating daylight savings changes. When the local time moves ahead by one hour due to daylight savings, Scheduled Tasks set to run during this time change window will automatically start one hour later to prevent them from being skipped. The following day, these tasks resume their normal schedule.

Run Frequency

You can define the task run frequency. Use the Repeat By setting to select when to execute the Pipeline.

• Minutes: Select how often the pipeline should be executed in minutes (1–59) from the Every (Minutes) drop-down list. For example, you can run a Scheduled Task every 13 minutes.
• Hours: Select how often the pipeline should be executed in hours (0–24) from the Every (Hours) drop-down list. For example, you can run a Scheduled Task every 9 hours.
• Days: Select how often the pipeline should be executed in days (1–90) from the Every (Days) drop-down list. For example, you can run a Scheduled Task every 45 days.
• Weeks: Select how often the pipeline should be executed in weeks (1–52) from the Every (Weeks) drop-down list.
  • Days of the Week: You can also specify which days of the week your Scheduled Task executes.
• Months: Select how often the pipeline should be executed in months (1–6) from the Every (Months) drop-down list.
  • Days of the Month: You can also specify the days of the month on which your Scheduled Task executes. This includes the following options:
    • Dates of the month. For example, you can run a Scheduled Task on the 12th and 24th of every month.
    • Days of the month (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, Last). For example, you can schedule a task to run every third Wednesday of the month.
• Years: Select how often the pipeline should be executed in years (1-4) from the Every (Years) dropdown list.
• Cron: Select how often the pipeline should be executed in a Cron schedule.

End of Schedule

You can specify the lifespan of your Scheduled Task.

Select one of the following options for ending your Schedule Task:

• Never. Select this option to run the Scheduled Task for an indeterminate time. Scheduled Task runs never stop as long as the Snaplex where the Pipeline runs remains online.
• After # of Runs. Select this option to specify the number of Scheduled Task executions, and enter the number of Scheduled Task executions before the schedule ends in the Runs field.
  • Minimum: 1
  • Maximum: 10000000

    If you enter an invalid number (for example, -3 or 9999999999.99), the dialog displays an error.

  • Note: When the limit is reached, click the Reset the counter to 0 checkbox to re-activate scheduled pipeline runs.
• On Date/Time. Select this option to choose from the picker the date and time that the Scheduled Task should end.

Blackout Dates

For repeat, Scheduled Tasks, you can set Blackout dates for times when you do not want the task to run. Click the add icon ( ) to add one or more blackout dates. Blackout dates are based on the Time zone that you set for the task.

Cron Schedule

You can schedule Task executions to repeat on a regular time-based schedule by selecting Cron. A Cron schedule provides more granularity. The following example illustrates the various scheduling options.

Configuration Options

• Selecting Every in a column overrides the specific periods selected.
• If you select values for both Day and Day of Week, then the target day must meet both criteria. For example, 1st and Monday means on the month where the 1st day of that month is a Monday.
• If you need different pipeline run schedules based on the day of the week, create multiple Scheduled tasks (Regular or Cron).
• If you need to run the pipeline every 30 minutes, click Every for Month, Every for Day, Every for Day of Week, Every for Hour. Press CTRL/COMMAND (depending on your Operating System) and click :00 and :30.
  Note: CRON Schedule Increments: The Cron scheduler requires to set a point of reference when selecting increments of minutes, so that :00 is always a required starting point to make selections of less than one hour.

• If you select Minute, then the job runs at the target minute on every hour. Example: selecting :02 minutes sets the schedule at every hour after 2 minutes. The job does not run every 2 minutes within that hour.

  • To make multiple selections with a column, press CTRL/COMMAND, then click on the target entries in the column.
  • To run the Task in increments of 6 minutes every hour, then select Any for Hour, then specify each period of 6 minutes (:00, :06, :12, :18, [...] :54) within that hour.

To schedule a cron task for the Nth day of the week (for example 3rd Tuesday)

1. In the Create Task window, click Settings tab.
2. In the Scheduling area, select the Start Date, Start Time and Time Zone.
3. In the Repeat by dropdown list, select Cron.
4. In the Month column, select a preferred month.
5. In the Day column do the following:
   1. Select the Nth day of the week. For example, select Third Tuesday.
   2. Unselect Every Day.
6. In Day Of Week column do the following:

   1. Select Every Day of Week.

   2. Unselect any other selection.

7. Select other suitable options.
8. Click Save.