Administering Automated Tasks

Tasks mode in the CMS Administration Console allows you to view, start, and stop automated CM tasks from the CMS Administration Console. This chapter includes these topics:

Several tasks are installed with the CM subsystem. You can modify these installed tasks and/or create new, custom tasks to meet the specific needs of your application.

For more information, see Managing Tasks.

The task display

You enter tasks mode by clicking the Tasks button on the CMS Administration Console toolbar. The task display appears, as in this example:

tasksDisplay

This display provides the following information about the tasks defined on your server:

Task property	Details	Example
Name and description	As defined in the task object.	—
Type	The task type, from a scheduling point of view. Possible types are: Periodic: a task that is scheduled to run multiple times at regularly scheduled intervals. For example, a periodic task could be a repository backup utility that runs every 24 hours (86,400,000 milliseconds). Scheduled: a task that is scheduled to run at one or more fixed points in time.	For example, a scheduled task could be a content publishing task that is scheduled to run at three publication deadlines, such as: Monday, June 24, 2002 at 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 5 p.m. Friday, June 28, 2002 at midnight
Status	The execution status of the task. Possible values are: Stopped: Task is not yet running or has been halted. Started: Task is currently running.	—

Task property

Details

Example

Name and description

As defined in the task object.

—

Type

The task type, from a scheduling point of view. Possible types are:

Periodic: a task that is scheduled to run multiple times at regularly scheduled intervals.

For example, a periodic task could be a repository backup utility that runs every 24 hours (86,400,000 milliseconds).
Scheduled: a task that is scheduled to run at one or more fixed points in time.

For example, a scheduled task could be a content publishing task that is scheduled to run at three publication deadlines, such as:

Monday, June 24, 2002 at 9 a.m.
Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 5 p.m.
Friday, June 28, 2002 at midnight

Status

The execution status of the task. Possible values are:

Stopped: Task is not yet running or has been halted.
Started: Task is currently running.

—

Starting and stopping tasks

Tasks are not persistent across application server sessions. Each time you restart your server, you must restart each of your tasks.

Procedure To start or stop a task:

Enter tasks mode by clicking the Tasks button in the toolbar.
Click anywhere in a task description to select it.
Click the Start Task button to start the task or the Stop Task button to stop the task.