About maximum concurrent tasks

To avoid overburdening TaskMan, you can limit the total number of tasks that can be run at the same time. Accomplish this using these fields:

  • Maximum Concurrent Tasks and Maximum Concurrent Report Tasks on the Intranets form
  • Max Concurrent on the Background Task Definitions form
Note:  If a task is submitted, but the maximum number of tasks is currently running, the task goes into a queue, and is processed as soon as a place becomes available.

The maximum allowable tasks within a configuration

To define the maximum number of all tasks, including report tasks, that can run at a single time on the current configuration, use the Maximum Concurrent Tasks field. If a task is submitted, TaskMan processes it only if the total number of tasks currently running is less than this number.

If TaskMan is monitoring multiple configurations, then each configuration's number of maximum tasks combine to define the maximum number of tasks that this specific TaskMan service can handle. Suppose, for example:

  • TaskMan is monitoring two configurations: Config1 and Config2.
  • The number of Maximum Concurrent Tasks for Config1 is set to 10.
  • The number of Maximum Concurrent Tasks for Config2 is set to 20.
  • Then the maximum number of concurrent tasks for this instance of TaskMan is: 10 + 20, or 30.

These conditions being the case, then it follows that these statements are true:

  • If 10 tasks are running on Config1, then Config1 can no longer run any tasks, because its limit has been met, even though TaskMan can handle 20 more tasks.
  • If 20 tasks are running on Config2, then Config2 cannot launch any more tasks, but Config1 could still launch up to 10.

The maximum number of report tasks

The Maximum Concurrent Report Tasks field is used to define the maximum number of report preview or print report tasks that can run at a single time in the current configuration. If a report or report preview is submitted, TaskMan processes it only if the total number of report previews or print jobs currently running is less than this number.

Note:  TaskMan tracks report preview and print report tasks separately. This means, for example, that if you have this field set to 20, then you can have up to 20 report preview AND 20 print report tasks processing simultaneously.

Because report tasks are a subset of all tasks, the Maximum Concurrent Report Tasks setting should be less than or equal to the Maximum Concurrent Tasks setting . If you allow more reports than overall tasks, TaskMan limits the reports to the maximum overall tasks. So, for example, suppose:

  • Maximum Concurrent Tasks is set to 10.
  • Maximum Concurrent Report Tasks is set to 20.

Then it follows that:

  • If you submit 20 reports, only 10 run, because that is the maximum allowable number of overall tasks.
  • If you submit 20 reports while 5 tasks are already running, only 5 reports are processed immediately.

TaskMan monitoring multiple configurations

If TaskMan is monitoring multiple configurations, then each configuration's number of currently running report tasks is calculated by adding the currently running report tasks from each configuration that TaskMan is monitoring.

Suppose, for example, these conditions:

  • TaskMan is monitoring two configurations: Config1 and Config2
  • The Maximum Concurrent Report Tasks for Config1 is set to 10.
  • The Maximum Concurrent Report Tasks for Config2 is set to 20.
  • The number of reports currently running on Config1 is 5.
  • The number of reports currently running on Config2 is 3.

Then it follows that these statements are true:

  • The number of report tasks that are currently available to run on Config1 is [10 - (5 + 3)], or 2.
  • The number of report tasks that are currently available to run on Config2 is [20 - (5 + 3)], or 12.

Using the Max Concurrent setting

To limit the number of times a single, specific task can be run at the same time, use the Max Concurrent field. For example, suppose these are the settings:

  • Maximum Concurrent Tasks is set to 10.
  • Maximum Concurrent Report Tasks is set to 5.
  • Max Concurrent for a task, ABCAnalysisRpt, is set to 1.

Then it follows that these statements are true:

  • If no tasks are currently running, and you submit the ABCAnalysisRpt report task twice, only one will be processed immediately.
  • If five report tasks are currently running, and you submit the ABCAnalysisRpt report task, it will not run until one of the five already running has finished.
  • If eight general tasks, and two report tasks, are running, and you submit the ABCAnalysisRpt report task, it will not run immediately, even though only two of the available five report tasks is running, because the total number all tasks has been met.