Setting a Periodic Schedule

When you are ready to modify your Periodic Schedule, you need to specify the following pieces of information:

The machine(s) for which you want to create or update the periodic schedule(s)
The type of batch processing work you want to assign
The environments to process
When to start and stop the batch process

You can add jobs to the schedule if a Periodic Schedule already exists for a particular machine, or you can clear out any pre-existing jobs before setting new jobs in the schedule. You can clear a Periodic Schedule without setting any new jobs (see Clearing a Periodic Schedule).

To define a Periodic Schedule on a machine, follow these steps:

1. Type Setper in a Linux shell and press [Enter]. The system prompts you for the machine or machines whose Periodic Schedule you want to modify.

INPUT A SINGLE MACHINE NAME, THE PREFIX OF A MACHINE NAME, OR all [all]:

2. Select the machines you want to modify by typing the name of a single machine, a prefix (to select a range of machines that start with the same prefix), or all to modify all the Periodic Schedules for all the machines.

If you press [Enter] without specifying a machine, the command uses the machine name that appears in brackets.

If you type a prefix, a list of machines that contain that prefix appears. Type the numbers that correspond to the machines you want to modify.

For example, if you have three machines that start with "hi", you can type hi as a prefix. The system would then display a list of all the machines that start with "hi":

input a set of machines, or hit return to indicate all these machines:

1 = hickey, 2 = highlander, 3=high-definition

You can either press [Enter] to select all the machines in the list or you can select certain machines by typing their corresponding numbers.

The command then prompts you to ask if you want to modify the Periodic Schedule on more machines.

DO YOU WANT TO INPUT MORE MACHINES (y/n) [n]:

3. Decide if you want to modify the Periodic Schedules for other machines.
Type y to select more machines and press [Enter]. The system prompts you to select other machines (see step 1 of this procedure).
Type n to not select any more machines and press [Enter].

The system prompts you to clear the existing schedule before defining new entries.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO CLEAR THE SCHEDULE OF PRE-EXISTING ENTRIES? (y/n) [n]:

4. Decide if you want to remove the existing schedule or not.
Type y to remove any existing schedules on the machine(s).
Type n to preserve any existing schedules on the machine(s). The system will add your new entries to the existing set of entries.

You are then asked if you would like to schedule any new entries.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SCHEDULE ANY ENTRIES? (y/n) [y]

5. Decide if you want to schedule new entries in your Periodic schedule or not.
Type y to schedule new entries. Proceed to the next step to define the schedule.
Type n to not schedule any new entries. This cancels the Setper command without scheduling any new entries; the command returns you to the shell prompt.
6. If you typed y to the previous prompt, the command prompts you activate or deactivate the selected machines.

input ON or OFF [on]:

Type on to activate the Periodic Schedule for the selected machines.
Type off to deactivate the Periodic Schedule for the selected machines. The machine(s) will not perform any Periodic batch processing, regardless of what the other Periodic entries have been scheduled.

The system prompts you to select if you want vectorizing work performed on the machine.

INPUT TYPE OF WORK ALLOWED is vectorize work allowed (y/n) [no]

7. Decide if you want the machines to perform vectorizing work on the selected machines.
Type y to schedule Vector batch processing and press [Enter].
Type n to not schedule Vector batch processing and press [Enter].
If you press [Enter] without entering y or n, the prompt uses the answer shown in brackets.

The system then prompts you to select if you want rendering work performed on the machine.

is render work allowed (y/n) [yes]

8. Decide if you want the machines to perform rendering work on the selected machines.
Type y to schedule Render batch processing and press [Enter].
Type n to not schedule Render batch processing and press [Enter].
If you press [Enter] without entering y or n, the prompt uses the answer shown in brackets.

You are prompted to select the environments to be scheduled for batch processing. All the environments in your system appear in this list, each one assigned to a number.

INPUT A SET OF DATABASE ENVIRONMENTS

1 = Production, 2 = Tutorials, 3 = Commercials default - [Production Commercials]

9. Type the number that corresponds to the environment(s) you want to schedule and press [Enter]. If you press [Enter] without typing anything, the system uses the environments listed in brackets.

If you select more than one environment, the system asks if you want to establish a priority.

should processing of the DBenv's be prioritized? (y/n) [yes]

You can prioritize your environments so that batch processing works on the highest priority environment first. If you do not define a priority, the batch processing does an equal amount of work for each environment.

The order in which you type the environment numbers can determine their batch processing priority in the schedule (the first environment you type has the highest priority). However, the order in which you type the environments is not important if you don't want to prioritize the environments (by answering no to the system prompt).

In this example, if you want to schedule only the Production and Tutorials environments for batch processing, you would type: 1 2, indicating that Production has a higher priority than Tutorials for batch processing.

10. Select if you want to assign a priority to the environments you selected. If you press [Enter] without entering anything, the system uses the answer shown in brackets.
Type y to prioritize batch processing.
Type n to not prioritize batch processing.

The scheduler prompts you to define the time and day when to start the Periodic batch processing.

INPUT BEGIN TIME in 24-hr. format [15:17] input day [wed]:

11. Type the time (in 24-hour format) and day (in day of the week format) when to begin batch processing and press [Enter].

If you press [Enter] without entering anything, the scheduler uses the time and day that appear in brackets.

The scheduler prompts you for the end time.

INPUT END TIME in 24-hr. format: input day [thu]:

12. Type the time (in 24-hour format) and the day (in day of the week format) when to stop the batch processing and press [Enter].

A summary of the job you just scheduled appears. The scheduler then prompts you to confirm that you want to enter this job in the schedule.

13. Decide if you want create this scheduled job in your Periodic Schedule.
Type y if you want to add this job into your Periodic Schedule and press [Enter]
Type n if you do not want to add this job into your Periodic Schedule and press [Enter].

The scheduler gives you the opportunity to add another job to your Periodic Schedule.

DO YOU WANT TO SCHEDULE ANOTHER EVENT (y/n) [y]

14. Decide if you want to add another job to your Periodic Schedule.
Type y to add another job and press [Enter]. Repeat steps 7 to 13.
Type n if you do not want to enter another job and press [Enter].

When you finish add jobs to the Periodic Schedule, a summary of the entire Periodic Schedule appears.