Task Management

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Task Manager

The Kernel Task Manager, also know as TaskMan, allows you to run tasks in the background while you continue working on your system. A TaskMan program, called the Manager, runs at all times in the background. The Manager monitors your system constantly looking for tasks requested by foreground jobs.

Foreground jobs cannot start any background jobs. Instead, they call a TaskMan API to queue job requests in the TASK and SCHEDULE files. The Manager monitors the schedule file and initiates the background jobs as needed. Submanagers are the processes that actually run tasks. The Manager starts submanagers whenever more are needed to handle the current workload of tasks. Each task performs the work it was created to do and then quits, returning control back to the submanager that started it. The submanager will wait around for a period of time for new tasks so that the Manager won't have to start a new submanager. If no new tasks arrives during a designed time, the submanager will quit.

TaskMan Management Menu

Kernel provides system managers with a set of tools to manage tasks. The TaskMan Management Menu is the main entry point into Taskman options. It contains the following options:

*Schedule/Unschedule Options - schedule options that run regularly and unschedule an option that's no longer needed.

*One time Options Queue - queue a task to run only once without affecting the option's normal schedule.

*Taskman Management Utilities - provides several options to set up, monitor, and modify TaskMan environment.

*List Tasks - choose between several useful ways of displaying tasks.

*Dequeue Tasks - unschedule a task so that the task remains in the TASKS file, but is no longer scheduled to run.

*Requeue Tasks - reschedule a task that has been unscheduled.

*Delete Tasks - unschedule a task and delete the task from the TASK file.

*Print Options that are Scheduled to run - lists all currently scheduled options on your system.

*Cleanup Task List - remove a task entry from a task list for a job that is no longer running.

*Print Options Recommended for Queuing - Displays all options that are recommended for scheduling by the developer.

TaskMan Management Utilities

A submenu on the TaskMan Management Menu, called the Taskman Management Utilities, provides several options to setup, monitor, and modify the TaskMan environment. This menu contains the following options:

*Monitor TaskMan - displays the current state of TaskMan and offers you many ways to get more information.

*Check TaskMan's Environment - performs all of the checks that the Task Manager does and identifies any problem with the environment.

*Edit TaskMan Parameters - edit the TaskMan parameter files.

*Restart Task Manager - ability to restart TaskMan if the Manager crashes or is stopped.

*Place TaskMan in a WAIT State - ability to turn the Manager's activities off without having to completely shut down the Manager.

*Remove TaskMan from WAIT State - ability to turn the Manager's activities back on to process tasks and allow submanagers to recycle.

*Stop Task Manager - provides a clean way of stopping Task Manager from within the menu system.

*TaskMan Error Logs - choose between several useful ways of displaying and managing errors caused by tasks.

*Clean Task File - clean out the Task Log removing all entries for tasks that have completed, have been rejected, or have aborted with an error.

*SYNC flag file control - remove a SYNC FLAG entry from the file and delete all waiting tasks with the same SYNC FLAG

Programmer API's

Kernel provides programmers with API callable entry points to create and schedule tasks. Once you become familiar with Task Manager's queueing system, you can increase productivity by using some of TaskMan's special features.

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