U.S. patent application number 12/435690 was filed with the patent office on 2010-11-11 for system, method, and software for controlled interruption of batch job processing.
This patent application is currently assigned to SAP AG. Invention is credited to Martin P. Fischer, Olaf Schmidt.
Application Number | 20100287553 12/435690 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43063146 |
Filed Date | 2010-11-11 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100287553 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Schmidt; Olaf ; et
al. |
November 11, 2010 |
SYSTEM, METHOD, AND SOFTWARE FOR CONTROLLED INTERRUPTION OF BATCH
JOB PROCESSING
Abstract
This disclosure provides various embodiments of software,
systems, and techniques for controlled interruption of batch job
processing. In one instance, a tangible computer readable medium
stores instructions for managing batch jobs, where the instructions
are operable when executed by a processor to identify an
interruption event associated with a batch job queue. The
instructions trigger an interruption of an executing batch job
within the job queue such that the executed portion of the job is
marked by a restart point embedded within the executable code. The
instructions then restart the interrupted batch job at the restart
point.
Inventors: |
Schmidt; Olaf; (Walldorf,
DE) ; Fischer; Martin P.; (Heidelberg, DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
FISH & RICHARDSON, P.C.
PO BOX 1022
MINNEAPOLIS
MN
55440-1022
US
|
Assignee: |
SAP AG
Walldorf
DE
|
Family ID: |
43063146 |
Appl. No.: |
12/435690 |
Filed: |
May 5, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
718/101 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 9/485 20130101;
G06F 9/4818 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
718/101 |
International
Class: |
G06F 9/46 20060101
G06F009/46 |
Claims
1. A tangible computer readable medium storing instructions for
managing batch jobs, the instructions operable when executed by a
processor to: identify an interruption event associated with a
batch job queue; trigger an interruption of an executing batch job
within the job queue such that the executed portion of the batch
job is marked by a restart point embedded within the executable
code; and restart the interrupted batch job at the restart
point.
2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, the instructions
further operable to: receive resuming data associated with the
batch job when it is interrupted; and provide the resuming data to
the interrupted batch job at restart.
3. The computer readable medium of claim 2, the resuming data
comprising a batch job identifier and a restart point
identifier.
4. The computer readable medium of claim 2, the instructions
further operable to store the resuming data in a database.
5. The computer readable medium of claim 1, the instructions
further operable to identify the executing batch job among a
plurality of executing batch jobs according to a job priority.
6. The computer readable medium of claim 5, the job priority
selected from a job execution priority and an interruption
priority.
7. The computer readable medium of claim 1, the interruption event
comprising an execution request of a higher priority batch job.
8. The computer readable medium of claim 7, the restart triggered
by completion of the higher priority batch job.
9. The computer readable medium of claim 1, the instructions
further operable to: identify a second interruption event
associated with the batch job queue; trigger a second interruption
of the executing batch job within the job queue such that the
executed portion of the batch job is marked by a second restart
point; and restart the interrupted batch job at the second restart
point.
10. The computer readable medium of claim 1, the instructions
further operable to: identify a second interruption event
associated with the batch job queue; trigger a second interruption
of a second executing batch job within the job queue such that the
executed portion of the second batch job is marked by a second
restart point; and restart the interrupted second batch job at the
second restart point.
11. The computer readable medium of claim 1, the interrupted batch
job comprising a business application injected with an interrupt
framework.
12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, the instructions
further operable to register the business application via the
interrupt framework.
13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, the registration
comprising an optional flag that is set at execution time via the
framework.
14. The computer readable medium of claim 1, the instructions
comprising a portion of a batch job scheduler managing a plurality
of job queues.
15. A computer implemented method for managing batch jobs, the
method comprising: identifying an interruption event associated
with a batch job queue; triggering an interruption of an executing
batch job within the job queue such that the executed portion of
the job is marked by a restart point embedded within the executable
code; and restarting the interrupted batch job at the restart
point.
16. The computer implemented method of claim 15, further
comprising: receiving resuming data associated with the batch job
when it is interrupted, the resuming data comprising a batch job
identifier and a restart point identifier; persisting the resuming
data; and providing the resuming data from persistence to the
interrupted batch job at restart.
17. The computer implemented method of claim 15, further comprising
identifying the executing batch job among a plurality of executing
batch jobs according to a job priority, the job priority selected
from a job execution priority and an interrupt priority.
18. The computer implemented method of claim 15, the interruption
event comprising an execution request of a higher priority batch
job, the restart triggered by completion of the higher priority
batch job.
19. The computer implemented method of claim 15, further
comprising: identifying a second interruption event associated with
the batch job queue; triggering a second interruption of the
executing batch job within the job queue such that the executed
portion of the job is marked by a second restart point; and
restarting the interrupted batch job at the second restart
point.
20. The computer implemented method of claim 15, the interrupted
job comprising a business application injected with an interrupt
framework and the method further comprising registering the
business application via the interrupt framework, the registration
comprising an optional flag that is set at execution time via the
framework.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] This disclosure relates to job and data processing and, more
particularly, to a generic framework for controlled interruption
and resumption of batch job processing.
BACKGROUND
[0002] A batch job is a computer program or set of programs
processed in batch mode. During batch mode, a sequence of commands
for execution by an operating system is often listed in a file
(often called a batch file, command file, or shell script) or other
data structure and is submitted for execution as a single unit. A
batch job typically involves reading data from a database,
processing the data, and then returning the processed data to the
database. Other batch jobs may merely read or collect existing data
to prepare reports, generate new data, and so forth. The batch jobs
may pertain to a wide variety of applications such as: financial
management reports, marketing reports, supply chain management
reports, inventory reports, invoice reports, customer account
processing, automated system backup, automated data backup, system
performance reporting, and the like. The execution of batch jobs
may be automated or manually initiated.
[0003] Batch jobs may be scheduled according to a variety of
criteria including factors such as the date of the batch job
request, amount of time and/or processing resources required to
execute the request, business requirements, system resources,
downtimes, and the like. As a result, batch jobs start times are
typically scheduled by administrators using a scheduler taking into
account such factors. With such arrangements, end users requiring
batch processing (e.g., printing business documents overnight)
place a request with an administrator to schedule the processing of
a particular batch job. Regardless, batch job requests or
executions are often processed through a job scheduler that manages
the initiation of the execution.
[0004] These batch processes are often characterized by creating
significant load on the system resources, which has negative
influence on the performance of other tasks running on the same
system. Thus, more comprehensive or process-intensive batch jobs
are often executed after business hours when system usage is lower
to minimize impact to users. For long running jobs a start time can
be scheduled easily, but it may be difficult to predict the
corresponding end time. The job scheduler may take into account job
queues or job priority. For example, a category of jobs may be
assigned to a particular queue that concurrently executes a
predefined number of jobs. In another example, batch job processing
may be prioritized such that higher priority batch jobs are
processed prior to batch jobs with lower conflicting priority.
Other criteria may be taken into account when prioritizing
conflicting batch job requests for execution.
SUMMARY
[0005] This disclosure provides various embodiments of software,
systems, and techniques for controlled interruption of batch job
processing. In one instance, a tangible computer readable medium
stores instructions for managing batch jobs, where the instructions
are operable when executed by a processor to identify an
interruption event associated with a batch job queue. The
instructions trigger an interruption of an executing batch job
within the job queue such that the executed portion of the job is
marked by a restart point embedded within the executable code. The
instructions then restart the interrupted batch job at the restart
point.
[0006] Some implementations may include one or more of the
following features. For example, the computer readable medium may
further store instructions operable to receive resuming data
associated with a batch job when it is interrupted and provide the
resuming data to the interrupted batch job at restart. The resuming
data can comprise a batch job identifier and a restart point
identifier, and the instructions can be operable to store the
resuming data in a database and identify the executing batch job
among a plurality of executing batch jobs according to a job
priority selected from a job execution priority and an interrupt
priority. The interruption event can comprise an execution request
of a higher priority batch job, whether automatically or manually
requested. The restart can be triggered by completion of the higher
priority batch job. The instructions can be further operable to
identify a second interruption event associated with the batch job
queue, trigger a second interruption of the executing batch job
within the job queue such that the executed portion of the batch
job is marked by a second restart point, and restart the
interrupted batch job at the second restart point, identify a
second interruption event associated with the batch job queue,
trigger a second interruption of a second executing batch job
within the job queue such that the executed portion of the second
batch job is marked by a second restart point, and restart the
interrupted second batch job at the second restart point. The
interrupted batch job can comprise a business application injected
with an interrupt framework, with the instructions being further
operable to register the business application via the interrupt
framework. The registration can comprise an optional flag that is
set at execution time via the framework. In some configurations,
the instructions comprise a portion of a batch job scheduler
managing a plurality of job queues.
[0007] The details of these and other aspects and embodiments of
the disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the
description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the
various embodiments will be apparent from the description and
drawings, as well as from the claims.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0008] FIGS. 1A-B illustrate an example environment implementing
various features of job scheduling management within the context of
the present disclosure;
[0009] FIG. 2 illustrates an example high level configuration of a
job scheduler for use by an appropriate system, such as the system
described in FIG. 1;
[0010] FIG. 3 illustrates a more detailed example of an
interruption framework for use by an appropriate system, such as
the system described in FIG. 1;
[0011] FIG. 4 illustrates an example data schema used for job
scheduling management within the context of the present
disclosure;
[0012] FIGS. 5A-C illustrate example graphical user interfaces for
job scheduling within a particular implementation of the present
disclosure;
[0013] FIG. 6 illustrates an example flowchart depicting one
computer implemented process for controlled interruption of batch
job processing within a particular implementation of the present
disclosure; and
[0014] FIG. 7 illustrates an example flowchart depicting another
computer implemented process for controlled interruption of batch
job processing within a particular implementation of the present
disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0015] This disclosure generally describes for controlled
interruption of batch job processing. More specifically, this
disclosure functionality for interrupting and resuming background
jobs at arbitrary point in time. As such, the present disclosure
describes systems and computer implemented software embodying
techniques that provide the possibility to interrupt the job at a
certain point in time to free the system resources and to
subsequently continue processing at the point where the application
was interrupted. For example, a customer could be executing a large
invoice printing job that is running over night. In the morning,
when resources are needed for dialog processing, the job is
interrupted and restarted later in the evening for the remaining
invoices. In certain configurations, this functionality can be
implemented as a generic framework, which can provide its
interruption service to any application containing background
processing.
[0016] Turning to the illustrated example, the business environment
100 includes or is communicably coupled with server 102 and one or
more clients 104, at least some of which communicate across network
112. At a high level, FIG. 1A illustrates an example business
environment 100 configured to implement job scheduling processes
within the scope of this disclosure and FIG. 1B illustrates an
example business environment 100 configured to develop applications
or jobs capable of implementing these processes. Although any
environment or system may include some, all, as well as other
components from one or both of FIGS. 1A and 1B (collectively, FIG.
1).
[0017] Server 102 comprises an electronic computing device operable
to receive, transmit, process and store data associated with
environment 100. FIG. 1 merely provides examples of computers and
configurations that may be used with the disclosure. Each computer
is generally intended to encompass any suitable processing device
that stores and or executes instructions. For example, although
FIG. 1 illustrates one server 102 that may be used with the
disclosure, environment 100 can be implemented using computers
other than servers, as well as a server pool. Indeed, server 102
may be any computer or processing device such as, for example, a
blade server, general purpose personal computer (PC), Macintosh,
workstation, Unix-based computer, or any other suitable device. In
other words, the present disclosure contemplates computers other
than general purpose computers as well as computers without
conventional operating systems. Server 102 may be adapted to
execute any operating system including Linux, UNIX, Windows Server,
or any other suitable operating system. According to one
embodiment, server 102 may also include or be communicably coupled
with a web server.
[0018] The illustrated server 102 includes one or more processors
125. The processor 125 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a
blade, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a
field-programmable gate array (FPGA). The processor 125 may execute
instructions and manipulate data to perform the operations of
server 102. Although FIG. 1 illustrates one processor 125 in server
102, only one or more than one processor may be used according to
particular needs or desires of environment 100. In the illustrated
embodiment, processor 125 executes or interfaces with software,
such as the business application 140, job scheduler 145,
development application 150, interruption framework 155, reporting
module, or other software. Regardless of the particular
implementation, "software" may include any computer-readable
instructions embodied on tangible medium including executable code,
firmware, wired or programmed hardware, or any combination thereof
as appropriate such that it is stored on tangible medium and
operable to be executed. Indeed, each software component may be
fully or partially written or described in any appropriate computer
language including C, C++, Java, Visual Basic, assembler, Perl, any
suitable version of 4GL, as well as others. It will be understood
that while the application illustrated in FIG. 1 is shown as an
individual module that implements the various features and
functionality through various objects, methods, or other processes,
the application may instead include a number of sub-modules,
third-party services, components, libraries, and such as
appropriate. Conversely, the features and functionality of various
components can be combined into single components as
appropriate.
[0019] The server 102 includes a business application 140. In some
instances, a business application may execute or provide a number
of application services, including customer relationship management
(CRM) systems, human resources management (HRM) systems, financial
management (FM) systems, project management (PM) systems, knowledge
management (KM) systems, and electronic file and mail systems. The
business application may be operable to exchange data with a
plurality of enterprise-based systems and, in the process, update
or modify one or more content repositories. The various services
performed may allow the business application to orchestrate one or
more business processes in synchronization with other processes
that directly or indirectly affect the information stored within
one or more of the content repositories. For instance, the business
application may drive business processes across different
applications, systems, technologies, and organizations, thus
driving end-to-end business processes across heterogeneous systems
or sub-systems. The business application 140 can be, for example, a
pricing update, inventory interface, sales order processor, or any
other business application. In another example, the application 140
may instead be some or all of an operating system that allows for
running applications to be cleanly interrupted and restarted.
[0020] The business application 140 can often be, include, produce,
and/or request execution of batch jobs via a job scheduler 145. In
some situations, the application 140 implements an interruption
interface provided by an interruption service framework 155. This
interface provides information for the framework regarding the
resuming point of the applications. The framework persists this
information and utilizes it to resume the job at a later point in
time. For example, the application can implement interfaces of the
interruption framework in order to react on the resuming request.
The received resuming data can be interpreted, parsed, or otherwise
processed such that the application is initialized accordingly. As
such, this interface can be utilized by the framework to interrupt
a running job on demand (whether interactively or scheduled) or as
needed (such as due to processing capability, critical job, load,
time to completion, etc.), as well as cleanly resume the
interrupted job.
[0021] Job scheduling may be performed via the job scheduler 145,
or any other appropriate application programmed scheduling or via a
generic scheduling UI. As shown in more example detail in FIG. 3,
FIG. 2 illustrates one configuration of job scheduler 145.
Specifically, job scheduler 145 may include an interruption engine
210, a registry engine 215, and an execution engine 220. Job
release and resource control may be performed by a local expert or
key user having a local "Application Management Work Center" or by
the overall system administrator having an "ITSAM Work Center." In
some implementations, batch job execution may include a mass
printing of invoices at night. Printing will be realized via output
management. Print attributes may be accessed via a "Parameter
Service" of an Output Management and a system-wide override for
each usage. Printing may be realized by agent technology (e.g.,
specific print parameters might be set in the agent). Another
printing technique may be realized through direct call of Output
Management APIs (e.g., specific print parameters might be set in
the coding). Thus, the need to set print parameters may not exist
on job level.
[0022] In one aspect, scheduling batch jobs involves receiving a
plurality of requests for batch jobs in which each batch job
corresponds to one of a plurality of batch job categories. The
batch job categories define certain types of batch jobs. The
categories may be defined by a system administrator based on any
criteria that may be used to differentiate batch job types. In some
variations of the subject, the administrator may define special
batch jobs that represent the batch job categories (e.g., one batch
job per category). In addition, the administrator may schedule
these special batch jobs at different times (e.g., time slots
associated with the batch job category). For example, batch jobs
that require lengthy processing might be associated with one batch
job category so that they may be processed during off-hours. Batch
jobs that require short processing might be placed into another
batch job category so that they may be processed during short
intervals during peak usage hours. Scheduling batch jobs may
further comprise defining the plurality of batch job categories.
Optionally or in addition, the method may comprise assigning one or
more time slots for each of the plurality of batch job categories.
The time slots may be recurring or they may be identified based on
system parameters such as processing consumption levels. The batch
job processing may also include authenticating the requests. The
authentication may be used to verify that requests are originating
from authorized network nodes and/or individuals on these network
nodes.
[0023] Each batch job category can have one or more time slots
assigned to it. The time slots may be recurring or they may be
triggered based on processing consumption. For example, a time slot
may be 1:15 am to 1:23 am every day. Alternatively, a time slot may
be defined as any time during a predefined period in which
processing consumption is below a certain level. During these time
slots, batch jobs such as message broadcasting, printing requests,
web site log analyses, and the like may occur. In some variations,
a user may first select a batch job category when generating a
batch job request. In other variations, a batch job category is
assigned after the actions to be taken by a batch job are specified
by a user.
[0024] In some variations, a load on a system is monitored during
one or more of the time slots. The monitored load may be used to
provide historical data useful for scheduling batch jobs during
certain time slots. In one variation, the processing processes each
batch job during one or more of the selected time slots in which
the load on the system is below a predetermined threshold. Load on
the system may be monitored continually and/or during the time
slots. The load monitoring data can be used to make determinations
on when to assign time slots and which batch jobs requests to
handle/process within a particular requested time slot. For
example, if a batch job request selects three time slots, the
historical load data may be known for each of these slots.
Therefore, a determination may be made taking into account average
load when determining when to process the corresponding batch job
(i.e., the batch job may be processed during the time slot with the
lowest historical load).
[0025] Measures may be incorporated to ensure that received batch
job requests are from authorized users. Passwords, IP address
authentication, and similar techniques may be used to confirm the
identify of a node, component, or user issuing a request. If
numerous requests are received for the same time slots, the
requests may be processed according to a priority ranking. The
requests may be assigned priority designations based on criteria
such as origination of requests, category of request (in case
multiple request categories utilize overlapping time slots), load
levels, and the like.
[0026] Batch jobs can be defined by job definitions 130, storing
parameters or execution flags, stored in memory 120. Memory 120
represents any memory or database module and may take the form of
volatile or non-volatile memory including, without limitation,
magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM),
read-only memory (ROM), removable media, or any other suitable
local or remote memory components. As such, illustrated memory 120
can also store an interruption registry 132, a persistency layer
135 for job information, and business data 137. Memory 120 may also
include any other appropriate data such as data classes, object
interfaces, unillustrated software applications or sub-systems, and
so on. For example, as illustrated in more example detail in FIG.
4, memory 120 may store ESI component objects 401 and scheduling
component objects 410 to facilitate management of job scheduling.
Specifically, ESI components may include a periodicity object 402,
a job log object 403 storing a process ID, and a job log object
storing a job ID, a mass data run object (MDRO) type ID, and a job
log ID. The example scheduling component objects 410 may include a
generic log data object 411, a generic log business object type
412, zero or more parameters 413, zero or more error messages 414,
and a summary object 415.
[0027] Returning to the illustrated components, interruption
registry 132 stores registration information for applications to be
considered for background job interruption and resuming. The
registration information may include a job identifier, an
associated user, an application, target data, location, a category,
a priority, or any other information that can be sued to uniquely
identify registration of an instance of a job (perhaps using
parent-child inheritance, such as "all jobs executed for a
particular application"). Using this registry 132, application 140
can register for the interruption service in background processing
framework. In this example, the interruption service may only be
provided for registered application programs 140. The interruption
service allows the job scheduler to trigger interruption and
restart events by user interaction or by events stored in the job
framework. This registration process can occur during application
development, job creation, job execution, and so on.
[0028] This framework can be injected or embedded, whether
hard-coded or utilizing dynamic linking, into business application
140 using development environment 150. Within example development
environment 150, an application can be developed (created or
modified) using coding or modeling systems. Developers may use
environment 150 to draft source code, compile various files for
applications, libraries, and such, modify or inject frameworks, or
other software development. In general, models can specify the
types of development objects or components that can be used to
build applications, as well as the relationships that can be used
to connect those components. In a given modeled architecture,
development objects can be organized by any combination of
relationships, including hierarchical relationships, grouping
relationships, and the like. In an object-oriented architecture,
for example, a defined application can include a combination of
various data objects and resources (i.e., development objects). In
that example, relationships among the development objects can
include a relationship indicating that one data object inherits
characteristics from another data object. Applications built using
the model-view-controller (MVC) architecture typically include
three different types of components--models, which store data such
as application data; views, which display information from one or
more models; and controllers, which can relate views to models, for
example, by receiving events (e.g., events raised by user
interaction with one or more views) and invoking corresponding
changes in one or more models. When changes occur in a model, the
model can update its views. Data binding can be used for data
transport between a view and its associated model or controller.
For example, a table view (or a table including cells that are
organized in rows and columns) can be bound to a corresponding
table in a model or controller. Such a binding indicates that the
table is to serve as the data source for the table view and,
consequently, that the table view is to display data from the
table. Continuing with this example, the table view can be replaced
by another view, such as a graph view. If the graph view is bound
to the same table, the graph view can display the data from the
table without requiring any changes to the model or controller. In
the MVC architecture, development objects can include models,
views, controllers, and components that make up the models, views,
and controllers. For example, application data in a model can be an
example of a component that is a development object.
[0029] Persistence layer 135 stores restart points and other
resuming information of interrupted batch jobs. For example, the
persistence layer may be a cache or a database that is capable of
storing information that facilitates the clean restarting of
interrupted jobs at the point of termination. This resuming
information may include a unique job identifier, a restart part
identifier, and any other data that facilitates this restart, such
as assigned job queue, category, processing time elapsed,
interruption time elapsed, estimated time to completion, job queue,
runtime priority, and so forth. In some configurations or
situations, this resuming information may be analyzed for multiple
jobs to determine the appropriate interrupted job to restart,
perhaps based on priority, length of interruption, etc.
[0030] Many of the example batch jobs operate on business data 137.
Example business data 137 can include pricing changes, invoices,
sales orders, vendor information, accounts, customers, financial
transactions, or any other business transactional data that may
have some processing performed on it by business application 140,
such as creating, printing, reading, updating, closing, archiving,
and so forth. Business data 137 may be formatted, stored, or
defined as various data structures in a Service Oriented
Architecture (SOA) utilizing business and data objects, relational
database tables, eXtensible Markup Language (XML) documents, text
files, Virtual Storage Access Method (VSAM) files, flat files,
Btrieve files, comma-separated-value (CSV) files, internal
variables, one or more libraries, or any other format capable of
storing or presenting all or a portion of the interface, process,
data, and other models or modeling domains.
[0031] The network 112 facilitates wireless and/or wireline
communication between the server 102 and any other local or remote
computer, such as the client 104. The network 112 may be all or a
portion of an enterprise or secured network. In another example, a
portion of network 112 may be a virtual private network (VPN)
merely between the server 102 and the client 104 across a wireline
or wireless link. Such an example wireless link may be via 802.11a,
802.11b, 802.11g, 802.20, WiMax, and many others. In another
example, 112 106 may include an intranet and the internet. In other
words, the network 112 encompasses any internal or external
network, networks, sub-network, or combination thereof (whether
physical or logical) operable to facilitate communications between
various computing components in the system. The network 106 may
communicate, for example, Internet Protocol (IP) packets, Frame
Relay frames, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cells, voice, video,
data, and other suitable information between network addresses. The
network 112 may include one or more local area networks (LANs),
radio access networks (RANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs),
wide area networks (WANs), all or a portion of the global computer
network known as the Internet, and/or any other communication
system or systems at one or more locations. In certain embodiments,
the network 112 may be a secure network associated with the
enterprise and certain local or remote archives, source code
repositories, databases, or clients.
[0032] Client 104 is any computing device operable to connect or
communicate with server 102 or network 112 using any communication
link. At a high level, each client 104 can include or execute GUI
116 and comprises an electronic computing device operable to
receive, transmit, process and store any appropriate data
associated with environment 100, typically via one or more
applications such as business application 140. It will be
understood that there may be any number of clients 104 communicably
coupled to server 102. Further, "client 104" and "user" may be used
interchangeably as appropriate without departing from the scope of
this disclosure. Moreover, for ease of illustration, each client
104 is described in terms of being used by one user. But this
disclosure contemplates that many users may use one computer or
that one user may use multiple computers. As used in this
disclosure, client 104 is intended to encompass a personal
computer, touch screen terminal, workstation, network computer,
kiosk, wireless data port, smart phone, personal data assistant
(PDA), one or more processors within these or other devices, or any
other suitable processing device. For example, client 104 may be a
PDA operable to wirelessly connect with external or unsecured
network. In another example, client 104 may comprise a laptop that
includes an input device, such as a keypad, touch screen, mouse, or
other device that can accept information, and an output device that
conveys information associated with the operation of server 102 or
clients 104, including digital data, visual information, or GUI
116. Both the input device and output device may include fixed or
removable storage media such as a magnetic computer disk, CD-ROM,
or other suitable media to both receive input from and provide
output to users of clients 104.
[0033] GUI 116 comprises a graphical user interface operable to
allow the user of client 104 to interface with at least a portion
of environment 100 for any suitable purpose, such as viewing
application, reporting, or analytic data. Generally, GUI 116
provides the particular user with an efficient and user-friendly
presentation of data provided by or communicated within environment
100. More specifically, GUI 116 can be the front-end or
administrator view of business application 140 or job scheduler
145. For example, as shown in FIGS. 5A-C, a user (perhaps
authenticated) can submit batch job requests using GUI 116. More
specifically, as shown in example FIGS. 5A-C, GUI 116 may be used
to manage batch job definitions, scheduling, results, and other
batch job management. In another example, GUI 116 may present an
interface for running and displaying reports.
[0034] In some cases, GUI 116 may comprise a web browser that
includes a plurality of customizable frames or views having
interactive fields, pull-down lists, and buttons operated by the
user. GUI 116 may also present a plurality of portals or
dashboards. It should be understood that the term "graphical user
interface" may be used in the singular or in the plural to describe
one or more graphical user interfaces and each of the displays of a
particular graphical user interface. Indeed, reference to GUI 116
may indicate a reference to the front-end or a component of any
application or software, as well as the particular interface
accessible via client 104, as appropriate, without departing from
the scope of this disclosure. Therefore, GUI 116 contemplates any
graphical user interface, such as a generic web browser or
touchscreen, that processes information in environment 100 and
efficiently presents the results to the user. Server 102 can accept
data from client 104 via the web browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet
Explorer or Mozilla Firefox) and return the appropriate HTML or XML
responses to the browser using network 106.
[0035] In one aspect of operation, an application program 1040 is
started by the job scheduler 145 under a unique job identifier.
During execution, the application program 140 listens to
interruption events via an implemented interface of the
interruption service framework. When appropriate, the interruption
service framework triggers an interruption such as by user
interactions or by scheduled interruption events. If the triggered
interruption event is received by the background job of a
registered application program 140, it continues processing until
it reaches a consistent state or the next restart point. The
application program 140 can then pass its resuming conditions to
the interruption service framework by means of an implemented
interface. The interruption service framework stores the resuming
conditions together with the unique job identifier for the
interrupted job in its persistence layer 135. As such, the
application program can cleanly terminate mid-processing such that
it can restart at that intra-processing point. When appropriate,
the application program 140 can be restarted by the interruption
service framework by user interaction or a scheduled restart event.
This application background process is started based on the
corresponding persisted resuming conditions. The resumed background
job of the application program 140 continues until its final
termination or the next interruption.
[0036] To accomplish this functionality, job scheduler 145 may
comprise or be coupled with a plurality of components, including an
example interruption framework 300 as shown in FIG. 3. Here, the
decoupled interruption framework 300 facilitates interruption
communications between the job scheduler 145 and business
application 140. As such, the generic framework 300 may expose a
scheduling application programming interface (API) 305 to the job
scheduler and a registry API 215 and interruption API 310 to the
business application. As such, job schedulers 145 provided by
customers or third parties may be tailored to incorporate or
otherwise utilize this interruption capability. Moreover, disparate
business applications 140, whether developed in-house using
development environment 150 or provided by a software vendor, can
be customized so that they may be optionally interrupted. As shown
in FIG. 3, the generic interruption framework further includes or
references a user interface 116, the application registry 132, the
interruption engine 210, and a persistence layer 135 for storing
resuming information.
[0037] Using this or other suitable configurations, job scheduler
145, and interruption framework 300, may implement one computer
implemented process 600 for controlled interruption of batch job
processing such as that illustrated in example FIG. 6.
Specifically, computerized method 600 begins at step 605, where job
scheduler 145 executes a batch job in a job queue often using a job
definition 130. The execution may be based on a manual request
submitted via GUI 116, requested via business application 140, or
previously scheduled and it may be associated with an execution
priority. While job queues may not be utilized in every
configuration, if used, this job queue may automatically selected
or assigned based on a job category as appropriate. In another
words, reference to a "job queue" includes those situations where a
batch job processing system utilizes a single queue (even if not
uniquely identified) or does not utilize queues to categorize or
manage multiple batch jobs. Moreover, any number of jobs may
already be executing within the system or the particular job
queue.
[0038] Next, at step 610, the job scheduler identifies a second
batch job to be executed. The job scheduler 145 determines if the
job queue (or, more generally, the job processing system) is
currently capable of handling or otherwise processing the second
batch job at decisional step 615. This determination may be based
on priority limitations (e.g., only one "critical" job running at a
time), schedule limitations (e.g., print jobs much only run at
night), business limitations (e.g., only one journal entry or
period closing job running at a time in this queue), processing
limitations (e.g., computation of network roundtrips, processing
power, memory limitations, and job queue limitations), or any other
appropriate criteria. If the example job queue can handle the
second batch job, then it is executed at step 620.
[0039] But if the job queue is unable to currently process the
second batch job, then one or more jobs may be interrupted to make
room for the job if desired. As illustrated, the job scheduler (or
interruption framework 300) selects one or more jobs that are
currently executing at step 625. This selection may be based on job
priority (whether an execution priority or an interruption
priority), processing power or memory needed by the second job and
being utilized by the executing jobs, or based on any other of the
limitations identified above. In another example, this selection
may utilize the interruption registry to identify those jobs that
are capable of, or optionally flagged for, interruption. Once the
executing job is selected or otherwise identified, then the job
scheduler 145 triggers an interruption event for that job (or jobs)
at step 630. This triggers the controlled interruption of the batch
job and receipt of the resuming conditions for that interrupted job
at step 635. This resuming information may include a job
identifier, a restart point, or any other data to assist or
otherwise facilitate the clean execution of the interrupted job at
that intra-process point. The resuming conditions can then be
persisted in persistence layer 137, which is perhaps a database, at
step 640. At this point, assuming that the respective limitations
are removed via the interruption of other batch jobs, the second
batch job is executed at step 645.
[0040] The job scheduler 145 can then continue to monitor the job
queue for openings for the one or more interrupted jobs, as shown
by decisional step 650. Once an opening is identified, the job
scheduler 145 may select one or more of the "on hold" jobs for
execution at step 655. This selection may be based on a comparison
between job needs and job queue capability, job priority, time
elapsed since interruption, or any other suitable criteria.
[0041] In another example, business application 140, and
interruption framework 300, may implement one computer implemented
process 700 for controlled interruption of batch job processing
such as that illustrated in example FIG. 7. In this example, method
700 (relatively concurrently) involves execution of the respective
batch job at step 715 and implementation of a listener for
interruption events at step 705. Typically, the execution may occur
first and the listener agent initiation shortly thereafter.
Regardless, both steps are typically executing concurrently. Once
an interruption event is received, as shown by decisional step 710,
the application 140 interrupts normal execution at step 720. This
interruption may not involve an actual "interruption" of
processing, but instead sets a flag, variable, or other trigger
that helps ensure that the executing application terminates at the
next available restart point in a controlled fashion. These restart
points may be placed at appropriate logical locations within the
logic of the application by developers so that various tasks within
the job are completed without interruption, while still allowing
the program to be cleanly terminated intra-processing. As such, the
batch job is executing on processor 125 when it determines the
appropriate stopping point. Once the next restart point is reached,
the application 140 collects the resuming conditions at step 725.
Next, at step 730, this information is transmitted to the job
scheduler for persistence and subsequent usage. Then, the job
terminates, thereby opening up processing for another batch
job.
[0042] At some later point, if desired or appropriate, the
interrupted job can be restarted at the intra-processing restart
point without having to restart the batch job from the beginning.
For example, technique 700 illustrates that a restart command may
be issued by the job scheduler 145 (or interruption framework 300)
and received by the application 140 at step 740. Once the command
is received, the batch job collects the resuming conditions, often
from the persistence layer 137, at step 745 and resumes processing
at the restart point at step 750.
[0043] The preceding figures and accompanying description
illustrate processes and computer implementable techniques. But
environment 100 (or its software or other components) contemplates
using, implementing, or executing any suitable technique for
performing these and other tasks. It will be understood that these
processes are for illustration purposes only and that the described
or similar techniques may be performed at any appropriate time,
including concurrently, individually, or in combination. In
addition, many of the steps in these processes may take place
simultaneously and/or in different orders than as shown. Moreover,
environment 100 may use processes with additional steps, fewer
steps, and/or different steps, so long as the methods remain
appropriate. For example, the processing may be confined to
particular job queues or may automatically manage jobs across job
queues, including reassigning a first batch job request to a job
queue that includes an executing batch job capable of being
interrupted for the first batch job. In another example, the job
scheduler 145 (or interruption framework 300) may again determine
if the queue is capable of handling the second batch job (at
decisional step 615) after a first job is interrupted to ensure no
jobs have otherwise been executed that may affect the
determination. In yet another example, the job scheduler 145 may
place the queue "on hold" to keep other jobs from being executed
while this interruption processing is occurring.
[0044] In other words, although this disclosure has been described
in terms of certain implementations and generally associated
techniques and processes, alterations and permutations of these
implementations, techniques, and processes will be apparent to
those skilled in the art. As such, other implementations are within
the scope of the following claims.
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