923228 - Background job sched.: using processes that have become free

Symptom

Due to how background systems work (see also Note 24092), many background jobs may be subject to delays even though free background work processes are almost always available.

Other Terms

Immediate start, SM37, resources, jobs do not start

Reason and Prerequisites

Details of how to improve the system.

Solution

The background scheduler (which usually only runs every N seconds) reacts dynamically to an increasing number of waiting jobs from now on. (N is the value of the rdisp/btctime profile parameter, which has a default value of 60.)

From a technical point of view, the background scheduler now reacts to the fact that a job has been completed and releases its background work process. This event triggers the start of the background scheduler, which then starts as many waiting jobs as possible.

This organizes the background work processes better, which considerably increases the throughput of the background processing.

Consequences of implementing a dynamic background scheduler:Earlier proposals and solutions to improve the throughput of the background processing can be replaced by the enhancement described in this note.
Changes in the settings:

1. The rdisp/btctime profile parameter is no longer essential for when waiting jobs are started. For this reason, you can set it to 60 on each server again.

2. The RSBTCSEXE program ("Quick job starter", see Note 599835) is no longer needed (see below).

3. The number of background work processes must still be adjusted for the background load.

Solution for Basis Release 7.1
The enhancement is delivered by default. The RSBTCSEXE program was deleted.

Solution for Basis Release 7.0
The enhancement is delivered by default. The entire source code of the RSBTCSEXE program was deleted. The program now only issues the message " Please read Note 923228" and then terminates.

Solution for Release Basis 4.6C - 640
The enhancement is delivered but not activated by default. The RSBTCSEXE program remains operative if the enhancement is not activated. This prevents the enhancement and the RSBTCSEXE program from running simultaneously.

To activate the enhancement, add the following entry to the BTCOPTIONS table (Transaction SE16):
BTCOPTION = BTC_DYNAMICAL_TIME_SDL
VALUE1    = ON
VALUE2    = <any comment>

Implementing the enhancement

1. Implement the program corrections, or import the relevant Support Package belonging to this note.

For Basis Releases 4.6C  640, note that you must still insert the entry above into the BTCOPTIONS table to use the new function.

2. Updating the RSBTCSEXE program (you only need this program if you do not want to permanently activate the enhanced version of the background scheduler, or if you do not want to activate it at all):

a) Option 1: Import the corresponding Support Package from Note 599835. As a precaution, deallocate all background jobs that were scheduled with the program and named in Note 599835, delete all the Z versions created for this program from the system, and reschedule the RSBTCSEXE program in the background.

b) Option 2: Download the new version of this program from the attachment in Note 599835.

              Make sure that the RSBTCSEXE program can only run if the enhancement is deactivated.

Header Data

Released On	30.10.2009 11:47:02
Release Status	Released for Customer
Component	BC-CCM-BTC Background Processing
Priority	Correction with medium priority
Category	Performance