This note started out as an idea for how to add more priority levels to the PeopleSoft Process Scheduler to improve control over prioritisation of processes in a complex batch. While testing I found some interesting behaviour that I had not expected. I will also explain how I did some of my tests, because they are easily reproducible.
That’s fine, but sometimes in a very complex batch environment 3 process levels are not enough, and it would be useful to have more priority levels so that it is possible to define the hierarchy of processing to a finer level.
There does not appear to be anything special about the priorities delivered by PeopleSoft. They do not appear to be hard-coded anywhere within the SQL submitted Process Scheduler. As you might expect, some of the queries are sorted in descending order of priority.
The priority of a process in the Process Scheduler is defined by the single character field PRCSPRIORITY on the record PRCSDEFN. All you have to do is define addition translate values
The new priorities can be assigned via the delivered components.
I started with the intention of applying the new priority level to processes through the delivered component. However, I encountered some quirky behaviour from the Process Scheduler and Master Process Scheduler. There is something happening inside the programs rather than the SQL where they do not always take the process with the highest priority if that priority is not one of the delivered values. Therefore, I do not recommend using the new priorities on process definitions.
However, Server Categories also have priorities. Testing has shown that the priority of the Process Category take precedence over the priority on the Process Definition.
The new server categories should be defined in the Process Category Administration page of the Process Scheduler System Settings component
Then priorities and maximum concurrencies can be assigned to the categories in each Process Scheduler Server definition.
Testing the Additional Priorities
I have (with some assistance) constructed a simple test harness. I have an Application Engine program, AE_SLEEP, that does nothing, but sleeps for a period of time by calling the Java Sleep() method in a PeopleCode step.
I have a number of other Application engine programs that have different priorities, or that are in categories with different priorities, that call AE_SLEEP.
Finally, there is a process AE_SLEEP_RUN which submits requests for the other processes based on a control table. In this test I will be setting up some test data to demonstrate how the Process Scheduler behaves, in the next article, I will be modeling the behaviour of a real batch load from a real system
So the AE_SLEEP_RUN will schedule one process every 5 seconds. The lowest priority processes are scheduled first.
I can query what actually happened with the following SQL.
In all of the examples below, the first three low-priority processes run first because they are scheduled to run and therefore start before the higher priority processes are scheduled. The Process Scheduler is then blocked until all the other processes are due to have run, and so priority determines while processes the scheduler starts next.
However, due to a quirk in Process Scheduler, the processes are not assigned to the Process Scheduler in time order. In the following example, AE_SLEEP5 was executed before AE_SLEEP6.
But if the non-standard priority jobs are put in a different category, they are executed in the right order. It would appear that there is some logic in the Master Process Scheduler (and not in the SQL queries it submits) that works category by category.
If there are two new priorities in the new category, then they do not run in the right order.
However, if I create a separate category for each priority, and assign the priority to that category in the server definition, then the processes run in the desired order.
Conclusion
The Process Scheduler does not reliably take process priorities into account when scheduling processes, so I do not recommend using the additional priorities on processes, just the three delivered priorities (1, 5, and 9).
However, all the priorities do work properly on process categories. The priority of the server class does not appear to have any effect (I have not produced results for those tests here).
The priority of the category to which a process belongs takes precedence over the priority of the process. Thus a low priority process in a high priority category will be executed by the Process Scheduler in preference to a high priority process in a low priority category. Naturally if two processes are in the same category, or categories of equal priority, the higher priority process will be scheduled first.
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Andy Mason of Business Integrations for contributing to the initial concept and the Java code to make Application Engine sleep and assistance with the test harness.
Further Reading
I have published a paper on my website that describes how to extend this technique to model a real production batch, and predict the impact of Process Scheduler configuration changes.
More Priority Levels
By default, PeopleSoft process can be given priority 1 (low), 5 (medium), and 9 (high). If the Process Scheduler is too busy to start all the processes scheduled to be started, it starts the higher priority ones in preference to the lower priority.That’s fine, but sometimes in a very complex batch environment 3 process levels are not enough, and it would be useful to have more priority levels so that it is possible to define the hierarchy of processing to a finer level.
There does not appear to be anything special about the priorities delivered by PeopleSoft. They do not appear to be hard-coded anywhere within the SQL submitted Process Scheduler. As you might expect, some of the queries are sorted in descending order of priority.
The priority of a process in the Process Scheduler is defined by the single character field PRCSPRIORITY on the record PRCSDEFN. All you have to do is define addition translate values
I started with the intention of applying the new priority level to processes through the delivered component. However, I encountered some quirky behaviour from the Process Scheduler and Master Process Scheduler. There is something happening inside the programs rather than the SQL where they do not always take the process with the highest priority if that priority is not one of the delivered values. Therefore, I do not recommend using the new priorities on process definitions.
The new server categories should be defined in the Process Category Administration page of the Process Scheduler System Settings component
Then priorities and maximum concurrencies can be assigned to the categories in each Process Scheduler Server definition.
Testing the Additional Priorities
I have (with some assistance) constructed a simple test harness. I have an Application Engine program, AE_SLEEP, that does nothing, but sleeps for a period of time by calling the Java Sleep() method in a PeopleCode step.
Local JavaObject &Obj;Local ProcessRequest &RQST;
MessageBox(0, "", 0, 0, "Sleep Begin for " | GFC_SLEEP_AET.DURATION.Value | " seconds ");
&Obj = CreateJavaObject("java.lang.Thread");&Obj.start();
&Obj.sleep(GFC_SLEEP_AET.DURATION.Value * 1000);
MessageBox(0, "", 0, 0, "Sleep END");
I have a number of other Application engine programs that have different priorities, or that are in categories with different priorities, that call AE_SLEEP.
Finally, there is a process AE_SLEEP_RUN which submits requests for the other processes based on a control table. In this test I will be setting up some test data to demonstrate how the Process Scheduler behaves, in the next article, I will be modeling the behaviour of a real batch load from a real system
TRUNCATE TABLE ps_gfc_sleep_rc / INSERT INTO ps_gfc_sleep_rc (run_cntl_id, prcstype, prcsname, offset_amount, duration, rundttm, last_run_cntl_id, next_run_cntl_id) SELECT level, 'Application Engine', 'AE_SLEEP'||level, 5*level, 175, NULL, ' ', ' ' FROM dual CONNECT BY level <= 9 / COMMIT / ALTER SESSION SET NLS_DATE_FORMAT='hh24:mi:ss'; set lines 120 COLUMN run_cntl_id FORMAT a8 heading 'Run|Control' COLUMN last_run_cntl_id FORMAT a8 heading 'Last|Run|Control' COLUMN next_run_cntl_id FORMAT a8 heading 'Next|Run|Control' COLUMN prcsinstance FORMAT 99999 HEADING 'PRCS|INSTANCE' COLUMN offset_amount FORMAT 9999 HEADING 'Offset|Amount' COLUMN rownum FORMAT 99 HEADING 'Row|#' COLUMN prcstype FORMAT a18 COLUMN prcsname FORMAT a12 COLUMN prcsprty FORMAT 9 HEADING 'PRCS|PRTY' COLUMN prcscategory FORMAT a11 HEADING 'PRCS|CATEGORY' COLUMN serverassign FORMAT a6 HEADING 'SERVER|ASSIGN' COLUMN runstatus FORMAT a6 HEADING 'RUN|STATUS' SELECT run_cntl_id, prcsname, offset_amount, duration, rundttm FROM ps_gfc_sleep_rc /
So the AE_SLEEP_RUN will schedule one process every 5 seconds. The lowest priority processes are scheduled first.
Run Offset Control PRCSNAME RUNDTTM Amount DURATION -------- ------------ -------- ------ ---------- 1 AE_SLEEP1 5 175 2 AE_SLEEP2 10 175 3 AE_SLEEP3 15 175 4 AE_SLEEP4 20 175 5 AE_SLEEP5 25 175 6 AE_SLEEP6 30 175 7 AE_SLEEP7 35 175 8 AE_SLEEP8 40 175 9 AE_SLEEP9 45 175
I can query what actually happened with the following SQL.
SELECT rownum, a.* FROM ( SELECT SYSDATE, q.prcsinstance, q.prcsname, q.prcsprty, q.rundttm , r.begindttm, r.enddttm, q.serverassign, q.runstatus --, r.prcscategory FROM psprcsrqst r, psprcsque q WHERE r.prcsinstance = q.prcsinstanceAND r.prcsname like 'AE_SLEEP_' AND r.prcsinstance > ( SELECT MAX(prcsinstance) FROM psprcsrqst WHERE prcsname = 'AE_SLEEP_RUN' AND runstatus = '9') ORDER BY r.begindttm, q.prcsprty DESC, q.rundttm, r.prcsinstance) a /
In all of the examples below, the first three low-priority processes run first because they are scheduled to run and therefore start before the higher priority processes are scheduled. The Process Scheduler is then blocked until all the other processes are due to have run, and so priority determines while processes the scheduler starts next.
However, due to a quirk in Process Scheduler, the processes are not assigned to the Process Scheduler in time order. In the following example, AE_SLEEP5 was executed before AE_SLEEP6.
Row PRCS # SYSDATE INSTANCE PRCSNAME RUNDTTM BEGINDTTM ENDDTTM --- --------- -------- ------------ -------- --------- -------- 1 13:14:17 4583 AE_SLEEP1 13:03:27 13:03:55 13:07:08 2 13:14:17 4584 AE_SLEEP2 13:03:32 13:03:55 13:07:08 3 13:14:17 4585 AE_SLEEP3 13:03:37 13:03:55 13:07:08 4 13:14:17 4591 AE_SLEEP9 13:04:07 13:07:12 13:10:27 5 13:14:17 4587 AE_SLEEP5 13:03:47 13:07:13 13:10:27 6 13:14:17 4588 AE_SLEEP6 13:03:52 13:07:13 13:10:27 7 13:14:17 4586 AE_SLEEP4 13:03:42 13:10:31 13:13:46 8 13:14:17 4589 AE_SLEEP7 13:03:57 13:10:47 13:14:01 9 13:14:17 4590 AE_SLEEP8 13:04:02 13:10:47 13:14:01
But if the non-standard priority jobs are put in a different category, they are executed in the right order. It would appear that there is some logic in the Master Process Scheduler (and not in the SQL queries it submits) that works category by category.
Row PRCS PRCS SERVER RU # SYSDATE INSTANCE PRCSNAME PRTY RUNDTTM BEGINDTT ENDDTTM ASSIGN ST PRCSCATEGORY --- -------- -------- ------------ ---- -------- -------- -------- ------ -- ------------ 1 17:44:21 4681 AE_SLEEP5 5 17:31:10 17:31:24 17:34:39 PSNT 9 Default 2 17:44:21 4682 AE_SLEEP5 5 17:31:13 17:31:24 17:34:39 PSNT 9 Default 3 17:44:21 4683 AE_SLEEP5 5 17:31:16 17:31:40 17:34:56 PSNT 9 Default 4 17:44:21 4690 AE_SLEEP7 7 17:32:43 17:34:43 17:37:57 PSNT 9 Priority 9 5 17:44:21 4689 AE_SLEEP7 7 17:32:44 17:34:43 17:37:57 PSNT 9 Priority 9 6 17:44:21 4688 AE_SLEEP7 7 17:32:45 17:34:59 17:38:14 PSNT 9 Priority 9 7 17:44:21 4687 AE_SLEEP7 7 17:32:46 17:38:01 17:41:16 PSNT 9 Priority 9 8 17:44:21 4684 AE_SLEEP5 5 17:31:19 17:38:01 17:41:16 PSNT 9 Default 9 17:44:21 4685 AE_SLEEP5 5 17:31:22 17:38:17 17:41:33 PSNT 9 Default 10 17:44:21 4686 AE_SLEEP5 5 17:31:25 17:41:20 17:44:20 PSNT 9 Default
If there are two new priorities in the new category, then they do not run in the right order.
Row PRCS PRCS SERVER RUN # SYSDATE INSTANCE PRCSNAME PRTY RUNDTTM BEGINDTT ENDDTTM ASSIGN STATUS PRCSCATEGORY --- -------- -------- ------------ ---- -------- -------- -------- ------ ------ ------------ 1 19:01:58 4716 AE_SLEEP5 5 18:06:58 18:07:26 18:10:40 PSNT 9 Default 2 19:01:58 4718 AE_SLEEP5 5 18:07:04 18:07:26 18:10:40 PSNT 9 Default 3 19:01:58 4719 AE_SLEEP5 5 18:07:07 18:07:26 18:10:40 PSNT 9 Default 4 19:01:58 4723 AE_SLEEP6 6 18:08:25 18:10:44 18:13:43 PSNT 9 Priority 9 5 19:01:58 4722 AE_SLEEP6 6 18:08:30 18:10:44 18:13:43 PSNT 9 Priority 9 6 19:01:58 4717 AE_SLEEP5 5 18:07:01 18:10:44 18:13:43 PSNT 9 Default 7 19:01:58 4724 AE_SLEEP7 7 18:08:40 18:14:02 18:17:00 PSNT 9 Priority 9 8 19:01:58 4725 AE_SLEEP7 7 18:08:45 18:14:02 18:17:00 PSNT 9 Priority 9 9 19:01:58 4720 AE_SLEEP5 5 18:07:10 18:14:02 18:17:00 PSNT 9 Default 10 19:01:58 4721 AE_SLEEP5 5 18:07:13 18:17:18 18:20:17 PSNT 9 Default
However, if I create a separate category for each priority, and assign the priority to that category in the server definition, then the processes run in the desired order.
Row PRCS PRCS SERVER RUN # SYSDATE INSTANCE PRCSNAME PRTY RUNDTTM BEGINDTT ENDDTTM ASSIGN STATUS PRCSCATEGORY --- -------- -------- ------------ ---- -------- -------- -------- ------ ------ ------------ 1 19:38:00 4740 AE_SLEEP5 5 19:25:10 19:25:23 19:28:23 PSNT 9 Default 2 19:38:00 4741 AE_SLEEP5 5 19:25:13 19:25:39 19:28:38 PSNT 9 Default 3 19:38:00 4742 AE_SLEEP5 5 19:25:16 19:25:39 19:28:38 PSNT 9 Default 4 19:38:00 4748 AE_SLEEP7 7 19:26:52 19:28:41 19:31:41 PSNT 9 Priority 7 5 19:38:00 4749 AE_SLEEP7 7 19:26:57 19:28:58 19:31:56 PSNT 9 Priority 7 6 19:38:00 4747 AE_SLEEP6 6 19:26:37 19:28:58 19:31:56 PSNT 9 Priority 6 7 19:38:00 4746 AE_SLEEP6 6 19:26:42 19:32:00 19:34:59 PSNT 9 Priority 6 8 19:38:00 4743 AE_SLEEP5 5 19:25:19 19:32:16 19:35:15 PSNT 9 Default 9 19:38:00 4744 AE_SLEEP5 5 19:25:22 19:32:16 19:35:16 PSNT 9 Default 10 19:38:00 4745 AE_SLEEP5 5 19:25:25 19:35:02 19:37:59 PSNT 9 Default
Conclusion
The Process Scheduler does not reliably take process priorities into account when scheduling processes, so I do not recommend using the additional priorities on processes, just the three delivered priorities (1, 5, and 9).
However, all the priorities do work properly on process categories. The priority of the server class does not appear to have any effect (I have not produced results for those tests here).
The priority of the category to which a process belongs takes precedence over the priority of the process. Thus a low priority process in a high priority category will be executed by the Process Scheduler in preference to a high priority process in a low priority category. Naturally if two processes are in the same category, or categories of equal priority, the higher priority process will be scheduled first.
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Andy Mason of Business Integrations for contributing to the initial concept and the Java code to make Application Engine sleep and assistance with the test harness.
Further Reading
I have published a paper on my website that describes how to extend this technique to model a real production batch, and predict the impact of Process Scheduler configuration changes.
@go-faster.co.uk on BlueSky
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