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Implementing Better Task Scheduling for Servers?

Posted by Cliff on from the complex-cron-jobs dept.

trifakir asks: "We are running some quite expensive SunFire servers with Solaris 8. In the 'crontabs' of these hosts we have scheduled maybe some hundred odd jobs, which are constrained by multiple factors: dependencies on other jobs, time constrains, CPU and memory usage, network bandwidth, and so on. Obviously this imposes a CSP. On the other hand the number of these jobs, each one of them can take from minutes to hours is growing and we are now experiencing performance problems given the limited resources we have. Of course we have opened the bag-of-tricks with our best *ad-hoc* solutions, using mostly Open Source software, to turn our system into an event-based and less dependent on the scheduling expertise of the admins. At certain point we were considering using AutoSys and I was looking for a grid-like scheduler like OpenPBS, both of which were discarded for various reasons. I am curious, how you guys, would solve this problem, which seems very trivial for many environments. Both advice about theory (scheduling) and practice will help us and any other readers who may be tackling this difficult problem."

6 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. OMFG!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think this is the first Ask Slashdot question ever asked that can't be answerd by a search on Google. Nice!

    Now let's see if anyone even has an answer...

    1. Re:OMFG!? by jon787 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Now let's see if anyone even has an answer...

      No, no, no thats not how an Ask Slashdot works!

      One group berates the person for not Googling first.
      Another points out this has been asked before.
      A third group goes and argues about a minor detail in the question instead of the real issue.
      A fourth will make jokes completely irrelevant to the issue
      The next group will troll the debate by saying Windows already does it.
      One person will eventually answer the actual question but they will get modded to -1 because their answer isn't nearly as interesting as the rest of the comments.
      --
      X(7): A program for managing terminal windows. See also screen(1).
  2. Re:My solution by c0d3h4x0r · · Score: 2, Funny

    +sqrt(pi), Confused

    Please refrain from squirting in the pie.

    --
    Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
  3. Celebrity Slashdotter by c0d3h4x0r · · Score: 5, Funny

    I am curious, how you guys, would solve this problem, which seems very trivial for many environments.

    Oh my god! Christopher Walken posts on Slashdot!

    --
    Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
    1. Re:Celebrity Slashdotter by Enry · · Score: 3, Funny

      Then it's obvious.

      Your servers need more cowbell!

  4. "Click and Pray" by MarcQuadra · · Score: 3, Funny

    you'll find yourself randomly clicking on buttons and menu items while praying and cursing

    You're the reason my bank statements were two days late last month, aren't you?

    --
    "Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails