Coding Workflow Schedules

As an alternative to defining schedules by using the CLI interface as described in Using a Scheduled Workflow, schedules can be defined in the workflow code as a property in the Object workflow. The properties used in Object workflows are different from the properties used in CLI schedule creation.

The following properties are used in Object workflows:

Table 9-13 Workflow Schedule Properties

Property	Type	Description
offset	Number	Determines the starting point in the defined period
period	Number	Defines the frequency of the schedule
unit	String	Specifies if either seconds or month are used as the unit in the offset and period definition

The schedules that are coded into the workflow can be changed by an administrator with appropriate authorizations to the workflow as shown in Using a Scheduled Workflow.

Example 9-16 Using Workflow Properties

The following code example illustrates the use of the properties. Note that inline arithmetic helps to make the offset and period declarations more readable.

// Example of using Schedule definitions within a workflow 
var MyTextObject = {
    MyVersion:  '1.0',
    MyName:     'Example 9',
    MyDescription:  'Example of use of Timer',
    Origin:     'Oracle'
};

var MySchedules = [
    // half hr interval
    { offset: 0, period: 1800, units: "seconds" },
    // offset 2 days, 4hr, 30min , week interval
    {offset: 2*24*60*60+4*60*60+30*60, period: 604800,units: "seconds" }
];

var workflow = {
    name:       MyTextObject.MyName,
    description:    MyTextObject.MyDescription,
    version:    MyTextObject.MyVersion,
    alert:      false,
    setid:      true,
    schedules:  MySchedules,
    scheduled:  true,
    origin:     MyTextObject.Origin,
    execute:    function () {
                audit('workflow started for timer');
               }
}

The property units in the Object MySchedules specifies the type of units used for the properties offset and period. They can be set to either seconds or month. The property period specifies the frequency of the event, and the offset specifies the units within the period. In the previous example, the period in the second schedule is set for a week, starting at the second day, at 4:30 a.m. Multiple schedules can be defined in the property schedules.

The Object MySchedules in the example uses the following three properties:

• offset - This is the starting offset from January 1, 1970 for the schedule. The offset is given in the units defined by the property units.

• period - This is the period between recurrences of the schedule, which is also given in the units defined by the property units.

• units - This can be defined in seconds or months.

The starting point for weekly schedules is Thursday. This is because the epoch is defined as starting on 1 Jan 1970, which was a Thursday.

Example 9-17 Workflow Schedule Shown in the CLI

In the previous example, the period in the second schedule uses a starting offset of 2 days + 4 hours + 30 minutes. This results in the starting date being January 3, 1970 at 4:30 a.m. The schedule recurs weekly indefinitely every Saturday at 4:30 a.m. Below, you can see the display of the schedule in the CLI.

hostname:> maintenance workflows
hostname:maintenance workflows> list
WORKFLOW     NAME                           OWNER SETID ORIGIN        VERSION
workflow-018 Check metaslab_unload_delay    root  false Oracle ZFSSA  1.0
workflow-019 Check metaslab_unload_timeout  root  false Oracle ZFSSA  1.0
workflow-020 Example 9                      root  true  <local>       1.0
workflow-021 Set DNLC size and ncsize       root  false Data and App  2.0
workflow-022 Stop Existing SSH Sessions     root  false <local>       0.2
hostname: maintenance workflows> select name="Example 9"
hostname: maintenance workflow-020> schedules
hostname: maintenance workflow-020 schedules> ls
Schedules:
NAME                 FREQUENCY            DAY                  HH:MM
schedule-000         halfhour             -                    --:00
schedule-001         week                 Saturday             04:30