I have a job that consists of a number of different tasks, including several SQL tasks.

The first task in the job is a SQL task to truncate a table.
That task has no conditions.
On all errors, it is set to go to a task that runs a SQL query
to check a status value,
and then completes the following tasks in order.
It has no timeouts set.
It is set to e-mail me on error.

The task that runs the query to check ths status value is much later in the task sequence.
It also has no conditions.
On all errors, it is set to go to the last task in the job,
which truncates the same table as the first task did.
It also has no timeouts set.
It also is set to e-mail me on error.

The last task in the job truncates the same table as the first task did.
This task also has no conditions.
On all errors, it stops the job.
It also has no timeouts set.
It also notifies me via e-mail on error.

My job is set to run every 5 minutes, with an exception
for the nightly server maintenance period.
The job is set to not start if it is already running.
It does not put the scheduled job in a queue.
It is set to run the tasks in order.
The job is conditioned on the value of a flag that is set when the server restarts.
It has no timeouts.
There are no job-level notifications (only task-level notifications).



I just experienced an error condition where my SQL tasks were not able to log in to the database (most likely the SQL Server database went down temporarily). I then received an onslaught of notification e-mails for the first task in the job, which only stopped when I disabled both the job and the first task in the job.

Looking at the job and task list in the UI, I see that both the first task and the
status value-checking task experienced thes ame error attempting to connect to the SQL Server database. However, the first task's last run time is 2 minutes later than the last run time for the status value-checking task. The final task never experienced the error, and its last run time is 5 minutes before the failure of the value-checking task.

This tells me that, despite my logic specifying the tasks that should be performed in the event of failure, VisualCron is repeatedly re-attempting to run the first task.

Questions:
1. Why is VisualCron repeatedly attempting to run the first task in my job rather than following the logic I set in the tasks on errors?
2. What can I do to fix this (or is it a bug, and how soon can you get it fixed)?

Thanks,

Rebeccah

Have you checked the flow chart of the Job? It is often easy to see the Task flow there and see which part redirects back to any Task (leading to infinite runs).

---

I hadn't konwn about the flow chart feature, but I see it now. I will take a look.

Thanks,

Rebeccah

OK, I've figured out how to reproduce this task looping problem. It has nothing to do with conditions, and seems to be a bug that is triggered when one task is configured OnError to go to another task *and* Run following tasks in order, and the task that execution passes to also fails, with a similar configuration to a third task *and* Run following tasks in order.

This can be set up as a 3-task job.
Each task executes a batch file consisting of one line,
exit 1
Each task has an E-Mail Notification to send on error.
The first task OnError should Go to the second task
and Run following tasks in order.
The second task OnError should Go to the third task
and Run following tasks in order.
The third task OnError should Stop job.

Save the job and run it, and you will get a flurry of error notification e-mails for the first task, until you stop the job.

I am using VisualCron version 5.7.0.

Thanks,

Rebeccah

Thanks Rebeccah, we are able to reproduce this and will try to fix this as soon as possible. We noticed that this is related to "Run following Tasks in order" and no problems arise when this is unchecked.

---

I am attaching a new version which we have applied the fix to. Hopefully we have eliminated your problems in this version.

---

Thanks, Henrik. That did the trick. Had to install the new client, though. And for some reason my old settings weren't being picked up, but fortunately I run the backup job every day, so I was easily able to restore them.

Rebeccah

It would be great if we could get the old settings + the log_serverDATE.txt from you emailed to support@visualcron.com so we can examine what happened.

---