Scheduler throttling

Throttling is used to manage performance when a large number of processes are likely to place high demands on the system. Throttling is based on scheduler groups that you set up on the Settings > Configuration page. You assign a throttling threshold to a group, and associate schedules with that group.

The throttling threshold is the highest number of runs associated with that group that can run concurrently. To reduce resource consumption on the server, you can set the throttling threshold to a smaller value. Only schedules created in the HCL® Marketing Software Scheduler are subject to throttling.

Unlimited threshold in the default group

All schedules must belong to a throttling group. If you do not want to enable throttling for a schedule, make it a member of the Default scheduler group (the default selected option in the Scheduler Group field when you create a schedule). This group has a high throttling threshold, which effectively means that no throttling is in place.

Throttling exception

If you run a flowchart from within Campaign or by using the Campaign unica_svradm utility, these runs do not count in the throttling threshold, and they begin execution immediately.

Throttling examples

  • If system resources are a concern, you can use throttling to manage the load on a server. For example, if many complex Campaign flowcharts must be run, you can assign them to a throttling group that limits the number of flowcharts that can be run at the same time. This throttling helps to manage the load on the Campaign server or the marketing database.
  • You can use throttling to set priorities for schedules. By assigning high-priority schedules to a group with a high throttling threshold, you ensure that runs of these schedules are performed using system resources as efficiently as possible. You should assign lower-priority schedules to groups with lower throttling thresholds.
  • If you have a flowchart that is scheduled with a recurrence pattern, you can use throttling to ensure that runs occur in sequence, without overlapping. For example, suppose you have scheduled a flowchart with a recurrence pattern set to execute a run every hour for 10 hours. If the flowchart takes more than one hour to complete a run, the next run could attempt to begin before the previous run is completed, resulting in failure because the still running flowchart would be locked. To ensure that this does not happen, you can create a throttling group with a threshold of 1, and assign the flowchart's schedule to this group.