Task manager overview

The task manager service is a REST web application that can be used to run background or asynchronous tasks for any repositories. The task manager service allows you to create and run automated and scheduled tasks. In addition, you can use the service to run large tasks in the background while you do other tasks.

The task manager service is a Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 compliant web application. The task manager component, which is used to configure and deploy the task manager service, is included with the IBM Content Navigator web application. In addition, the task manager service is fully supported in the IBM Content Navigator plug-in APIs

When the task manager component is deployed, the task manager service offers the following features:
  • A scalable, high-availability REST application to run asynchronous background tasks.
  • Flexible task scheduling capabilities.
    The task manager service offers multiple scheduling capabilities. Tasks can be scheduled in the following ways:
    • Run immediately.
    • Run at a specific time.
    • Run at a recurring interval.
    The task manager service uses the timer service of Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 for scheduling and supports calendar-based scheduling expressions as defined by Java.
  • The capability and framework to write custom tasks that can be scheduled and run.
  • Custom tasks that can generate audit logs for auditing purposes.
  • Custom tasks that can generate batches to run sequentially or in parallel for faster processing.
  • A full set of IBM Content Navigator APIs to communicate, schedule, and retrieve task information.
    The API includes
    • A model layer
    • A service layer
    • Plug-in support through IBM Content Navigator
  • An asynchronous task page feature inside of IBM Content Navigator that allows plug-in writers to attach custom tasks and schedule or to view tasks in IBM Content Navigator
The task manager uses three web application security roles to manage access to the task manager services:
TaskAdmins
These users have full capabilities to schedule, view, and delete any tasks that are scheduled in the system.
TaskUsers
These users can schedule, view, and delete tasks that they created.
TaskAuditors
These users can view audit data for any tasks in the system.
Important: An Apache Derby database is not to be used in production, as it is not supported.