How to Schedule a task in windows azure worker role

Question

I have a simple Azure Worker role running that performs a task every day at 12 PM. Below is the code that accomplishes this.

public override void Run()
{
    try
    {
        while (true)
        {
              int time = Convert.ToInt32(DateTime.Now.TimeOfDay);
              if (time == 12)
              {
                   DoSomethingElse();
              }
        }

    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        Log.Add(ex, true);
    }            
}

Here DoSomethingElse() is a method to send an email at every day 12 PM, and also fires once and only once per day.

How can I implement a scheduler that fire when the time is 12PM and execute DoSomethingElse().

My question is: Is this (above code) is the best method or use any 3rd party tool.

possible duplicate of [Azure - how do I run a job that calls a function in the webservice every hour?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8548159/azure-how-do-i-run-a-job-that-calls-a-function-in-the-webservice-every-hour) — David Makogon, Jun 05 '12 at 12:52
On a side-note, your code above will cause a tight loop, running the CPU constantly at 100% and may cause Azure to restart your worker role. You need to at the very least put a sleep statement in there. Or use a timer to wait. But, in any case, due to multi-instance you need to look for other answers to the scheduling like what Makogon is talking about. — flytzen, Jun 05 '12 at 20:49

David Makogon · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-05T13:06:13.543

5

There are several other questions here that deal with this (and I've marked one above). Having said that, and at the risk of repeating what other answers already state:

In your case, a simple message on a Windows Azure Queue, time-delayed to not show up until noon, would work. This also helps deal with multi-instance scenarios: If you're running two instances of your role, you don't want the same scheduled task running twice, so you need a way to have only one of those instances execute this code. This is easily handled via queue message, or you could run scheduler code on a single instance by using something like a blob lease (which may only have one write-lock against it) as a mutex. This is covered in @smarx's blog post, here.

edited Jun 05 '12 at 13:06

answered Jun 05 '12 at 12:50

David Makogon

69,407
21
141
189

But i have a doubt that if i implement it via queue message same problem still exixt becase multiple instance will create multiple que message at same time..? – Hope Jun 05 '12 at 13:03
1

True, it's a startup issue. Consider a mutex via blob lock. @smarx covered this in his blog post [here](http://blog.smarx.com/posts/building-a-task-scheduler-in-windows-azure). – David Makogon Jun 05 '12 at 13:05
Azure now has a simple scheduler service that calls an endpoint based on a highly configurable schedule. The problem is that it doesn't work for long running processes. The timeout is 30s and is not configurable. – AntonK Oct 19 '14 at 23:19
"This is easily handled via queue message" But how do you ensure only a single queue message gets added each day? – Mike Asdf Sep 01 '18 at 20:06

Alexandre Brisebois · Answer 2 · 2013-01-20T19:29:58.880

1

You could also use Quartz.Net http://quartznet.sourceforge.net/ using the blob lease mentioned ab ove is a great way to make sure only one of your instances is hosting tasks.

Using Quartz.Net to Schedule Jobs in Windows Azure Worker Roles

edited Jan 20 '13 at 19:29

answered Jan 20 '13 at 19:00

Alexandre Brisebois

6,599
12
50
69

AntonK · Answer 3 · 2014-10-19T23:15:35.727

0

Cloud Scheduler specifically deals with task scheduling in the cloud.

I just came across this so I Haven't tried it.

http://getcloudscheduler.com/

Update: Forget cloud scheduler! I ran my daily schedule 600 times consecutively resulting on 600 email being sent to my clients. Don't use!!!

edited Oct 19 '14 at 23:15

answered Jul 28 '14 at 01:59

AntonK

2,303
1
20
26

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered May 06 '15 at 18:20

0

Use the Azure Task Scheduler. Nice tutorial by Scott Gu here.

Specifically, I would look at the Storage Queue action type - just register for queue events in your Worker Role.

(Note that this service may cost money if you want to schedule tasks more frequently than every hour.)

answered May 06 '15 at 18:20

Dunc

18,404
6
86
103

I agree. This is the simpelest way. Just use a webhook to trigger the event. The Azure Task Scheduler is ridiculously expensive however for what it does. – Peter de Bruijn Dec 15 '16 at 11:11

How to Schedule a task in windows azure worker role

4 Answers4

Linked