Windows Scheduled Tasks Test

The Task Scheduler on Windows systems enables you to automatically perform routine tasks - eg., starting an application, sending an email, or showing a message box - on a chosen computer. Tasks can be scheduled to execute:

• When a specific system event occurs.
• At a specific time.
• At a specific time on a daily schedule.
• At a specific time on a weekly schedule.
• At a specific time on a monthly schedule.
• At a specific time on a monthly day-of-week schedule.
• When the computer enters an idle state.
• When the task is registered.
• When the system is booted.
• When a user logs on.
• When a Terminal Server session changes state.

Administrators need to continuously track the status of tasks so scheduled, so that they can always tell which tasks are running as per schedule and which scheduled tasks have failed. The Windows Scheduled Tasks test helps in this regard. This test monitors pre-configured tasks at periodic intervals and reports the count of tasks in various stages of progress. To determine which tasks are in what state currently, use the detailed diagnosis of the test.

Target of the test : A Windows host

Agent deploying the test : An internal/remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the Windows system being monitored

Configurable parameters for the test

TEST PERIOD - How often should the test be executed Host - The host for which the test is to be configured port - The port at which the specified host listens tasklist - By default, all is displayed here indicating that the test monitors all scheduled tasks by default. You can override this default setting by providing a comma-separated list of tasks to be monitored. Note that the task name specified here should be exactly the same as that which is displayed in the 'Scheduled Tasks' window that appears when the 'Scheduled Tasks' option in the Control Panel is clicked.  exclude folder – If this test is being configured for a Windows 2008 system, then you can exclude all scheduled tasks that reside in specific folders from the monitoring purview of this test. For this , provide a comma-separated list of folders to be excluded in this text box. For instance, \Microsoft,\*\Windows\*,\*\WPD,\*\Windows Defender. By default, this parameter is none.

Measurements made by the test

Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Running tasks	Indicates the number of tasks that are currently running.	Number
Succeeded tasks	Indicates the number of tasks that are not running currently, but ran successfully during its last scheduled execution.	Number	Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to know which tasks have succeeded.
Failed tasks	Indicates the number of tasks that failed currently.	Number	A task is said to have failed when the most recent attempt to start the task did not work. Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to view the failed tasks.
Disabled tasks	Indicates the number of tasks that are currently disabled.	Number	If one or more attempts to run a task was missed, then such a task is counted as a disabled task. Tasks that have been explicitly disabled by a user will also be included in the disabled tasks count.
Unknown tasks	Indicates the number of tasks that could not be identified.	Number	Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to determine the unknown tasks.
Queued tasks	Indicates the number of tasks in queue currently.	Number