Overview

Ultra Tasks define the configuration to run an Ultra Pipeline on a Snaplex. When you activate an Ultra Task, the associated Snaplex starts one or more Pipeline instances that continuously process documents from a Feedmaster or another message queue. If you modify assets related to an active Ultra Task, in some cases, the Snaplex restarts the Pipeline instances automatically.

For high availability and disaster recovery, you can run a Pipeline in multiple regions. To do this, create multiple Ultra Tasks for the same Pipeline using the same alias. Assign each Ultra Task to a Snaplexex in a different region. When an Ultra Pipeline in one region fails, a Snaplex in another region can run the Ultra Task by invoking the Ultra Task with the same alias. Learn more about the deployment architecture for providing high availability and disaster recovery.

You can tune Ultra Task performance by specifying the number of Pipeline instances to run and the maximum number of documents that one instance should process at a time. Also, you can specify how many times a Pipeline can fail before the Snaplex disables the Ultra Task. Configuration Options describes the fields that control these behaviors: Instances (per Snaplex), Max In-Flight, and Maximum Failures.

Instances Per Snaplex

When you create an Ultra Task, you have the option to load balance processing across nodes. The number of instances controls how many pipelines are started to process the Ultra requests. Since the pipelines are automatically started and are always running, the number of pipelines needs to be balanced. Having too many instances uses up slots, resulting in extra load on the node. Having too few could result in delays for requests if the request volume is higher than running instances.

Manual

As a default option, this selection sets the number of pipeline instances to start, regardless of the number of JCC nodes. Use this setting in Ultra Tasks where the pipeline limits the number of concurrent calls from downstream systems.

For example:

An Ultra Pipeline calls a SOAP service and the service can process five API calls at one time => Set the number of instances to 5 for the Snaplex.

Instances per Node

This selection sets the number of pipeline instances per node. Use this setting during times when the request volume on the Ultra Task is predictably steady and when there are no limits on the number of concurrent requests that the downstream systems can process.

Do not use this setting for pipelines designed for continuous data flow, such as polling pipelines. Running a pipeline with an Listener or Polling Snap with an open view will result in duplicate pipeline instances. This design is referred to informally as headless Ultra. This setting is strictly for response-request pipeline designs.

This setting does not guarantee 2 instances per node, but 8 nodes in total. The balancing mechanism is designed to distribute them evenly.

For example:

Setting this to 2 runs two pipeline instances on each JCC node. Setting this to four runs eight instances start.

This setting suits both types of Ultra Pipelines, providing redundancy through scaling.

AutoScaling

Scale the number of pipeline instances based on the number of requests being processed. This option can be used when the request rate is expected to be variable, with low and peak volumes being significantly different.

Always-on Ultra Pipelines do not support AutoScaling because they do not require a FeedMaster.

Prerequisites

A Snaplex with one or more Feedmaster nodes.
Write permissions for the Project Space.
A valid Pipeline.

Workflow

Use Designer or Manager to create an Ultra Task.
Invoke the Ultra Task as described in Invoking Ultra Pipelines as Tasks.
Check status by Viewing Ultra Task Execution Details. Monitor Ultra Pipeline from the Dashboard Pipeline tab.

Limitation

The names of assets, projects, or project spaces are restricted to UTF-8 alphanumeric characters and certain special characters, excluding the comma.

Creating an Ultra Task

From Designer or Manager, open the Create Task dialog:
- In Designer with the Pipeline open, in the toolbar, click More Tools. Click Create Task and select Ultra Task:
- In Manager, from the left navigation, select the Project containing the Pipeline. In the toolbar, click Create and select Task > Ultra Task.
  
  The Create Task dialog displays:
Edit the required fields:
1. Name. Enter a name. This name is used in the URL when the Pipeline has unconnected inputs/outputs.
  The names of assets, projects, or project spaces are limited to UTF-8 alphanumeric characters and these special characters except for comma: !"$%&'()*+-.:;<=>@[]^_`{|}~.
2. Pipeline. If not already selected, click the drop-down menu and select the Pipeline to be triggered by the Ultra Task.
  If you choose a Pipeline that contains parameters, the parameters display in the Create Task dialog, where you can modify them. In the following example, the parameter keys path, full, and table name are displayed, with their entries as the corresponding values. In the full field, the values contain nested JSON.
3. Snaplex. From the drop-down menu, select a Snaplex that has a Feedmaster.
Modify the applicable optional fields as described in Configuration Options.
Click Save.
(Optional) To create an API in API Manager, click Save and create API. Learn more about creating APIs from Ultra Tasks.

Configuration Options

Field	Description

Field	Description
Notifications	Enables email notifications based on the status of the Scheduled Task. If your Org supports Slack notifications, you can add Slack channels or recipients. To use notifications: In Notifications, enter each recipient's email address, separated by commas. If Slack notifications are configured for your Org, the following fields display. You can select from the dropdown list or start typing a name to find it in the list: Direct Message(s). Select individuals to receive notifications. Channels. Select channels to receive notifications. Select the status that triggers notifications from the When Task has selector: Started. The Task is activated. Completed. The Task is completed. Failed. The associated Pipeline did not execute. Stopped. The associated Pipeline has stopped abruptly and the Task is no longer running.
Number of Instances	Select from the dropdown to scale the running instances for the Ultra Tasks. Manual per snaplex: Specifies the number of instances per Snaplex equal to or greater than 1. Default: 1 Minimum: 1 Maximum: 1000 Manual per node: Specifies the number of instances per node, which must be in the range of 1-99 inclusively. The total number of instances is based on available nodes. By default, the instance value is set to 1. Autoscale based on feedmaster queue: (Advanced option) Specifies the minimum and the maximum numbers of instances per Snaplex, which must be in the range of 1-99 inclusively. By default, the instance values are set to 1. You can also view details of the Auto-scaling events in the Activity log under the Snaplex tab with information on the previous and current configurations.
Alias	Use an alias to run an Ultra Task in multiple regions for high availability and disaster recovery. Use the same alias in multiple Ultra Tasks that run the same Pipeline. When an Ultra Task in one region fails, a Snaplex in another region can run the Pipeline by invoking the Ultra Task that shares the Alias name. The Ultra Task that shares the Alias must be in the same project folder as the primary Ultra Task, but be deployed to different Snaplex instances.
Bearer Token	An automatically generated token for the HTTP Authorization header. If you clear this field, authentication is not required. You can also set the value yourself.
Maximum Failures	Specifies an optional threshold when the pipeline fails to start. If the number of failures reaches the threshold, the Snaplex disables the Ultra Task. The default value is 10. The maximum value is 1000. Set the value to 0 to remove the limitation on pipeline failures. During development, the pipeline can be in an invalid state and fail to start multiple times. Therefore, in this scenario, we recommend that you set the value to 0 until the pipeline is ready for production.
Max In-Flight	Specifies a threshold for documents to be processed on a single Pipeline instance. Once the execution reaches the threshold, the Snaplex distributes to other instances of the Ultra Pipeline. This enables you to prevent an excessive number of documents from being queued on a single, slow execution. Set the Max In-Flight value to the maximum number of documents that can be processed by one instance at a time. Default: 200 Minimum: 1 Maximum: 1000 Set this value higher if the Ultra Task executions take a long time. A value of 1 disables the prefetching of documents and can negatively affect performance.

Editing an Ultra Task

Click Manager.
From the left navigation, select the Project Space to which the Ultra Task belongs.
Select the Tasks tab.
Click the Ultra Task name. The Edit Update Task dialog appears.
Edit the Ultra Task and click Save to close the dialog.

Changing the Run Policy

When you create an Ultra Task, Ultra is set as the Run Policy by default. If you change the Run Policy setting to Triggered or Scheduled, you must re-configure the Task.

Viewing Ultra Task Execution Details

After you create and enable your Ultra Task, you can view execution details.

In Manager, navigate to the Ultra Task and select Details from the dropdown menu:
On the Task Details page, view execution statistics by clicking Run Details:

SnapLogic Documentation

Creating Ultra Tasks

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