Sitecore计划任务与Windows任务计划程序进行数据迁移

Question

We need to migrate data from an external database to Sitecore periodically (every 12 or 24 hours). I would like to know whether creating a Sitecore Scheduled Task is what one can opt for in such a scenario. I would also like to know the performance impact it can have on the website.

Since I can also build an external app for this activity that doesn't rely on the IIS worker process and schedule the same using a Windows Task scheduler, I would like to know the benefits and drawbacks of both approaches.

Answer 1

The obvious answer to this is "it depends" but that's a cop out answer that drives me crazy when people use it.

A scheduled task in Sitecore will have access to the full Sitecore API, so if you are doing data manipulation of Sitecore items, this can be really attractive. Jobs also run on background threads, so it does have a large impact on the website, but obviously if you exhaust all of threads the worker process is configured to use, that will be an issue, but a very small outside one at best.

The drawback to a Sitecore scheduled task is they cannot be scheduled at a finite time. IOW - "run this task at 3am every day" is not possible, tasks run on an interval basis. Might sound like a trivial difference, just schedule it to run every 24 hours, but in practice the interval inevitably drifts. This is the big advantage Windows Scheduled tasks have. If most of the work you need to do is not related to Sitecore, then this be a good approach. I've seen hybrid approaches where a Windows scheduled task triggers a call to Sitecore, which uses the jobs API to kick off a background task, but it never felt that elegant.