Scheduled tasks don't run if you manually run them

[pcm2a 9]

I noticed that last night two scheduled tasks did not run:

Refresh Guide scheduled 4:30am, last actual run around 11pm by me (manual kick off)

Roku thumbnail plugin scheduled 5:00am, last actual run at 12am by me (manual kick off)

 

Is there some logic in there that says if I manually run the task within X hours then skip the automatic job? If so what is X.

[Luke 37096]

Why were you expecting them to run? Why do you feel they didn't run?

[pcm2a 9]

I was assuming scheduled jobs would always run at their scheduled time, regardless of when it might have manually kicked started. Example: My guide data isn't ready to be updated until early in the morning so I have the job set at 4am. I manually ran it doing some tests at 11pm, it didn't run at scheduled 4am and I didn't get the latest guide until I did it manually this morning.

 

The server dashboard tells me the last time the job ran. 12 hours ago was when I kicked off the roku job manually. The scheduled job should have ran at 5:00 am. I also checked the logs and it did not run.

 

Edited March 7, 2019 by pcm2a

[Luke 37096]

Yes it will run, unless it was still going at that time, or your server was off or asleep.

[pcm2a 9]

My guide refresh has ran consistently every day at that time, except for today where I had ran the task 5 hours prior. My Synology is never off and if power went out and the backup died it is not set to come on automatically.

 

Tonight I will try the following:

1. Won't run guide at 11pm (but I did run it this morning manually)

2. See if it runs Friday

3. Tomorrow will run the guide at 11pm

4. See if it runs on Saturday

 

That should confirm if there is something in place that keeps the job from running if it ran soon.

[Luke 37096]

We'd have to look at the server log, thanks.

[pcm2a 9]

I have figured out the issue but not a solution yet. The docker container that Emby is running in is using UTC timezone instead of the Synology CST system time. The scheduled jobs are kicking off at exactly the right time...in UTC.

/ # date
Fri Mar  8 17:00:33 UTC 2019

root@ds216:/# date
Fri Mar  8 11:00:54 CST 2019

How do we know that it ran at the UTC time you ask? I have a few answers for that:

 

1. In the emby logs the refresh guide kicked off at exactly 04:30.

2019-03-08 04:30:00.000 Info TaskManager: DailyTrigger fired for task: Refresh Guide
2019-03-08 04:30:00.000 Info TaskManager: Queueing task RefreshChannelsScheduledTask
2019-03-08 04:30:00.000 Info TaskManager: Executing Refresh Guide

2. In the dashboard you can see that it ran 12 hours ago which is 4:30am CST - 6 hours. The time adds up.

 

 

3. I added a few extra channels into my channel list and guide as a test. If it would have ran at 4:30 am CST these would have been in there. 6 hours earlier they would not. The extra channels were not imported because it ran 6 hours "early".

 

So this means that Emby is using the Synology system time for guide/tv data but the scheduled jobs are using the docker containers time. I haven't figured out yet how to set the timezone.

 

Emby has the right time in the guide:

 

I tried setting the timezone variable in the docker container properties but it had no effect.

 

Edited March 8, 2019 by pcm2a

[Luke 37096]

One thing to keep in mind in case this is adding a wrinkle, we are not actively testing Docker on Synology. Our native Synology package is the preferred install method there. Thanks.

[pcm2a 9]

I would agree with this except for the fact the native Synology package ran terribly slow on my DS216+. So slow that I was testing using a separate laptop for Emby or abandoning it altogether. At someone else's suggestion I installed the beta in a docker container and it runs great.

 

Am I able to run the latest beta version as a native Synology package?

[Luke 37096]

You can learn about Synology betas in the testing area:

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/forum/183-synology-xpenology/

 

Thanks.

[solabc16 379]

Hello @@pcm2a

 

Did you get to the bottom of or understand the reason for this "I would agree with this except for the fact the native Synology package ran terribly slow on my DS216+."

 

That's certainly not normal or typical.

 

Best

- James

[pcm2a 9]

No I was not able to get to the bottom the slowness. Scanning my m3u would take an hour, general web app navigation was painfully slow, shows would fail to record. Ram and cpu was barely used. This is what I found in various testing:

 

Synology DS216+, Emby stable -> Slow

Synology DS216+, Docker Emby beta -> Normal speed (this is what I have been running)

Synology DS216+, Emby beta -> Normal speed (just installed today so still testing)

Dell laptop with Ubuntu, Emby stable -> Normal speed

[solabc16 379]

Ok, thanks @@pcm2a - so the 'problem' appeared to be with the latest stable as a native package; at least as far as testing so far has proven.

 

Best

- James