A Design of a Generic Profile-Based Queue System

Website and server hosting accounts impose resource limits which restrict the processing power available to applications. One technique to bypass these restrictions is to split up large jobs into smaller tasks that can then be queued and processed task by task. This is a fairly common need. However, different application jobs can differ widely in nature and in their requirements. Thus, a queue system built for one job type may not be entirely suitable for another. This situation could result in the having to implement separate, additional queue systems for different needs. This research proposes a generic queue core design that can accommodate a large variety of job types by providing a basic set of features which can be easily extended to add specificity. The design includes a detailed discussion on queue implementation, scheduling, directory structure and business tier logic. Furthermore, it features highly configurable, time-sensitive performance management that can be customized for any job type. This is provided as the ability to indicate desired performance profiles for any given slot of time during the week. Actual performance data based on the usage of a prototype is also included to demonstrate the significant advantage of using the queue system