Vulnerability Response background job framework configuration
Define the background job framework in your ServiceNow AI Platform® instance. These configuration changes can help you improve performance by reducing the amount of system resources used to run your background jobs.
What can you edit in the background job framework
- You can define the number of background jobs that run concurrently for Vulnerability Response processes.
- For long jobs that run in the background and process large amounts of data, you can create partitions to process data in smaller chunks.
- You can cancel a job.
Why configure the background job framework
Background jobs in your ServiceNow AI Platform® are designed to run for long periods of time to perform multiple processes on your records in Vulnerability Response. These jobs were previously based on business rules that run asynchronously. There’s no limit to the number of these jobs that can run in the background in your instance so that the large amounts of records that are impacted by these jobs can be processed. Running several long-running jobs at the same time consumes significant system resources, which may slow down your overall performance.
Configuring the background job framework can help you improve your performance by reducing the amount of system resources used to run your background jobs.
Key terms
- Job capability
- Describes the particular jobs. For example, a particular job might include the following
capabilities:
- The job can be run in parallel with another job of the same type.
- The job can be partitioned.
- The job can be canceled while running.
- Concurrency
- Refers to jobs or pieces of jobs that run in parallel.
- Partition
- Partitions are pieces of jobs that can be split up so that they can be processed in parallel to achieve better performance. Usually refers to jobs with long run times.
- Job configuration
- Refers to the settings for a particular scheduled job.
- Scheduled job
- Scheduled Jobs are automated pieces of work that can be performed at a specific time or on a recurring schedule.
- System resources
- Refers to the amount of system resources that you must support a given number of background jobs and scheduled jobs in your environment.
- System property
- System properties store configuration information that rarely or never changes. Each time you change or add a system property, the system flushes the cache to keep all nodes in the cluster synchronized. This cache flush impacts performance.
- Business rule
-
A business rule is a server-side script that executes in response to record and table events, including display, insert, update, delete, and query operations. Business rules can automatically modify field values when specified conditions are met, and generate events to trigger email notifications or script actions.
Use case for defining the background job framework
Consider the background job that applies remediation target rules to vulnerable items (VITs) and application vulnerable item (AVITs). This job concurrently processes large volumes of records across multiple tasks and depending on the size of your import and the number of records in your environment, it can consume significant system resources and take a long time to complete. As a result, system maintenance jobs or other scheduled jobs may run more slowly.
The Background Job Configuration module lists all jobs by name and a unique Configuration ID. From here, you can:
- Control concurrency: Define how many tasks run simultaneously for a given background job.
- Process data in partitions: Break the job into smaller chunks so tasks complete faster, with less impact on system resources.
- Cancel long-running jobs: Stop a job if it is taking longer than expected.
To define background job configurations, see Define background job configurations in Vulnerability Response.