Category
Scheduled Jobs
Scheduled jobs are tasks that run on a calendar or interval, such as backups, reports, and cron workers, and need proof that they finished on time.
Why this category matters
A job that never starts fails silently. Heartbeat monitoring expects a periodic signal and alerts when the signal is late or missing.
Recommended learning order
- Cron jobCron job is a task scheduled to run at calendar or interval expressions.
- Heartbeat monitoringHeartbeat monitoring is expecting a periodic signal from a job and alerting when the signal is late or missing.
- Grace periodGrace period is extra time allowed after the expected heartbeat before alerting.
- Missed heartbeatMissed heartbeat is a heartbeat that did not arrive within the allowed schedule and grace period.
- Dead man's switchDead man's switch is a control that alerts when an expected signal stops arriving.
Foundational terms
- Cron jobCron job is a task scheduled to run at calendar or interval expressions.
- Heartbeat monitoringHeartbeat monitoring is expecting a periodic signal from a job and alerting when the signal is late or missing.
- Heartbeat URLHeartbeat URL is the URL a job must request to prove it is still running on schedule.
- Grace periodGrace period is extra time allowed after the expected heartbeat before alerting.
- Missed heartbeatMissed heartbeat is a heartbeat that did not arrive within the allowed schedule and grace period.
Advanced terms
- Late heartbeatLate heartbeat is a heartbeat that arrives after the expected time but may still be within grace.
- Dead man's switchDead man's switch is a control that alerts when an expected signal stops arriving.
- Background job monitoringBackground job monitoring is watching asynchronous jobs for timely completion and success signals.
- Scheduled taskScheduled task is work configured to run at a future time or on a repeating schedule.