What does the "Randomize" parameter do in the Snow Agent configuration?

Title

Issue

This article provides some more information about the randomize parameter in the Snow Agent configuration and covers why it is helpful.

How does the randomize parameter work?

Here's an example of an excerpt from a snowagent.config file:

<Schedule>
<Task>
<Occurance>
<Daily>true</Daily>
<AtLogOn>false</AtLogOn>
<AtStart>false</AtStart>
</Occurance>
<Action>scan</Action>
<TimeOfDay>PT09H00M</TimeOfDay>
<Randomize>60</Randomize>
</Task>
</Schedule>

Look at the latest snowagent.log from C:\Program Files\Snow Software\Inventory\Agent\data.
Then search within it for the keyword scheduling item and locate the latest date and time.
In this example, I have the below excerpt (your timestamps will differ):

2022-01-28T12:16:29+11:00; Verbose;       snowagent; win32\serviceprocess.cpp; snow::win32::ServiceProcessBase::main; Service is running.
2022-01-28T12:16:29+11:00; Verbose;       snowagent; win32\bootconfig.cpp; snow::BootConfig::parse_scheduled_tasks; Scheduling daily item.
2022-01-28T12:16:29+11:00; Info;       snowagent; win32\bootconfig.cpp; snow::BootConfig::schedule; Scheduling item at 2022-Jan-29 09:13:00
2022-01-28T12:16:29+11:00; Verbose;       snowagent; process\processmanager.cpp; snow::win32::ProcessManager::handle; Process 0 started.

From the snowagent.config file we can see that our setting is defined to perform a scan every day at 0900 hours:

<TimeOfDay>PT09H00M</TimeOfDay>
<Randomize>60</Randomize>

From the log extract, you can then confirm that the exact schedule is at 09:13

2022-01-28T12:16:29+11:00; Info;       snowagent; win32\bootconfig.cpp; snow::BootConfig::schedule; Scheduling item at 2022-Jan-29 09:13:00

In the config we had specified it at 0900 hours but the randomize parameter has adjusted this.

The randomize setting allows users to define values for Snow to pick a random number within the range define in your configuration, in this example, its 60. The random number will then be for the minutes.

In our log file we can see that in our example 13 (minutes) has been randomly selected thus from the log we able to see it is set to schedule the next scan at 09:13 am

You can simulate the random picking of numbers if you restart the Snow Agent service and check the logs again.

After the restart, a new schedule was selected. By looking at my log file I can see this is now at 09:16 hours instead of the previous 09:13 hours:

2022-01-28T12:29:35+11:00; Info;       snowagent; win32\bootconfig.cpp; snow::BootConfig::schedule; Scheduling item at 2022-Jan-29 09:16:00

Why is the random selection of schedule helpful?

One reason for picking the right balance on what value to set for the randomize is to consider the number of devices that may overwhelm your platform. This particularly important to the Snow Inventory Server on processing multiple snowpacks at once.

Imagine if you set below snowagent configuration to scan as follows:

<TimeOfDay>PT09H00M</TimeOfDay>
<Randomize>2</Randomize>

If you have, for example, 100,000 devices that are online and expected to send snowpacks everyday. Setting that as your configuration would mean, all of those 100,000 devices will have to scan and send snowpacks between 09:00 and 09:02 hours. The Snow Inventory Server will have to receive and process them.

However, if we set the randomize value to for example 60, this would mean, we are giving more time for our Snow Inventory Server and also for our network too. Giving too much randomize value is not a good practice though, if we put higher value the machine might have already turned off before it performs the scan for the day.

Depending on your circumstances and business needs finding the right balance is always the key.

Environment

Snow Inventory Agent for Windows

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Product

Snow Inventory Agent for Windows

Solution Area

Scheduling

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On-premises;Service Provider Edition (SPE)

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What-does-Randomize-do-in-the-snow-agent-configuration

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How does the randomize parameter work?

Why is the random selection of schedule helpful?

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Case id: 00001065