Sitecore Schedule task not running - sitecore

Question

I set my schedule item schedule as:
20090326T112200|20990426T112200|127|00:20:00
It should be run every 20 minutes. But it seems this schedule has never run after I deploy them.
The scheduling in web.config looks like this:
<scheduling>
<!-- Time between checking for scheduled tasks waiting to execute -->
<frequency>00:05:00</frequency>
<!-- Agent to process schedules embedded as items in a database -->
<agent type="Sitecore.Tasks.DatabaseAgent" method="Run" interval="00:10:00">
<param desc="database">core</param>
<param desc="schedule root">/sitecore/system/tasks/schedules</param>
<LogActivity>true</LogActivity>
</agent>
<!-- Agent to process schedules embedded as items in a database -->
<agent type="Sitecore.Tasks.DatabaseAgent" method="Run" interval="00:10:00">
<param desc="database">master</param>
<param desc="schedule root">/sitecore/system/tasks/schedules</param>
<LogActivity>true</LogActivity>
</agent>
Any help? Thanks.

Answer 1

I come across this post when trying to figure out why scheduled tasks weren't firing and thought i'd post a solution to a specific scenario i had.
The problem i found was that I installed the Sitecore SIM InitializeSpeedBooster.cofig which removes the following which stops scheduled tasks from running.
<processor type="Sitecore.Pipelines.Loader.InitializeScheduler, Sitecore.Kernel">
<patch:delete />
</processor>
Remove that patch:delete from the config and you'll still have a quicker initialisation of Sitecore, but with Scheduled tasks running.
A more detailed explanation can be found on my blog post for Sitecore scheduled tasks not working.

Answer 2

Sitecore will only run scheduled tasks if the application pool has not cycled down. In other words, if your application does not receive enough traffic IIS may cycle down the application pool to conserve resources. To prevent this from happening you could setup a keep-alive service that makes a request to your application on a set interval insuring that the application pool never cycles down.

Answer 3

Scheduling is a consistent problem in ASP.NET applications due to its architecture. Sitecore has attempted to fix this issue, but does a middling job of it, in my opinion. Barbosa describes one definite problem, but Sitecore has a built-in keepalive system you can use. In my web.config (version 6.3), that is configured directly after the DB scheduling agent you posted.
We don't have all the information we need to assess the problem. However, from your comment, it seems that your Last Run field is empty? This is a problem. It must have a value for scheduling to work. Scheduled items only kick off if the time interval between 'Now' and the Last Run value is greater than the time value in the Schedule field.
Here is an example from my Sitecore site that is working correctly (RAW values):
Schedule: 20000101|21000101|127|23:59:00
Last run: 20121126T074001
So... next question is this: Do you see the output from the scheduling agent in your log? First make sure you are logging INFO level. You should see something like this:
1924 10:40:22 INFO Scheduler - Adding agent: Sitecore.Tasks.DatabaseAgent (interval: 00:10:00)
If you DON'T see that, then Sitecore is not kicking off the Scheduler and you should open a Sitecore support request. If you DO see this, then the problem is most likely your Sitecore Schedule or Command items. You should see output from the schedule agent that it is starting/stopping your particular command. This is where error output will occur if your scheduled item is failing. Which brings us to the next step...
Your Schedule item has a Command field, which must link to a valid item under System/Tasks/Commands. That item's Type and Method field actually specific which method is being executed. If those are set correctly, the next step I would take is to create a one-off ASPX page with a single button... which executes this method. If that doesn't work... well, then you know where the problem lies.
Hope this helps.