Update: This has now happened two days in a row.
Update: XML
of scheduled tasks and images now included.
Two servers located in London, both Windows
2012, have a scheduled task set to run at 3pm Monday to Friday. This has been set up for
the last 5 months without a problem.
However, on Monday
the 28th
of August they both ran
the scheduled task at 3pm and then again at 4pm.
When it was first reported, I thought it was too much
of a coincidence to be
the day after
the clocks had gone back an hour. However, I’m failing in being able to explain why it has happened and if it is related to
the clock change at all.
The relevant logs from one server (the logs for
the other follow this pattern as well):
Event 129 15:00:20
Task Scheduler launch task "\3pm", instance "C:\Program Files (x86)\PHP\v5.4\php.exe" with process ID 2388.
Event 100 15:00:20
Task Scheduler started "{75a3590f-dec1-4dee-bd27-73d63a50a9d7}" instance
of the "\3pm" task for user "x\y".
Event 200 15:00:20
Task Scheduler launched action "C:\Program Files (x86)\PHP\v5.4\php.exe" in instance "{75a3590f-dec1-4dee-bd27-73d63a50a9d7}"
of task "\3pm".
Event 201 15:00:23
Task Scheduler successfully completed task "\3pm" , instance "{75a3590f-dec1-4dee-bd27-73d63a50a9d7}" , action "C:\Program Files (x86)\PHP\v5.4\php.exe" with return code 0.
Event 129 16:00:20
Task Scheduler launch task "\3pm", instance "C:\Program Files (x86)\PHP\v5.4\php.exe" with process ID 1224.
Event 100 16:00:20
Task Scheduler started "{3dd46ca9-c525-4796-86b5-5e513fd45f26}" instance
of the "\3pm" task for user "x\y".
Event 200 16:00:20
Task Scheduler launched action "C:\Program Files (x86)\PHP\v5.4\php.exe" in instance "{3dd46ca9-c525-4796-86b5-5e513fd45f26}"
of task "\3pm".
Event 201 16:00:23
Task Scheduler successfully completed task "\3pm" , instance "{3dd46ca9-c525-4796-86b5-5e513fd45f26}" , action "C:\Program Files (x86)\PHP\v5.4\php.exe" with return code 0.
I've seen this question Scheduled task running twice from time to time which points to a bug at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2461249 being
the cause. However, this doesn't include Server
2012 in it's list
of problem operating systems.
I’m struggling to explain this, can anyone else?
The XML export for
the scheduled task is:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>
<Task version="1.2" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2004/02/mit/task">
<RegistrationInfo>
<Date>2013-04-16T14:04:17.4897806</Date>
<Author>x\y</Author>
</RegistrationInfo>
<Triggers>
<CalendarTrigger>
<StartBoundary>2013-04-17T15:00:20</StartBoundary>
<Enabled>true</Enabled>
<ScheduleByWeek>
<DaysOfWeek>
<Monday />
<Tuesday />
<Wednesday />
<Thursday />
<Friday />
</DaysOfWeek>
<WeeksInterval>1</WeeksInterval>
</ScheduleByWeek>
</CalendarTrigger>
</Triggers>
<Principals>
<Principal id="Author">
<UserId>x\y</UserId>
<LogonType>Password</LogonType>
<RunLevel>LeastPrivilege</RunLevel>
</Principal>
</Principals>
<Settings>
<MultipleInstancesPolicy>IgnoreNew</MultipleInstancesPolicy>
<DisallowStartIfOnBatteries>true</DisallowStartIfOnBatteries>
<StopIfGoingOnBatteries>true</StopIfGoingOnBatteries>
<AllowHardTerminate>true</AllowHardTerminate>
<StartWhenAvailable>false</StartWhenAvailable>
<RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable>false</RunOnlyIfNetworkAvailable>
<IdleSettings>
<StopOnIdleEnd>true</StopOnIdleEnd>
<RestartOnIdle>false</RestartOnIdle>
</IdleSettings>
<AllowStartOnDemand>true</AllowStartOnDemand>
<Enabled>true</Enabled>
<Hidden>false</Hidden>
<RunOnlyIfIdle>false</RunOnlyIfIdle>
<WakeToRun>false</WakeToRun>
<ExecutionTimeLimit>P3D</ExecutionTimeLimit>
<Priority>7</Priority>
</Settings>
<Actions Context="Author">
<Exec>
<Command>"C:\Program Files (x86)\PHP\v5.4\php.exe"</Command>
<Arguments>-f "c:\a.php"</Arguments>
</Exec>
</Actions>
</Task>
29 October 17:00 - Update - Both servers have again run
the scheduled task at 15:00 and 16:00. I've now updated
the php file that is run by
the scheduler to not actually do anything whilst I'm going through trying to solve this. I'm planning on restarting one server to see if this changes anything tomorrow.
30 October 08:25 - Update - When exporting
the task XML I remembered that I hadn't included
the fact that
the scheduled task on second server was created by importing
the XML
of the task created on
the first.
The only difference between
the two tasks is
the path
of the php file they are executing and
the user account that they are running as.
