Export Interval Choices for Receive Adapters

For the latest version of Commerce Server 2007 Help, see the Microsoft Web site.

When you configure a Commerce Server receive adapter endpoint, you will need to decide the intervals upon which you want the receive adapter to generate export messages for that endpoint. Each Commerce Server receive adapter has ten properties that you can configure for each endpoint associated with, or instance of, that receive adapter. The following table shows these ten properties, organized logically into groups of related properties, according to which they are categorized in the Commerce ServersystemTransport Properties dialog boxes used to configure them.

Related Properties

Property Category and Description

  • Invocation Method

Category: Invocation Style

Depending on whether you set the Invocation Method property to be Fixed or Peak-Off peak, the properties in the Fixed Query Interval category, or the properties in the Peak Hours, Peak Hours Query Interval, or the Off Peak Hours Query Interval categories, respectively, will be used.

  • Days

  • Hours

  • Minutes

Category: Fixed Query Interval

The three properties in this category are used when you set the Invocation Method property to Fixed. The numeric values you provide for these properties are combined to determine the interval at which the corresponding receive adapter will generate export messages for the endpoint being configured.

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Whenever the status of a receive adapter endpoint transitions from disabled to enabled, an export message will be generated and the specified interval until the next export will begin.
  • Begin

  • End

Category: Peak Hours

The two properties in this category are used when you set the Invocation Method property to Peak-Off peak. The numeric values that you provide, in the range 0 to 23, are used to establish your peak hours of the day. Use the Begin property to specify the hour of the day at which your peak hours begin, and use the End property to specify the hour of the day at which your peak hours end.

For example, if you consider your peak hours to be normal business hours (9 AM to 5 PM), you should set the Begin property to 9 and the End property to 17. If your peak hours were in the middle of the night, say from 11 PM to 2 AM, you should set the Begin property to 23 and the End property to 2.

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Whenever the status of a receive adapter endpoint transitions from disabled to enabled, or whenever the time boundary between peak and off-peak hours occurs, an export message will be generated and the specified interval until the next peak or off-peak export will begin.This means that if you enable a receive adapter at a random time, subsequent exports during that peak or off-peak period will occur at the specified interval from when the adapter was enabled and continue until the next time boundary between peak and off-peak hours occurs. At this time, the export intervals will resume the configured schedule.
  • Peak Hours

  • Peak Minutes

Category: Peak Hours Query Interval

The two properties in this category are used when you set the Invocation Method property to Peak-Off peak. The numeric values that you provide for these properties are combined to determine the interval at which the corresponding receive adapter will generate export messages for the endpoint being configured during your specified peak hours.

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The combined hours and minutes must be less than the specified peak hour duration.
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If you want your receive adapter endpoint to run only at the start of your specified peak period, and not run again during your peak period, set both of these transport property values to zero (0).
  • Off Peak Hours

  • Off Peak Minutes

Category: Off Peak Hours Query Interval

The two properties in this category are used when you set the Invocation Method property to Peak-Off peak. The numeric values that you provide for these properties are combined to determine the interval at which the corresponding receive adapter will generate export messages for the endpoint being configured during your specified off peak hours.

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The combined hours and minutes must be less than the specified off peak hour duration.
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If you want your receive adapter endpoint to run only at the start of your specified off-peak period, and not run again during your off-peak period, set both of these transport property values to zero (0).

As you can see from the descriptions above, you must use the fixed invocation method when you want your export intervals to be greater than one day, in which case you cannot directly control whether they will occur during any hours that you may consider peak.

Choosing the peak/off peak invocation method is more appropriate when your Commerce Server application experiences uneven usage throughout the day and you want to minimize the extra demand that the Commerce Server adapters may place on an otherwise heavily used system. For example, it might be better to run processing-intensive exports of catalog data during off peak hours in the middle of the night when Web site usage is low and telecom costs might be less expensive.

On the other hand, in some export scenarios, it might be important to export data more frequently during peak hours, as shown in the following example.

Peak/Off Peak Example

The following table provides example settings for peak/off peak usage.

Category

Property

Setting

Invocation Style

Invocation Method

Peak-Off peak

Fixed Query Interval

Days

Not applicable

Fixed Query Interval

Hours

Not applicable

Fixed Query Interval

Minutes

Not applicable

Peak Hours

Begin

8

Peak Hours

End

17

Peak Hours Query Interval

Peak Hours

2

Peak Hours Query Interval

Peak Minutes

0

Off Peak Hours Query Interval

Off Peak Hours

4

Off Peak Hours Query Interval

Off Peak Minutes

0

These example settings specify a peak hours period from 08:00 to 17:00, with exports during peak hours occurring on two hour intervals and exports during off peak hours occurring on four hour intervals. With these settings, the corresponding Commerce Server receive adapter, for the endpoint being configured, would generate an export message at the following times:

  • 08:00, 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, and 16:00 during peak hours, and,

  • 17:00, 21:00, 01:00 and 05:00 AM during off peak hours.

Note

The peak/off peak transition is the trigger for the export messages generated at 08:00 and 17:00.

See Also

Other Resources

How to Configure the Orders Transport Properties for a Receive Endpoint

How to Configure the Catalog Transport Properties for a Receive Endpoint

How to Configure the Inventory Transport Properties for a Receive Endpoint

How to Configure the Profiles Transport Properties for a Receive Endpoint

BizTalk Adapter Concepts