Schedule notebook tasks

Starting at 10.8.1, notebook authors can schedule ArcGIS Notebooks for automated running at a fixed time in the future, either once or on a recurring basis. Creating tasks to schedule notebooks allows you to automate routine workflows, run data-intensive processes during off-peak usage hours, and regularly update datasets. For example, you can schedule a notebook to do the following:

• Import data from an online source that updates monthly, automatically clean the data and apply necessary transformations, and move the data to your workspace.
• Run a big data analysis workflow that requires heavy processing power overnight, when your machine resources are otherwise unused.
• Manage users who have created accounts in your portal during the past week and send the list to you via email.

You can create one or more tasks for a notebook. By default, the notebook author or administrator is able to create a maximum of 20 tasks. If the ownership of notebook is changed, any tasks associated with that notebook will be deactivated and assigned to the new owner.

Scheduled tasks allow you to parameterize notebooks. When a notebook is parameterized, it allows you to write generic code that can be adapted to varying inputs without your interaction. The chosen parameters are inserted into the notebook when a task is run and can optionally be saved to the notebook. For example, a parameterized notebook can be used to generate region-wide air pollution reports on a recurring basis. The notebook can have multiple scheduled tasks, one for each region to be studied, and for each task, parameterized input such as city name and pollution type can be fed into the notebook.

You can configure the task to save the state of the notebook to the original notebook item after completion.

A static HTML view of the notebook will be saved for each scheduled task that is run. By default, only the results of the last 30 runs will be saved.

Using the Tasks page in ArcGIS Notebook Server Manager, administrators can view details, edit, pause and resume, or delete each active notebook task in the site. Administrators and notebook authors with the schedule notebook privilege can view details, edit, pause and resume, or delete a notebook task in the details page of the notebook or in the task pane of the notebook editor.

To prevent repeated failed runs of a notebook, a scheduled task will be disabled after five consecutive failures. The task owner must ensure that the notebook can be run successfully without any user interaction before reactivating the task.

If a previous run of a task is still running, a new scheduled task run will be skipped. For example, if a task is scheduled to run every 15 minutes, but an instance of that task runs for 20 minutes, the next scheduled run will be skipped. If this occurs regularly, the task owner should adjust the scheduled time interval so that there is no overlap between runs.

For more information on scheduled notebook tasks, see the Schedule a notebook task help topic.

Using the Manage tasks window from the ArcGIS Notebook Server home page or the Tasks page in ArcGIS Notebook Server Manager, administrators can view details, edit, pause, resume, and delete active notebook tasks in the site. Administrators and authors with the schedule notebook privilege can view details, edit, pause, resume, and delete a notebook task in the details page of the notebook or in the task pane of the notebook editor.

Automate a notebook using webhooks

A webhook is a mechanism that allows an application to provide other applications with event-driven information. As an ArcGIS Enterprise Portal administrator or a user with the Organization webhooks privilege, you can create, manage, and configure webhooks. You can configure webhooks to automatically run a notebook you own when events associated with your portal items, groups, or users occur. Your ArcGIS Notebook Server acts as the receiver of the webhook payload. Once a webhook is triggered, an HTTP request is made to the Notebook Server to run a chosen notebook without any user interaction.

{
  "properties": {
    "itemId": "<itemId of the current notebook>"
  },
  "events": [
    {
      "source": "items",
      "id": "<itemId of the item that resulted in webhook trigger>",
      "userId": "<webhook user>",
      "when": \<epoch time in ms when webhook was triggered\>,
      "operation": "<type of operation that resulted in webhook trigger>",
      "properties": {},
      "username": "<webhook username>"
    }
  ],
  "info": {
    "webhookId": "<webhookId>",
    "portalURL": "<public portal url>",
    "webhookName": "<webhook name>",
    "when": \<epoch time in ms when webhook was triggered\>,
  }
}

Execute notebook API

Administrators and notebook authors can also automate a notebook to run without user interaction by using the Execute Notebook operation in the ArcGIS Notebook Server Administrator Directory. This operation will automatically run a notebook when called, but by using your own custom script, you can schedule it to run automatically to occur at a set time or on a regular schedule. A cron job or Windows scheduler can also be used to schedule the Execute Notebook operation to run at a set time or on a recurring interval.

To learn more, see the Execute notebook topic in the Administrator Directory reference guide.