Configuring timer managers

A timer manager acts as a thread pool for application components that use asynchronous beans. Use the administrative console to configure timer managers. The timer manager service is enabled by default.

Before you begin

Deprecated feature: Asynchronous beans and CommonJ Timer and WorkManager are deprecated asynchronous scheduling facilities that offer performance enhancements for resource-intensive tasks by enabling single tasks to run as multiple tasks. Concurrency Utilities for Java™ EE replaces these deprecated scheduling facilities.

If you are not familiar with timer managers, see information about timer managers in the Asynchronous beans topic.

About this task

You can define multiple timer managers for each cell. Each timer manager is bound to a unique place in Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI).

Important: The timer manager service is only supported from within the Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) container or web container. Looking up and using a configured timer manager from a Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) application client container is not supported.

Procedure

  1. Start the administrative console.
  2. Select Resources > Concurrency > Timer managers.
  3. Specify a Scope value and click New.
  4. Specify the following required properties:
    Scope
    The scope of the configured resource. This value indicates the location for the configuration file.
    Name
    The display name for the timer manager.
    JNDI name
    The Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) name for the timer manager. This name is used by asynchronous beans that must look up the timer manager. Each timer manager must have a unique JNDI name within the cell.
    Number of timer threads
    The maximum number of threads that are used for timers.
  5. [Optional] Specify a Description and a Category for the timer manager.
  6. [Optional] Select the Service names (Java EE contexts) on which you want this timer manager to be made available. Any asynchronous beans that use this timer manager then inherit the selected Java EE contexts from the component that creates the bean. The list of selected services also is known as the "sticky" context policy for the timer manager.
    Selecting more services than required might impede performance.
  7. [Optional] Select Custom properties > New.
    Other optional fields include:
    Name
    lateTimerTime
    Value
    Number of seconds
    Description
    Specify a description
    Type
    Select java.lang.String

    The lateTimerTime custom property is the number of seconds beyond which a late-firing timer causes an informational message to be logged. The informational message is logged once per timer manager. The default value is 5 seconds and a value of 0 disables this property.

  8. Save your configuration.

Results

The timer manager is now configured and ready for access by application components that must manage the start of asynchronous code.