Question:

Are there standard conventions for naming tasks/processes in rtexec.pf?

Answer:

There is no enforced standard for naming the tasks run by rtexec. However, experience has shown that some standardization eases confusion when tracking down problems.

Consider a system where you are collecting data from multiple data centers via multiple orb2orb commands. You could set up a series of tasks like:

ANZA orb2orb -S state/ANZAorb2orb somewhere.ucsd.edu:anza $ORB TA orb2orb -S state/TAorb2orb somewhere.ucsd.edu:usarrayTA $ORB UNR orb2orb -S state/UNRorb2orb somewhere.unr.edu:12345 $ORB

Yes, humans can spend their time reviewing the process list to determine which of the multiple orb2orb processes is the one they want to turn off, and with a simple system with only orb2orb processes, the above naming may make sense, but what if you also have three separate orb2db processes for each of the orb2orb feeds? Would "ANZA" refer to the orb2orb or orb2db process?

For ease of rt system debugging, processes listed in the Process &Tbl normally keep their executable name and have "_explanation" appended. For instance, if you are running multiple instances of orb2orb to collect data, your process list might look like this:

orb2orb_local   orb2orb -S state/orb2orb_local  localhost:54321           $ORB

orb2orb_AZ      orb2orb -S state/orb2orb_AZ     somewhere.ucsd.edu:anza   $ORB

orb2orb_cslb    orb2orb -S state/orb2orb_cslb   elsewhere.ucsb.edu:12345  $ORB

#

orb2db_AZ       orb2orb -S state/orb2db_AZ     -m "AZ.*" $ORB  $DB

orb2db_local    orb2orb -S state/orb2db_local  -m "XX.*" $ORB  $DB2

with corresponding task names listed in the Run &Arr as well:

orb2orb_local   yes
orb2orb_AZ      yes
orb2orb_cslb    yes
orb2db_AZ       yes
orb2db_local    yes

Mixing a description in the middle of the task name is strongly discouraged (but not disallowed). For instance you could have called one of the tasks orb2ANZAdb or ANZAorb2db, but we have found that confounds troubleshooting in most instances.