Conditions Associated with a Task in Windows Server 2008

Conditions in conjunction with triggers determine whether the task will run. Tasks will not run if any condition related with a given task is not fulfilled. The following sections explains the types of conditions related with a task:

1) Idle Conditions: A trigger can be based on idle time of a computer. Idle time is checked by the Task Scheduler service for every 15 minutes. Computers are idle if a screensaver is running. When a screensaver is not running, the computer is considered to be idle if for 15 minutes the CPU usage and disk input or output were at 0% for 90% of the overall time. In this situation, mouse or keyboard input should also be nil during this period of time. The Task Scheduler service only waits for user input to mark the end of an idle state.

2) Power Conditions: Administrators can specify that tasks run only on computers operating on AC power. If administrators do not want a task to run when a computer is on battery power, a condition must be set to stop the task. Also, if the computer is off, a condition can be set to awaken the computer from a Sleep or Hibernate mode so the task can run. Although this is unlikely in a server environment, it’s still an option.

3) Network Conditions: Administrators can choose to start a task only if a specified network connection is available. This setting is appropriate if the action requires access to a remote system or network.

NOTE: The Network Conditions do not support interoperability with Windows 2000 or XP