Benefits of using a server job

[Rob4732]

I apologize if this question has been asked on the forum previously. My search results for 'server job' are too numerous to go thru.

My question is:

When would you want to use a server job(vs. a parallel) job? Is there a benefit to using a server job(vs. a parallel job)?

I have heard that the startup costs to running a server job are less than those for a parallel job.


Thanks in advance

Robert

[asorrell]

Server jobs startup faster because they typically have less overhead than full-blown PX jobs. With that said, it isn't significantly faster than a PX job set to run in single-threaded mode. Remember, we are talking a few seconds here at most.

One reason I can think to use server jobs is because they are much more flexible in handling "dirty" data - everything is basically stored in character format, regardless of definition.

Is that worth having two different "code sets" from a support viewpoint? Probably not.

The only time I really write new server jobs is when a customer can't support C++ customizations (no expertise) but could support BASIC customizations. Since server jobs can use BASIC programs as custom routines, this is one of the few times I write new server jobs.

[Rob4732]

Excellent Info.

Thanks

[eostic]

I think of server as a special surgical tool -- critical for certain solutions. Often they are better for small volume transactional things, and are easier to work with when dealing with randomly variable length text.