Priority range

In general, the priority range spans from 0 to 20. However, different operating systems interpret these values differently.

UNIX, OS\2

The lower the value, the higher the priority (faster execution). To raise the priority of the agent to high, you must enter a negative number. However, raising the priority to high is not advisable because it uses significantly more system resources and can cause other applications to crash.

11 to 20 low priority
0 to 10 normal priority
-1 to -15 high priority

Example

In the operating system processing queue, a process with a scheduling priority of 2 runs before a process of 8, which runs before a process of 13.

These systems have a default process priority. The PATROL priority is added to the default priority to determine the agent's process priority on the OS.

default process priority + agentPriority = agent process priority on the OS

Example

A UNIX box's default process priority is 10. The PATROL Agent installed on the box has an agent priority of 5. Therefore, the priority of the agent process on the OS is 15.

Windows

This configuration variable affects the priority of the agent process on the Windows platform. The agent's default priority is normal. To change the agent process's priority, you must use the Windows Task Manager.

Windows priorities in order of highest to lowest are:

Realtime
High
Normal
Low

In addition, Windows 2000 offers priorities of AboveNormal and BelowNormal.

To set the priority for the PATROL Agent, specify ranges for the /AgentSetup/AgentTuning/agentPriority variable as follows:

11 to 20 low priority
0 to 10 normal priority
-1 to -15 high priority

On Alpha

Priorities range from 0 to 63, where 63 is the highest.

0 -15 are normal priorities
16 -63 are real-time priorities

On VAX

Priorities range from 0 to 31, where 31 is the highest.

0 -15 are normal priorities
16 -31 are real-time priorities