Schedule an ASP page to run through task scheduler on Windows Azure

Follow the below steps to schedule a job(scheduling an asp page to run) to the task scheduler.

Step 1: Create a web role.

Step 2: Create a command file (*.cmd file).

Step 3: Include below code to the command file to schedule the task to the Task Scheduler automatically.

SCHTASKS /Create /SC DAILY /ST 02:15:00 /SD 12/12/2011 /TN Task_Name /TR “File/exe/task path to run” /RU SYSTEM /F /RL HIGHEST

Ex: SCHTASKS /Create /SC DAILY /ST 02:15:00 /SD 12/12/2011 /TN HelloWorldTest/TR “.\approot\ HelloWorldTest.vbs” /RU SYSTEM /F /RL HIGHEST

above code schedule task which execute  a vbscript file which internally calls the web page.

Note: More information on SCHTASKS command is available here

http://www.robvanderwoude.com/schtasks.php#End

Step 4: Create a vbscript (*.vbs) file and include the following code.

set x=createobject(“microsoft.xmlhttp”)

x.Open ”GET”, ”http://helloworldwebtest.cloudapp.net/index.asp”, False

x.Send

set x=nothing

Above code sample is calling to a wep page hosted on cloud.

Step 5: Include the below code to the servicedefinition file of the created azure project.

<WorkerRole name=”helloworld_workerrole” vmsize=”Small”>

    <Startup>

      <Task taskType=”simple” executionContext=”elevated” commandLine=”helloworld.cmd”>

      </Task>

    </Startup>

  </WorkerRole>

Above code will execute the command file whenever web role new instance will be created.

Step 5: Since this web role’s work is to schedule a job to the VM’s Task Scheduler we need not to go for more than one instance.

Step 6: Host the application to Windows Azure Platform.

Step 7: Confirm whether the job is schedule in VM’s task scheduler by logging remotely to the VM and open Task Scheduler.

Note: In this blog post I am explained a way to schedule a task automatically which calls a web page which can have a certain logic to perform some tasks.