I have a Windows scheduled task that runs a database import process every hour, but I'd like users to be able to kick it off out-of-schedule by hitting a button in an ASP.net dashboard (running in IIS6 on Windows Server 2003).
The following works perfectly in code-behind ...
var proc = new Process
{
StartInfo =
{
UseShellExecute = false,
FileName = @"C:\Windows\System32\schtasks.exe",
Arguments = "/run /tn Loader",
RedirectStandardError = true,
RedirectStandardOutput = true,
CreateNoWindow = true
}
};
proc.Start();
proc.WaitForExit();
... but only if the application pool identity is set to Local System (not ideal!). If I leave it as Network Service, the task does not start. So it is presumably a permissions issue.
Is there a way ASP.net can kick off a scheduled task on the server without running the application as Local System? If not, what good alternatives are there?
Update: if nobody on SO knows, I guess it is not possible so I will go with my idea of having my web application write requests to a database table (doubling as an audit log) and creating a second task to poll that table and kick off the main task.
Update your schedule task to trigger off a specific event. Then have your website log that event when the button is clicked - thus starting your scheduled task.
Ex: In my installer I create an event log source for my program, since creating the source requires administrative privileges (you can also use the command line to create the source)
if (EventLog.SourceExists("MyApp"))
{
EventLog.CreateEventSource("MyApp", "Application");
}
Then in my application, I create an event log entry when the button is clicked.
private void btnOpenOtherApp_Click (object sender, EventArgs e)
{
try
{
var log = new EventLog
{
Source = "MyApp"
};
log.WriteEntry("Start MyOtherApp", EventLogEntryType.Information, 1337);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
...
}
}
And the task scheduler set to open MyOtherApp when the event is logged.