Synchronous Jobs
Synchronous jobs allow certain operations to complete immediately within the Activate Web Client, providing a responsive user experience for tasks that must return results straight away. Unlike asynchronous jobs, which are queued and executed by the Orchestrator in the background, synchronous jobs are submitted and processed in real time.
Why Use Synchronous Jobs?
Synchronous execution is used when:
- The user must receive an immediate response
- The task is lightweight and predictable
- Delayed processing would negatively impact usability (e.g., form validation, quick entitlement lookups, “test connection”-type actions)
Asynchronous jobs are preferred when:
- The task may take longer to complete
- External systems may introduce delays
- The workflow includes multiple steps or approval processes
- Fault-tolerance and retry logic is required
Synchronous jobs should be used sparingly and only when necessary to avoid unnecessary load on the Orchestrator.
Orchestrator Ports Configuration
The Orchestrator must expose HTTP and HTTPS endpoints for synchronous jobs to work correctly.
Location in Activate Studio: Resources → Configuration → OrchestratorPorts
Example configuration:
Where:
- 6030 – HTTP port the Orchestrator listens on
- 6031 – HTTPS port
- 01c5fffd…A6718 – Certificate thumbprint used for HTTPS
The Orchestrator binds the HTTPS port to the server certificate matching the specified thumbprint.
Why This Matters
If these ports are not configured correctly:
- The Activate Web Client cannot communicate with the Orchestrator
- Synchronous jobs will not run synchronously and be orphaned.
- Users will experience delays on their jobs.
- Activate will fall back to asynchronous behaviour where possible
Whenever a server certificate is renewed, the new thumbprint must be updated in the OrchestratorPorts configuration.
Orchestrator Ports Configuration
Resources/Configuration/OrchestratorPorts
6030;6031:01c5fffd5e07ce2e3329ddd01179d5bb518A6718
The HTTP and HTTPS ports are ports that the Orchestrator listens on. The HTTPS listn uses the server certificate specified by the thumbprint.
If these aren't configured then the Activate Web client app will be able to communicate with the Orchestrator and the synchronous job won't submit and complete immediately.
Orphan Jobs
Orphan jobs occur when a synchronous job begins execution but does not transition into a valid workflow state. In these cases the job remains stuck in Running with no workflow events attached.
How Orphan Detection Works
- The Orchestrator checks for orphans every 60 minutes
- Any job in Running with no Workflow Events is flagged
- Flagged jobs are queued for reprocessing on the next Orchestrator worker loop
- The next worker loop occurs within roughly 10 seconds, depending on system load
This ensures that jobs that fail during the synchronous submission phase do not remain stuck indefinitely.
Summary of Key Behaviour
- Synchronous jobs provide instant feedback to the user
- Correct OrchestratorPorts configuration is mandatory
- Misconfigured ports = synchronous jobs cannot run
- Orphan jobs are automatically detected and recovered
- Certificate updates require updating the configured thumbprint