Task Context Switches by Engine

Each process running on Adaptive Server has its own “context,” or environment, which includes information about the current database, client character set, currently running query, and so on. A “context switch” occurs when Adaptive Server is running one client or system process, but must switch to a different client or system process, and this switch involves changing the context under which the engine is running.

“Task Context Switches by Engine” reports the number of times each Adaptive Server engine switched context from one user task to another. “% of total” reports the percentage of engine task switches for each Adaptive Server engine as a percentage of the total number of task switches for all Adaptive Server engines combined.

“Total Task Switches” summarizes task-switch activity for all engines on SMP servers. You can use “Total Task Switches” to observe the effect of reconfigurations. You might reconfigure a cache or add memory if tasks appear to block on cache search misses and to be switched out often. Then, check the data to see if tasks tend to be switched out more or less often.