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AI and Local Automation8 min•Difficulty: Avanzado

[AI-017] A scheduled task starts overlapping executions

Prevent duplicate work and concurrent resource use with locks and duration limits.

Ingeniería de Integraciones AnayilUpdated: 2026-10-10

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This answer covers “[AI-017] A scheduled task starts overlapping executions”. Read it with the summary and confirm that the symptom and service match what you are experiencing. Available options can vary by plan and account setup.

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L3 technical diagnosis

Integration / security / operationsSeverity: Medium; high for data exposure or duplicated actions

User symptoms

The same automation appears to run multiple times and the backlog grows.

Observed code or message

Duplicate runs; lock already held; CPU/RAM rises at each interval

Likely root cause

The job takes longer than its interval, the scheduler lacks exclusion or a previous worker was orphaned after restart.

Likely-cause and resolution matrix

Follow a branch only when evidence supports it. A symptom may have more than one cause; do not change layers by guesswork.

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How to diagnose (read-only):

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Prerequisites

Authorised access to the involved runtime, provider or automation.
A test environment and synthetic data; never use customer prompts for diagnostics.
A technical owner who can approve network, secret, GPU or resource changes.

Important warnings

Do not expose local inference endpoints or webhooks without appropriate authentication, TLS and limits. Never put API keys, private prompts or personal data in commands, screenshots or logs.
Commands are diagnostic references. Production changes, Docker/firewall rules and credential rotation require service-owner authorisation.

Step-by-step walkthrough

1. Confirm the symptom and scope

The same automation appears to run multiple times and the backlog grows. Compare start/end by execution ID, p95 duration, clock and retry policy. Check whether two replicas run the same cron.

bash

systemctl list-timers --all
systemctl status anayil-automation.timer --no-pager
journalctl -u anayil-automation.service --since today --no-pager

Expected output:

Duplicate runs; lock already held; CPU/RAM rises at each interval

2. Correct the responsible component

Set maximum concurrency to one or use a distributed lock with safe expiry/renewal; use a leader scheduler for replicas. Define timeout, lease, retry and late-run policy based on whether work may be skipped or queued.

3. Verify and close exposure

Run a staging execution longer than its interval and confirm no second instance starts and the lock is released after completion or cancellation.

Expected output:

The check confirms the expected result without exposing services or data.

Troubleshooting & Solutions

Duplicate runs; lock already held; CPU/RAM rises at each interval

Root cause: The job takes longer than its interval, the scheduler lacks exclusion or a previous worker was orphaned after restart.

Resolution: Set maximum concurrency to one or use a distributed lock with safe expiry/renewal; use a leader scheduler for replicas. Define timeout, lease, retry and late-run policy based on whether work may be skipped or queued.

Rollback and recovery plan

Restore the last approved configuration, stop the affected workflow and revoke any exposed credential. If real data was processed through an unauthorised path, retain minimal redacted records and follow the internal incident-response process.

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