Configuring the Network Queues - Overview

Note: Network Queue programming must be performed using the Text Console.

You can control when a local NP Net node originates connections with remote nodes by configuring the network queues. You can set the different parameters that control when a queue is ready to send, such as time of day and number of messages waiting in a queue. You can also set the number of times that the local node tries to connect to a remote node once it determines that it is time to send the messages.

You can use the network queue parameters to help control toll charges with dial-up NP Net connections. If all of your connections are TCP/IP, you probably want to set the queues to send messages immediately.

There are some basic functions of NP Net queues that you should understand before configuring the queue parameters:

After you have set the queue parameters, you should closely monitor the network queue statistics to ensure that the thresholds are set at realistic values. The cost of sending a network queue must be balanced against the need to receive messages in a timely manner and the need to clear network queue storage space. The storage aspect is particularly important when controlling costs; network message delivery that is triggered by reaching the message block use threshold will probably occur when tariffs are highest, since most messages are recorded during normal business hours.

The figure below shows the hierarchy of the various thresholds. The Time Window overrides the Message Count, Message Waiting Time, and Total Message Minutes parameters, but the Time Window is overridden by the Message Blocks Used threshold.