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Special Manifest Properties

Some manifest properties are provided automatically by the system. Unlike built-in properties, special properties do not have to be added to a collector in order to become part of a manifest.

You can use special manifest properties in selector variables to choose servers based on some dynamic properties, such as how many jobs the server currently has.

Table 1. Special Manifest Properties

Property

Description

BF_AGENT_VERSION

Version number of the agent installed on the server.

BF_JOBS

Number of jobs (steps) running at the same time on the server. This value is updated every time the console assigns a step to the server, independent of other manifest property updates.

BF_LAST_REFRESH

Time of the last update of built-in properties in the manifest, as a UNIX®-style time stamp (number of seconds since January 1, 1970).

BF_LASTJOBS

Number of jobs running on the machine the last time the manifest was refreshed.

BF_LAST_UPDATE

Time of the last update of run-command properties to the manifest, as a UNIX®-style time stamp (number of seconds since January 1, 1970).

BF_LOADRATIO

Specifies a calculated value: the number of jobs (BF_JOBS) divided by the maximum number of jobs allowed for the server (_MAXJOBS setting). A server that has 1 job running and _MAXJOBS=4 has a load ratio of .25.

BF_NAME

Used as a selector condition. It specifies the server to run on. The value is the logical name of the server in the Build Forge system. The BF_NAME property is not displayed in the manifest list.

BF_RESERVE

Used as a selector condition only. It is a flag that takes no operator or value. If present in a selector, a slot is reserved on the selected server for the duration of the job.

  • If a step in job specifies a different server to run on, then the slot on the selected server continues to be reserved while that step executes.
  • If a step specifies the selected server explicitly, the reserved slot is used for that step.

This flag protects projects from a delay caused by losing their slot on a server when one or more of their steps execute on other servers.

Related concepts
Manifests
Selectors
Built-in Properties Reference
Special Set Value Properties
Creating a Selector
Collectors
Selecting the Server for a Project or Step