Schedules

A Schedule defines when an operation should start or a period within which an operation is allowed or prevented from occurring.

The Schedule Wizard can be accessed from the Schedules Inventory or by clicking Manage Schedules in the Policy Wizard when configuring a Backup, Snapshot, Replicate or automated Mount operation.

Central to the operation of the Schedule Manager is the Recovery Point Objective (RPO). This setting defines how regularly a backup should be triggered. An RPO of 12 hours tells the Schedule Manager to schedule a backup at that interval, whilst also obeying any other user-defined constraints imposed on the schedule. For example, a backup can be allowed to occur only between 12am and 6am, and this restriction must be adhered to even if the RPO requires backups to occur every hour. See the Policy Wizard for details about RPOs.

Backup events are triggered by one of the following:

• A policy indicating that the RPO is reached.
• A schedule indicating that a Trigger Time is reached.
• A user manually injecting a backup event by clicking the Trigger operation button on the UI.
• A user (or script) manually injecting a backup event via the CLI.

Permitted backup times depend on the constraints used to build the schedule:

• RPO Backup Window – An RPO backup event can only occur during a backup window. By default, an implicit backup window is used that operates all day, every day. If a custom backup window element is created, then the default backup window is ignored.
• RPO Exclude Window – An RPO or scheduled backup event can never occur during an exclusion period.

Trigger Time, RPO Backup Window and RPO Exclude Window can be used in any combination within a single schedule, such that a backup will occur if one of the following is true:

• The backup has reached its RPO
• AND an RPO Backup Window is active
• AND an RPO Exclude Window is not active

• A Trigger Time schedule event occurs
• AND an RPO Exclude Window is not active

• A backup event is injected manually via the UI or CLI

While backups occur either when a policy's Recovery Point Objective dictates, a scheduled Trigger Time or a manually injected backup event, the precise time at which they occur is subject to a number of factors:

• At the most basic level, the time at which the rules are activated determines when the initial and successive RPO based backups occur, unless affected by other factors.
  CautionFor host based and hardware storage based backups, the first backup occurs automatically after the rules distribution is completed, irrespective of RPO.

  

• The RPO and/or Trigger Time defined in the policy determines when the next RPO backup will occur, relative to the previous RPO or Trigger Time backup.
  NoteA backup event injected manually via the UI or CLI does not affect the timing of RPO based backups.

  

• If a backup is scheduled to occur Weekly or Monthly then:
  • If the Time is set to All Day then the backup will recur at the time of day that the rules were activated.

    

  • If the Time is set to Scheduled Time then the backup will recur at the Start time or, if this can't be achieved, at the earliest opportunity within the Duration specified after the Start time.

    

• If a backup event is injected manually via the UI or CLI then a backup will occur at the time the event is received, but will not affect the timing of existing RPO backups.

  

• The existence of an RPO Backup Window will prevent RPO based backups from occurring outside the defined window. Any RPO based backups that are scheduled outside of the backup window will be deferred until immediately after the next backup window opens (the operation is greyed on the diagram to indicate deferral). Successive RPO based backups will be rescheduled to occur relative to the deferred backup time.

  NoteBackup events injected manually via the UI or CLI are not affected in any way by backup windows.

  

  

• The existence of an RPO Exclude Window period will prevent both Trigger Time and RPO based backups from occurring within the exclusion period. Any Trigger Time or RPO based backups that occur inside the exclusion period will be deferred until immediately after the exclusion period ends (the operation is greyed on the diagram to indicate deferral). Successive RPO based backups will be rescheduled to occur relative to the deferred backup. Trigger Time based backups proceed at their normally scheduled times outside of an RPO Exclude Window.
  NoteBackup events injected manually via the UI or CLI are not affected in any way by exclusion windows.

  

  

  

Parent Topic

• Schedule Concepts

This inventory lists all defined Schedules. Schedules are created to specify when backup operations should and should not occur.

Control	Description
Edit	Edits an existing schedule in the inventory. The Schedule Wizard is launched to enable the schedule's attributes to be changed.
Edit Permissions	Edits an existing schedule's access permissions. The Access Control Permissions Inventory is launched to enable the schedule's access permissions to be changed.
Delete	Enabled only when one or more Schedule is selected. Deletes the selected item(s) from the inventory.
Add	Creates a new Schedule. The Schedule Wizard is launched to guide you through the process.
Schedule(s)	Any number of user defined Schedules can be created. These are displayed in the inventory. Schedules should be defined to determine when operations should occur. The Schedule Details is displayed to enable the schedule to be viewed and edited. The schedule Trigger at 4 AM every day is built in and cannot be modified.
Filter on Schedule Name	Filters the displayed results based on the name.

Parent Topic

• Schedules UI Reference

Child Topics

• Schedule Wizard
• Schedule Details

Schedule Wizard

This wizard is launched when a new Schedule is added to the Schedule Inventory. It shows Schedule elements and allows them to be created and edited.

Control	Description
Name	Enter an identifying name for the schedule.
Description	Optional. Enter a short description of the schedule. This description can be viewed when selecting schedules for use in policies etc.

Control	Description
Resource Groups	It allows the user to view the access permissions for those items granted to specific users and groups. NoteA single Schedule can be assigned to multiple resource groups.

Control	Description
Edit	Edits an existing schedule item in the list. The Schedule Item Wizard is launched to enable the schedule item's attributes to be changed.
Delete	Enabled only when one or more Schedule items are selected. Deletes the selected Schedule item(s) from the list.
Add	Creates a new Schedule item. A new schedule does not initially have any items so they must be created. The Schedule Item Wizard is launched to guide you through the process.
Schedule Element(s)	Any number of user defined Schedules items can be created. These are displayed in the table. Schedule items are combined to generate the required behaviour. The Schedule Item Wizard is displayed to enable the schedule item to be viewed and edited.

Parent Topic

• Schedules Inventory

Child Topics

• Schedule Item Wizard

Schedule Item Wizard

This wizard is launched when a new Schedule item is added to a Schedule. It shows the Schedule item options and allows them to be configured.

Control	Description
RPO Backup Window	A backup event can only start during a backup window. By default, an implicit backup window is used that operates all day, every day. If a custom backup window element is created, then the default backup window is ignored.
Exclude Window	A backup event cannot start during an exclusion window.
Trigger Time	Similar to a backup window, except that it mandates that a backup event must occur at the specified time or date, unless it occurs during an exclude period.

The schedule item attributes are set by first selecting the corresponding operation type to display the corresponding wizard page:

• Weekly
• Monthly

Weekly – As shown above, Weekly items are used to define schedules based on the days of the week. For example, you can create a schedule element that only occurs on weekends, or that never occurs on weekdays of the last week of the month. At least one day must be specified, while weeks are optional (every week is assumed if none are selected).

NoteThe weeks listed do not refer to calendar weeks. The First Week of a month always includes the days from the 1st until the 7th, the Second Week includes the days from the 8th to the 14th, and so on. The Last week always refers to the 7 days prior to (and including) the last day of the month.

Control	Description
Days	Select one or more days of the week.
Weeks	Select one or more weeks of the month.
Time	Can be one of: All Day - operation can happen at any time of day. This option is disabled for the Trigger schedule item type. Scheduled Time - Set a start time and duration window within which the operation can or cannot occur.
Start Time	Only enabled once Scheduled Time has been selected. Select the time in HH:MM format for the operation to start.
Duration	Only enabled once Scheduled Time has been selected. Enter the duration in HH:MM format for the window in which the operation is allowed to or prevented from starting.

Monthly – As shown above, Monthly elements are used to define schedules based on days of the month. A monthly schedule element is applied on the same day or days each month. For instance, an element could be defined that triggers a backup on the last day of the month, or an element could be set to prevent backups from occurring on even numbered days. At least one day must be selected in order for a Monthly element to be valid. If the month in question does not contain the selected day (example: 29th Feb in a non-leap year) then the schedule element will not be applied.

Control	Description
Day of Month	Can be one of: Select All - Selects all date options 1 .. 31 - Select one or more individual days of the month. Last - Selects the last day of the month.
Time	Can be one of: All Day - operation can happen at any time of day. This option is disabled for the Trigger schedule item type. Scheduled Time - Set a start time and duration for the operation to occur.
Start Time	Only enabled once Scheduled Time has been selected. Select the time in HH:MM format for the operation to start.
Duration	Only enabled once Scheduled Time has been selected. Enter the duration in HH:MM format for the window in which the operation is allowed to start.

Parent Topic

• Schedule Wizard

Schedule Details

Control	Description
Edit	Launches the Schedule Wizard to enable you to view and edit the schedule.
Permissions	Opens the Access Control Permissions Inventory to allow you to view and edit the permissions for this schedule.

Parent Topic

• Schedules Inventory

Procedure

1. Click the Schedules link on the Navigation Sidebar to open the Schedules Inventory.

2. Click the Create new item tile to open the Schedule Item Wizard.

   The Specify name and description page of the wizard is displayed.

3. Enter a Name and Description for the schedule, then click Next.

   The Add one or more Schedules page of the wizard is displayed.

4. From the Add one or more Schedules inventory page of the Schedule Wizard, click Create new item to add an item to the schedule.

   The Select Schedule item type page of the Schedule Item Wizard is displayed.

5. Select the item Type from the list, then click Next.

   The Configure Schedule item page of the Schedule Item Wizard is displayed.

6. Select Weekly or Monthly on the left and edit the parameters displayed on the right.

7. Click Apply to add the item to the schedule.

   The Schedule Wizard is displayed, showing the list of items in the schedule.

8. From the Add one or more Schedules inventory page of the Schedule Wizard you can either:

   • Click Create new item to add another item to the schedule.
   • Select an existing item by clicking the selection icon to the left and click Delete to remove the item from the schedule.
   • Click on the item description (or click the selection icon to the left and click Edit) to edit an operation.

9. When you have finished adding items, click Finish.

Parent Topic

• Schedule Tasks