TrueNAS CORE Nightly Development Documentation
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Using the Advanced Scheduler

3 minute read.

Last Modified 2023-11-14 15:46 EST

Tasks Advanced Scheduler

Choosing a Presets option automatically populates all fields.

To customize a schedule, enter crontab values for the Minutes/Hours/Days.

The simplest option is to enter a single number in the field. The task runs when the time value matches that number. Entering 10 runs the task when the time is ten minutes past the hour.

An asterisk (*) matches all values.

Set specific time ranges by entering hyphenated number values. Entering 30-35 in the Minutes field runs the task at minutes 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35.

You can list individual values separated by a comma (,). Entering 1,14 in the Hours field runs the task at 1:00 AM (0100) and 2:00 PM (1400).

A slash (/) designates a step value. Entering * in Days runs the task every day of the month, while */2 runs it every other day.

Combining all the above examples creates a schedule running a task each minute from 1:30-1:35 AM and 2:30-2:35 PM every other day.

There is an option to select which Months the task runs. Leaving each month unset is the same as selecting every month.

The Days of Week schedules the task to run on specific days plus any listed days. Entering 1 in Days and setting Wed for Days of Week creates a schedule that starts a task on the first day of the month and every Wednesday of the month.

The Schedule Preview displays when the current settings mean the task runs.

Examples of CRON syntax

Syntax	Meaning	Examples
*	Every item.	* (minutes) = every minute of the hour. * (days) = every day.
*/N	Every N^th item.	/15 (minutes) = every 15th minute of the hour (every quarter hour). /3 (days) = every 3rd day. */3 (months) = every 3rd month.
Comma and hyphen/dash	Each stated item (comma) Each item in a range (hyphen/dash).	1,31 (minutes) = on the 1st and 31st minute of the hour. 1-3,31 (minutes) = on the 1st to 3rd minutes inclusive, and the 31st minute, of the hour. mon-fri (days) = every Monday to Friday inclusive (every weekday). mar,jun,sep,dec (months) = every March, June, September, December.

You can specify days as days of the month or days of the week.

With these options, you can create flexible schedules similar to these examples:

Desired schedule	Values to enter
3 times a day (at midnight, 08:00 and 16:00)	months=; days=; hours=0/8 or 0,8,16; minutes=0 (Meaning: every day of every month, when hours=0/8/16 and minutes=0)
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, at 8.30 pm	months=*; days=mon,wed,fri; hours=20; minutes=30
1st and 15th day of the month, during October to June, at 00:01 am	months=oct-dec,jan-jun; days=1,15; hours=0; minutes=1
Every 15 minutes during the working week, which is 8am - 7pm (08:00 - 19:00) Monday to Friday	Note that this requires two tasks to achieve: (1) months=; days=mon-fri; hours=8-18; minutes=/15 (2) months=*; days=mon-fri; hours=19; minutes=0 We need the second scheduled item, to execute at 19:00, otherwise we would stop at 18:45. Another workaround is to stop at 18:45 or 19:45 rather than 19:00.

Using the Advanced Scheduler

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