Scheduler¶

Overview¶

CloudPi Scheduler provides comprehensive scheduling capabilities for automating resource management, cost optimization, and operational tasks across your multi-cloud environment. Schedule start/stop operations, scaling activities, backups, and custom workflows based on time, events, or conditions.

Key Features¶

• Multi-Resource Scheduling: Schedule actions across VMs, databases, containers, and more
• Flexible Schedules: Time-based, event-driven, and condition-based scheduling
• Timezone Support: Schedule in local or resource-specific timezones
• Cost Optimization: Automatic shutdown of non-production resources
• Holiday Awareness: Skip schedules on holidays or special dates
• Conflict Detection: Prevent overlapping or conflicting schedules
• Audit Trail: Complete history of scheduled actions
• Override Capabilities: Manual override for urgent situations

Accessing the Scheduler¶

Navigation: Automation > Scheduler

Scheduler Dashboard¶

View and manage all schedules:

• Active Schedules: Currently active schedules
• Upcoming Actions: Next scheduled operations
• Schedule History: Past schedule executions
• Success Rate: Schedule reliability metrics
• Cost Savings: Estimated savings from scheduled shutdowns

Creating a Schedule¶

Basic Schedule Creation¶

1. Navigate to Automation > Scheduler
2. Click Create Schedule
3. Configure schedule settings:

Step 1: Select Resources¶

Resource Selection:
- By Tag (Environment:dev, Project:demo)
- By Name Pattern (dev-*, test-*)
- By Resource Type (EC2, RDS, AKS)
- By Cloud Account
- Individual Resources

Step 2: Define Actions¶

Available actions:

• Start: Power on resources
• Stop: Gracefully shut down resources
• Terminate: Delete resources (with confirmation)
• Snapshot: Create backup before action
• Scale: Adjust resource capacity
• Custom: Run custom scripts or workflows

Step 3: Set Schedule Pattern¶

Schedule Types:
  - Time-based: Daily, weekly, monthly patterns
  - Cron Expression: Advanced scheduling
  - One-time: Single execution
  - Event-driven: Triggered by events

Step 4: Configure Options¶

• Timezone: Select appropriate timezone
• Exclusions: Holiday calendar, maintenance windows
• Notifications: Alert on execution, failure, or both
• Approval: Require approval before execution
• Retry: Retry policy for failures

Schedule Patterns¶

Time-Based Schedules¶

Business Hours Pattern¶

name: "Dev Environment Business Hours"
resources:
  tags:
    Environment: development
schedule:
  start:
    time: "08:00"
    days: [Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday]
    timezone: "America/New_York"
  stop:
    time: "18:00"
    days: [Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday]
    timezone: "America/New_York"
exclusions:
  - holidays: US_Federal
  - maintenance_windows: true

Weekend Shutdown¶

name: "Non-Production Weekend Shutdown"
resources:
  tags:
    Environment: [dev, staging, test]
schedule:
  stop:
    time: "20:00"
    days: [Friday]
  start:
    time: "07:00"
    days: [Monday]
notifications:
  - channel: slack
    events: [execution, failure]

Monthly Maintenance¶

name: "Monthly Database Maintenance"
resources:
  type: rds
  tags:
    MaintenanceWindow: monthly
schedule:
  action: snapshot_then_restart
  pattern: "0 2 1 * *"  # 2 AM on 1st of month
  timezone: "UTC"
approval_required: true

Cron-Based Schedules¶

Advanced scheduling with cron expressions:

# Every weekday at 8 AM
0 8 * * 1-5

# Every 4 hours
0 */4 * * *

# Last day of month at midnight
0 0 L * *

# First Monday of month at 9 AM
0 9 1-7 * 1

Event-Driven Schedules¶

Trigger based on events:

name: "Scale on High Load"
trigger:
  event_type: metric_threshold
  condition:
    metric: cpu_utilization
    threshold: 80
    duration: 5m
action:
  type: scale_up
  parameters:
    increment: 2
cooldown: 15m

Advanced Scheduling Features¶

Cascade Schedules¶

Create dependent schedules:

name: "Application Tier Shutdown"
resources:
  - name: "Shutdown Load Balancers"
    tags: {Tier: frontend}
    order: 1
    wait: 30s

  - name: "Shutdown App Servers"
    tags: {Tier: application}
    order: 2
    wait: 60s

  - name: "Shutdown Databases"
    tags: {Tier: database}
    order: 3

Conditional Scheduling¶

Execute based on conditions:

name: "Conditional Dev Environment Shutdown"
resources:
  tags: {Environment: development}
schedule:
  stop:
    time: "18:00"
    condition:
      - no_active_users: true
      - cpu_utilization: <10%
      - last_modification: >2h

Smart Scheduling¶

AI-powered schedule optimization:

name: "Smart Cost Optimization"
resources:
  tags: {CostOptimization: enabled}
mode: smart
parameters:
  learning_period: 30d
  optimization_goal: cost
  min_savings: 15%
  preserve_sla: true

CloudPi learns usage patterns and creates optimal schedules.

Schedule Management¶

Schedule Templates¶

Pre-built templates for common scenarios:

Bulk Schedule Operations¶

Manage multiple schedules:

1. Navigate to Scheduler > Schedules
2. Select multiple schedules
3. Bulk actions:
4. Enable/Disable
5. Modify timezone
6. Update exclusions
7. Change notifications
8. Delete schedules

Schedule Versioning¶

Track schedule changes:

• View schedule history
• Restore previous versions
• Compare schedule changes
• Audit schedule modifications

Monitoring and Notifications¶

Schedule Execution Monitoring¶

Real-time monitoring:

• Live View: See schedules as they execute
• Execution Status: Success, failed, skipped
• Duration: Time taken for actions
• Resource Impact: Resources affected
• Errors: Detailed error messages

Notification Configuration¶

Configure alerts for schedule events:

notifications:
  - name: "Schedule Failure Alert"
    events: [failure, partial_failure]
    channels:
      - type: email
        recipients: [ops@company.com]
      - type: slack
        webhook: https://hooks.slack.com/...
        channel: "#ops-alerts"
      - type: pagerduty
        severity: high

  - name: "Weekly Schedule Summary"
    type: summary
    frequency: weekly
    day: Monday
    time: "09:00"
    channel: email

Schedule Reports¶

Generate schedule reports:

• Execution Summary: Success rate, total executions
• Cost Impact: Savings from scheduled shutdowns
• Compliance: Adherence to defined schedules
• Resource Coverage: % of resources under schedule management
• Trend Analysis: Usage patterns and optimization opportunities

Holiday and Exclusion Management¶

Holiday Calendars¶

Configure holiday exclusions:

1. Navigate to Scheduler > Settings > Holidays
2. Select or create calendar:
3. US Federal Holidays
4. UK Bank Holidays
5. Custom company holidays

6. Regional holidays

7. Configure behavior:

8. Skip schedules on holidays
9. Extend to surrounding weekends
10. Custom date ranges

Maintenance Windows¶

Define maintenance windows:

maintenance_windows:
  - name: "Monthly Patching"
    schedule: "First Sunday 2-6 AM"
    pause_schedules: true
    notification: 24h_advance

  - name: "Black Friday Prep"
    dates: ["2026-11-20 to 2026-11-30"]
    action: disable_shutdowns
    affected_tags: {Application: e-commerce}

Override and Emergency Actions¶

Manual Override¶

Override scheduled actions:

1. Navigate to schedule
2. Click Override
3. Options:
4. Skip Next: Skip upcoming execution
5. Run Now: Execute immediately
6. Pause: Temporarily disable
7. Modify: One-time schedule change

Emergency Actions¶

Execute immediate actions:

Emergency Actions:
- Stop All: Immediate shutdown of all scheduled resources
- Start All: Emergency start of resources
- Cancel Pending: Cancel all queued schedule actions
- Revert: Undo last scheduled action

Requires appropriate permissions and provides audit trail.

Integration with Other Features¶

Cost Optimization¶

Schedules integrate with cost features:

• Savings Tracking: Calculate cost reduction
• Recommendations: Suggest schedule improvements
• Budget Alignment: Ensure schedules support budget goals

Automation Policies¶

Combine with policies:

policy:
  name: "Enforce Dev Environment Schedules"
  condition:
    tags: {Environment: development}
  action:
    create_schedule:
      template: business_hours
    enforce: true
  exceptions:
    tags: {ScheduleExempt: true}

VM Scheduler¶

Enhanced VM scheduling:

• Detailed VM lifecycle management
• Application-aware shutdowns
• Graceful service termination
• Health checks before shutdown

API Access¶

Manage schedules programmatically:

# List all schedules
GET /api/v1/scheduler/schedules

# Create schedule
POST /api/v1/scheduler/schedules
{
  "name": "Dev Environment Schedule",
  "resources": {
    "tags": {"Environment": "development"}
  },
  "schedule": {
    "start": "08:00",
    "stop": "18:00",
    "days": ["Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri"],
    "timezone": "America/New_York"
  }
}

# Execute schedule immediately
POST /api/v1/scheduler/schedules/{id}/execute

# Get schedule history
GET /api/v1/scheduler/schedules/{id}/history

Best Practices¶

1. Start Small: Begin with non-production environments
2. Test First: Use one-time schedules to test before recurring
3. Tag Strategy: Use consistent tags for easy schedule targeting
4. Timezone Awareness: Always specify timezone explicitly
5. Notification Setup: Configure alerts before production deployment
6. Override Process: Document override procedures
7. Regular Reviews: Audit schedules quarterly
8. Cost Tracking: Monitor savings to justify scheduling efforts
9. Stakeholder Buy-in: Communicate schedule impacts
10. Emergency Contacts: Maintain list of schedule administrators

Common Use Cases¶

Development Environment Cost Optimization¶

name: "Dev Cost Optimization"
resources:
  tags: {Environment: [dev, test]}
schedule:
  stop: {time: "19:00", days: "Mon-Fri"}
  start: {time: "07:00", days: "Mon-Fri"}
  shutdown: {days: [Saturday, Sunday]}
exclusions:
  - holidays: true
  - deployment_windows: true
estimated_savings: 65%

Demo Environment Management¶

name: "Demo Environment Lifecycle"
resources:
  tags: {Type: demo}
schedule:
  - action: start
    time: "08:00"
    before_event: demo_presentation
  - action: snapshot
    time: "20:00"
  - action: terminate
    time: "20:30"
    condition: demo_completed
notification:
  alert: 1h_before_termination

Database Maintenance¶

name: "Database Backup and Maintenance"
resources:
  type: [rds, postgresql, mysql]
  tags: {Backup: enabled}
schedule:
  - action: snapshot
    time: "01:00"
    daily: true
  - action: optimize_tables
    cron: "0 2 * * 0"  # Sunday 2 AM
  - action: cleanup_old_logs
    cron: "0 3 1 * *"  # Monthly
retention:
  daily_snapshots: 7
  weekly_snapshots: 4
  monthly_snapshots: 12

Troubleshooting¶

Schedule Not Executing¶

Issue: Schedule didn't run at expected time

Solutions: - Verify schedule is enabled - Check timezone configuration - Review exclusions (holidays, maintenance) - Verify resource tags/filters - Check CloudPi has permissions to execute action - Review audit logs for errors

Resources Not Responding¶

Issue: Schedule executes but resources don't change state

Solutions: - Verify cloud provider permissions - Check resource state (already stopped/started) - Review resource dependencies - Ensure resources aren't locked by other operations - Check for conflicting schedules

Unexpected Cost¶

Issue: Resources running when they should be stopped

Solutions: - Review schedule execution history - Check for schedule overrides - Verify no conflicting schedules - Review manual actions in audit logs - Ensure schedule hasn't been disabled

Related Documentation¶

• VM Scheduler
• Automation Overview
• Policies & Workflows
• CloudPi Optimizations
• Intelligence Automation