Maintenance schedules let you selectively suppress alerts at times when you know that the alerts do not represent critical warnings. For example, if you know that taking a group of devices offline for a scheduled maintenance activity results in multiple Device Availability alerts, you can set up a maintenance schedule to suppress alerts to save time clearing them after the maintenance is complete. When you set up a maintenance schedule, you set the length of time alerts are suppressed. Alerts restart automatically after the maintenance schedule is over.
Maintenance schedules can be used during expected, recurring scheduled maintenance periods as well as when the maintenance period is unexpected. You can set up a recurring maintenance schedule to correspond with regular maintenance that happens at the same time each week or month. When you set up a recurring maintenance schedule, you can have the schedule repeat continuously, or you can set a date for the recurrence to end. After that date, the maintenance schedule no longer appears in the list of schedules.
Maintenance schedules give you full control over the different types of alerts you can suppress. You can suppress all alerts or select alert types that relate to the type of maintenance you are currently performing. At the same time, you can choose which sites, groups, and devices are included so that you can continue receiving alerts for the rest of the system.
When they are created, maintenance schedules appear on the list found by clicking Configuration > Schedules > Maintenance. This list includes details such as:
- Which sites, groups, or devices the schedule is assigned to.
- The start and end time of the current maintenance if maintenance is currently in progress.
- The next scheduled maintenance window.
Schedules stay on the list until they are not scheduled to run in the future. For example, if you set a schedule to start immediately and continue for one hour, the schedule remains on the list for an hour. After the hour is over, the schedule no longer appears on the list. If you set the maintenance schedule to run every month on the second day of the month, but you set the end date of the recurrence to February 1, the schedule is removed from the list on January 2 because it has run for the final time.