Schedules

The Schedules page in the web app is the central place to create, view, enable, disable, and delete named schedules. A schedule is a name, a cron expression, and a timezone. Once created, it can be attached to sync operations, run commands, and backup configuration as a recurring cadence. The Firmware page uses schedules too: each firmware track runs its update windows on one.

Schedule list

Each row in the table shows:

Column	Meaning
Name	The schedule’s unique name within the organization.
Cron	The 5-field cron expression defining the cadence.
Timezone	The IANA timezone the cron expression is evaluated in.
Status	Enabled or Disabled. Disabling a schedule pauses all operations attached to it.
Next run	When the schedule fires next, counted forward from now, such as in 3 h or in 2 d, or Due now as it is about to fire. Hover it for the full date and time. A disabled schedule reads Paused.

Click a row to open the schedule’s page. The … menu on each row has Edit, Disable (or Enable) and Delete.

A schedule’s page

A schedule’s page shows its Cadence: name, organization, status, cron expression, timezone, who created it and when. Its Timing card gives Last fired and Next run, and a disabled schedule’s Next run reads Paused. The Attached specs card lists the operations that run on it, and the Recent runs card under them lists the tasks they created. Disable (or Enable), Edit and Delete are at the top.

Times are shown in the timezone you chose under Settings, and name their zone. When the schedule’s own timezone reads a different clock at that moment, the same time follows in the schedule’s zone, since that is the zone its cron expression is written in: Oct 17, 2026, 9:00 PM PDT · Oct 18, 2026, 4:00 AM UTC.

Recent runs

On a schedule’s page, the Recent runs card lists the ten latest tasks that the schedule’s specs created, on every device, newest first. Each row shows the task’s status, its name, which opens the task’s own page, its device, its one-line result, and the same When text as the Tasks page, such as Finished 14 h ago. The device links to its page; a deleted one shows its name followed by (deleted), without a link. Hover the time for the full date and time.

All runs of this schedule opens the Tasks page on this schedule’s tasks over the last 30 days, under a Schedule chip. With no tasks to list, the card reads No runs yet. Its tasks appear here once it fires. The card is read again every minute.

The tasks of a spec you removed from the schedule no longer count as its runs, so this card doesn’t list them. On the Tasks page they still read Schedule, without the schedule’s name, and tasks created before NetDefense recorded where a task came from read Manual. See Where a task came from.

Creating a schedule

Click New schedule (top-right). Fill in:

• Name — must be unique within the organization.
• Cron expression — standard 5-field format. A live preview shows the next scheduled time as you type.
• Timezone — select from the IANA timezone list.

Click Create schedule to create it.

Editing a schedule

Choose Edit in the row’s … menu, or on the schedule’s page, to open the edit form. You can change the cron expression and timezone; the name cannot be changed after creation. Updates take effect on the next scheduled tick.

Enabling and disabling

Use Disable or Enable in the row’s … menu, or on the schedule’s page, to pause or resume a schedule. Disabling suspends every recurring task attached to it without deleting any configuration. Re-enable to resume.

Caution

Disabling a schedule pauses all recurring operations that reference it — syncs, run commands, backups and the windows of firmware tracks alike. A track on a disabled schedule reads Schedule disabled — won't run on the Firmware page. To pause only one operation, disable its spec instead, on the Scheduled specs tab or on the schedule’s page.

Deleting a schedule

Open the … menu → Delete, or use Delete on the schedule’s page. The dialog says This will permanently remove the schedule and all its attached specs. Any tasks already dispatched are not affected.

A schedule that a firmware track runs on can’t be deleted, because that would leave the track’s devices pinned with nothing to move them. The dialog warns you before you click: It also carries the firmware window of the Fast track, so it cannot be deleted until that track is detached from it. Detach the track on the Firmware page, which the dialog links to, then delete the schedule. If you click Delete anyway, the schedule stays, and a red box reads Not deleted. The firmware window of the Fast track still runs on this schedule.

Firmware track windows

On a schedule’s page, the Attached specs card lists a firmware track’s window as a spec of kind FIRMWARE, reading Fast track firmware window (or Regular, Stable), with its code, when it last fired and an On or Off badge. It belongs to the track: instead of the disable and remove buttons, it has a Managed on the Firmware page link. Attach and detach it on the Firmware page. Editing or disabling the schedule itself still changes when, or whether, the track’s windows run, and the page doesn’t warn you about it.

Attaching a schedule to an operation

Schedules are selected from a dropdown when you:

• Set up a sync On schedule on the Synchronize page.
• Run a command on the Run page.
• Edit the S3 configuration on the Backups page.

See Schedules for the full concept overview and NDCLI reference.