Policy schedule, hibernation and shutdown options

When Admin users create or edit policies, they can specify schedule, hibernation, and shutdown options for computers on the Options tab.

When a policy is assigned to a computer, these settings appear on the computer’s Advanced tab, are used for all backup jobs on the computer, and cannot be modified. To change the settings, you must unassign the policy from the computer, or edit values in the policy. 

Advanced schedule options

Specifies whether to run backup jobs that have been missed or failed. Select one or both of the following options:

• Start scheduled backup jobs if they have been missed. If selected, the scheduler will attempt to start any backups that are still waiting to run. If this option is selected, you can select Ask for confirmation before starting missed backup jobs to prompt for user confirmation before missed backup jobs are started.

  If backup schedules overlap, only the last one will have its status reported.

• Restart scheduled backup jobs if they have failed. This option only applies to Windows Agent version 7.3x and earlier. If selected, if any backup jobs have started, but failed to finish (because of network failure or the computer shutting down), those jobs will be started again. If this option is selected, you can select Ask for confirmation before rerunning failed backup jobs to prompt for user confirmation before failed backup jobs are started.

  Note: If the same job has been missed several times in a row, only one occurrence of it will run when the backup does occur. So, for example, if you have a backup (the same job) scheduled for midnight every day, and your computer is off for three days, you will only get one “missed and rerun" backup (rather than three).

Hibernation options

Specifies whether a computer can go into sleep or hibernation mode when backups are running.

If Prevent standby/hibernation when backups are running is selected, the computer cannot go into sleep or hibernation mode when a backup job is running. When the standby/hibernation tries to start again, and there is no backup running, the standby or hibernation will occur.

Shutdown options

Specifies whether a computer can shut down when backups are running. Select one or both of the following options:

• Prevent shutdown when backups are running. If selected, the computer cannot shut down when a backup job is running. When a shutdown is next attempted, and there is no backup running, the shutdown will proceed. If this option is selected, you can select Ask the logged on user what to do if backups are running to prompt for user confirmation before shutdown.
• Ask the user to do a backup before shutdown. If selected, the user is prompted to run a backup before the system shuts down.

Miscellaneous

The Detect Network Presence Every list specifies how often a computer’s network connectivity is checked.

If there is a network outage, the Agent causes the scheduler to pause. The scheduler resumes when the network becomes available again. By checking for a valid network, you can make sure that missed or failed backups will still occur. This assumes that you have selected the advanced options for starting or restarting the schedule after missed or failed backups.

If Never is selected from the Detect Network Presence Every list, the Agent is not notified about network outages, so backups may be missed. That is, the Agent will fail the backup, and there is nothing to cause it to retry. This option is normally used for troubleshooting.

If a backup does fail because of a network outage, the backup can be restarted (provided that you have selected the advanced options for missed/failed backups). Normally every 5 minutes is a good choice. It does not require much overhead on the system, and it means that your backups can start/continue when the network presence is detected again.