5 1 0:Managing Schedules

Overview

A schedule establishes the timing and frequency of events within the SEP sesam environment. It determines when an event is scheduled to occur and how often it should repeat, providing a framework for organizing and automating various tasks at specific intervals or time periods. Through schedules, you can effectively execute SEP sesam events such as backups, replications, data migrations, restores, and commands, enabling seamless automation of your backup environment.

Schedules can be currently created and edited only in SEP sesam GUI. To access the scheduling functionality in the GUI, in the Main selection click Scheduling and then Schedules. To review schedules and their associated events in web UI, navigate to Backup Strategy -> Schedules.

The Schedules view provides an overview of all the configured schedules and their associated events. In the GUI, you can create new schedules or modify existing ones to manage the chronology of processes within SEP sesam. Configured schedules can have specific events assigned to them, which define the tasks or jobs that need to be executed.

A schedule becomes active only when one or more events are assigned to it. To easily identify the status of a schedule, active schedules are marked with a green icon, while disabled or inactive schedules are marked with a grey icon.

Using schedules

To utilize schedules in SEP sesam, the first step is to create a data protection task, such as a backup or replication task, that you want to automate. Once the task is defined, you need to establish a schedule to determine the desired repetition pattern. The schedule sets when and how frequently the task should be executed.

After creating the schedule, the next step is to create an event for the specific task. An event represents the actual execution of the task according to the defined schedule. The event specifies the job or task to be performed at the scheduled time and, if necessary, the recurring interval for the task.

For more detailed information on creating schedules, refer to Creating a Schedule.

In SEP sesam different types of events can be created to suit different requirements. These include backup events, restore events, replication events, migration events, media events and command events. Each type of event relates to specific data management task within your backup environment.

For more detailed information on creating and managing events, refer to Managing Events.

Scheduled events can be created for individual tasks or entire task groups, simplifying the management of complex or dynamic workflows. This feature is particularly useful for optimizing the backup process in virtualized environments, where backup tasks can be automatically generated. An event can be created and scheduled for the entire task group, ensuring that tasks added or removed within the group are scheduled accordingly.

For more details on creating task groups, refer to Adding a Task to the Task Group.

NEWDAY schedule

SEP sesam by default contains a NEWDAY schedule, which is associated with the NEWDAY event. This schedule plays a crucial role in optimizing the SEP sesam database and maintaining uninterrupted system activity. The NEWDAY event signifies the beginning of a new backup day, initiates the reordering of the database, and carries out vital maintenance tasks. These actions contribute to improved performance and reliability of SEP sesam processes.

The default NEWDAY schedule is automatically included and cannot be deleted. You can modify this schedule, or create a custom schedule specifically for a Newday event. You can create a new Newday event in any schedule that is not linked to any other events.

For more information on Newday event see NEWDAY Events.

Special schedules

With special schedules, specific requirements within the backup environment can be addressed. SEP sesam offers options to create customized calendars, which accommodate country-specific or company-specific requirements.

By linking a schedule to a custom calendar, you can align your backup activities with specific dates, holidays, or other relevant events, ensuring that backups are scheduled and executed in accordance with your business needs and operational constraints.

Special schedules are used for managing tasks that do not occur regularly or for temporarily suspending specific activities. You can configure these schedules for various time intervals, including one-time occurrences, specific periods, or specific dates using the "User Defined" option. This option enables you to create custom calendars and align tasks with specific dates, holidays, or other unique events specific to your organization.

Create a special schedule based on specific dates

To set up a custom schedule with specific dates, you can use the option User defined and select or create a custom calendar. For instructions on how to set up a customized calendar, see Creating a Custom Calendar.

Schedule non-regular events

To schedule non-regular task events within your special schedule, follow the instructions in Managing Events.

To ensure that events within your special schedule take precedence over overlapping events and potential conflicts, use the event priority option. Event priority determines the execution order of jobs within a queue and specifies which event is executed when multiple events for the same task are scheduled on the same backup day.

Schedule blocking events

Blocking events prevent the activation of other events during designated periods, allowing you to temporarily suspend certain activities to accommodate special circumstances, such as system maintenance or important activities in your backup environment.

By scheduling blocking events, you can precisely control the execution of events and ensure that critical operations are not interrupted, or that conflicting activities do not take place simultaneously. This contributes to the stability and efficiency of your backup environment while accommodating unique scheduling requirements.

A blocking event must have an event priority defined. SEP sesam uses this parameter to determine which events get executed and establish their order in the job queue. To block other events, the priority of the blocking event must be higher than the events it is intended to block.

For more information on different types of blocking events, refer to Blocking Events.

Events without schedule

In some situations, it is necessary to create events that are not associated with a schedule. This may occur when scheduling is handled by external applications like SAP HANA, or when events are sporadic and occur as one-time instances triggered manually. An event can also be unlinked from a schedule to prevent it from being triggered, temporarily halting the execution of an event without deleting it entirely.

	Note
	You should delete events without a schedule only when you are sure that they are not used for an external backup.

Enabling events without schedule

To allow creation of events without a linked schedule and facilitate management of events that do not follow a predefined schedule, SEP sesam provides the Without Schedule option. To enable this feature, insert the key enable_gui_events_without_schedule in the SEP sesam database using the sm_db command:

sm_db "INSERT INTO defaults (key, user_name, value) VALUES ('enable_gui_events_without_schedule', 'sesam', '1');"

This setting is then displayed in the Defaults window (Configuration -> Defaults -> Settings tab).

Creating events without schedule

To create an event that is not linked to a schedule, in the GUI navigate to Main Selection -> Scheduling -> Schedules.

In the list of schedules right-click the option Without Schedule, and then select the type of event you want to create. Configure the options as required for the selected event type and then click OK to create the event.

Unlinking events from a schedule

By unlinking an event from a schedule, you can prevent it from being triggered while retaining the option to reactivate it at a later time. This approach is useful when you need to pause or disable an event temporarily without permanently deleting it from the SEP sesam environment.

To unlink an event from a schedule, perform the following steps:

1. From Main Selection -> Scheduling -> Schedules, find and double-click the event you want to unlink. The event properties window opens.
2. Go to Schedule tab.
3. In the Name drop-down list, select Without Schedule and click OK.

Viewing schedules

The SEP sesam Web UI offers an overview of the configured schedules, providing access to detailed information about each schedule and its associated events. The events linked to a schedule offer a direct link to the tasks for which those events were created.

To access and review schedules in web UI, navigate to Backup Strategy -> Schedules.

See also

Creating a Schedule - Creating a Custom Calendar - Managing Events

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