Backup Schedules

Schedules tell Reaver when to back up a site, where (local or offsite destination), and how long to keep snapshots (retention).

Automatic scheduling (system cron)

Schedules only fire if something runs the dashboard minute job.

Use Enable automatic scheduling on the Schedules page to install a system cron entry for the web user (often www-data) that runs cli/run_schedules.php every minute.

Without that cron (or an equivalent external scheduler), schedules show a “next run” time but never execute. The same minute job can also send morning digests at the time configured under Settings.

The Automatic scheduling card shows whether cron is installed, the cron line, and buttons to enable or disable it.

Creating a schedule

Site — from any agent’s inventory
Storage destination — local repository on the agent, or a configured offsite destination
Frequency — hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly (plus time/day fields as shown)
Retention — how many snapshots restic should keep for this policy
Save — appears in the table as Enabled

Schedule table

Typical columns: site, destination, schedule summary, retention, status, last run, next run, and actions (edit, enable/disable, run now, delete). Filter by site and enabled/disabled.

Timezone

Run times use Settings → Schedule timezone (admin). Change it if “next run” does not match your wall clock.

Tips

One site can have multiple schedules (e.g. daily local + weekly S3).
Run now queues a job immediately without waiting for the clock.
Confirm offsite destinations with Offsite → Test before relying on remote schedules.
Watch the Jobs page after enabling cron to verify jobs appear.