Scheduling of backups and replication

[hspindel]

The GUI dialog boxes in Proxmox for creating backup and replication jobs allow you to specify a schedule, but the dropdown has a pretty limited set of choices for the schedule.

Is there a way to specify a schedule more like crontab would do it?

I found the related file /etc/pve/jobs.cfg, but the schedule line in that file is in the same format as the GUI and I can't find any documentation on how to specify an arbitrary schedule like with crontab.

Running proxmox 6.14.11-2-pve.

 

[Johannes S]

You can specify your own choice of a schedule directly in the Dialoge. There is also a Simulator for testing the configuration

 

[hspindel]

You can specify your own choice of a schefule directly in the Dialoge. There is also a Simulator for twsting the configuration

Where is the syntax for doing so specified?

 

[Johannes S]

Where is the syntax for doing so specified?

It's the same Format as systemd calendar events:

The format for the schedule is very similar to systemd calendar events, see the calendar events section for details. The Schedule field in the UI can be freely edited, and it contains several examples that can be used as a starting point in its drop-down list. https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Backup_and_Restore#vzdump_jobs

 

[hspindel]

Thank you, but maybe I'm dense today. I see every two hours would be:
*/2:00

How do I do every two hours, but starting on an odd hour?

 

[Onslow]

How do I do every two hours, but starting on an odd hour?

01/2:00

Let's verify it:

# systemd-analyze calendar --iterations=12 '01/2:00'
  Original form: 01/2:00
Normalized form: *-*-* 01/2:00:00
    Next elapse: Sat 2025-09-27 13:00:00 CEST
       (in UTC): Sat 2025-09-27 11:00:00 UTC
       From now: 47min left
       Iter. #2: Sat 2025-09-27 15:00:00 CEST
       (in UTC): Sat 2025-09-27 13:00:00 UTC
       From now: 2h 47min left
       Iter. #3: Sat 2025-09-27 17:00:00 CEST
       (in UTC): Sat 2025-09-27 15:00:00 UTC
       From now: 4h 47min left
       Iter. #4: Sat 2025-09-27 19:00:00 CEST
       (in UTC): Sat 2025-09-27 17:00:00 UTC
       From now: 6h left
       Iter. #5: Sat 2025-09-27 21:00:00 CEST
       (in UTC): Sat 2025-09-27 19:00:00 UTC
       From now: 8h left
       Iter. #6: Sat 2025-09-27 23:00:00 CEST
       (in UTC): Sat 2025-09-27 21:00:00 UTC
       From now: 10h left
       Iter. #7: Sun 2025-09-28 01:00:00 CEST
       (in UTC): Sat 2025-09-27 23:00:00 UTC
       From now: 12h left
       Iter. #8: Sun 2025-09-28 03:00:00 CEST
       (in UTC): Sun 2025-09-28 01:00:00 UTC
       From now: 14h left
       Iter. #9: Sun 2025-09-28 05:00:00 CEST
       (in UTC): Sun 2025-09-28 03:00:00 UTC
       From now: 16h left
      Iter. #10: Sun 2025-09-28 07:00:00 CEST
       (in UTC): Sun 2025-09-28 05:00:00 UTC
       From now: 18h left
      Iter. #11: Sun 2025-09-28 09:00:00 CEST
       (in UTC): Sun 2025-09-28 07:00:00 UTC
       From now: 20h left
      Iter. #12: Sun 2025-09-28 11:00:00 CEST
       (in UTC): Sun 2025-09-28 09:00:00 UTC
       From now: 22h left