Schedules & Backups

The Schedules tab allows you to automate tasks using Cron syntax. This is incredibly powerful for setting up automatic daily restarts and taking consistent backups.

1. Understanding Cron Syntax

Schedules use standard Cron timing. For example:

• 0 4 * * * = Every day at 4:00 AM.
• 0 */12 * * * = Every 12 hours.
• 0 0 * * 0 = Every Sunday at midnight.

If you're unsure, use a site like crontab.guru to generate the exact timing you need.

2. Creating a Daily Restart & Backup Task

Here is a step-by-step guide to creating a schedule that restarts your server and takes a backup every day at 4:00 AM.

1. Go to the Schedules tab and click Create Schedule.
2. Set the time to Minute: 0, Hour: 4, and leave the rest as *. Name it "Daily Restart".
3. Click into the new schedule to add tasks.
4. Task 1: Action: Send command, Payload: say Server restarting in 1 minute!, Time Offset: 0.
5. Task 2: Action: Send power command, Payload: restart, Time Offset: 60 (waits 60 seconds).
6. Task 3: Action: Create backup, Time Offset: 180 (waits 3 minutes to ensure the server is fully offline/restarting before zipping files).

3. Managing Backups

MonsterNode stores backups securely. You can view them in the Backups tab.