Tasks

The Tasks tab (titled Scheduled Tasks) runs actions automatically — a nightly restart, an automatic backup, a timed warning message.

Prerequisites

• server.schedule to see the tab and to create, edit, pause, or delete a task.
• The permission the action itself needs, because a task runs without re-checking your rights:
  • Start server — server.start; Stop server — server.stop; Restart server — both.
  • Create backup — backup.create, plus server.stop for Stop server before backup and server.start for Start server after backup.
  • Send command — console.write.

Create a task

1. Open the server’s Tasks tab and select Create task.
2. Enter a Name (the placeholder suggests Nightly restart) and, if you want a note for your team, a Description.
3. Choose the Action: Restart server, Start server, Stop server, Create backup, or Send command.
4. For Send command, enter the console Command — for example say Server restart in 5 minutes.
5. For Create backup, set the backup options:
   • Stop server before backup — stops a running server gracefully and waits for it to go offline before archiving. Without it the backup only starts when the server is already stopped.
   • Start server after backup — starts the server again once the backup is confirmed finished. Enable both for a backup that restarts the server.
   • Compress backup (gzip) — on by default; off stores a plain .tar (backups).
6. Choose how often it Repeats: Every minute, Every N minutes, Every hour, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Custom (cron).
7. Set the detail the repeat needs: an Interval for Every N minutes, At minute for Every hour, and a Time of day for Daily, Weekly and Monthly, plus Day of week or Day of month where they apply. The dialog names the timezone the times are read in.
8. To use a raw cron expression instead, turn on Advanced and fill in Schedule (cron) — five fields: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week.
9. Select Create.

Manage existing tasks

Each row shows the name, action, schedule expression, any backup options, and the Next run, Last run, status, and Runs counters; a failed run leaves its error text under the row.

• Edit opens the name, description, action, command, timing and backup options.
• Pause keeps a task but stops it running; Resume turns it back on.
• Delete removes it after a confirmation.

Create, edit, pause and delete are disabled while the server is suspended.

Recipes that work well

• Nightly restart: restart at 04:00 when nobody is online, with a preceding Send command task (say Restarting in 5 minutes) a few minutes earlier.
• Daily backup: a backup every night, plus manual backups for milestones.
• Back up and restart: one Create backup task with Stop server before backup and Start server after backup both enabled — the server stops gracefully, the backup is taken, and it starts again once the archive is confirmed.
• Timed messages: broadcast rules or event reminders with say.

Caveats

• A task action runs with the same power as clicking it yourself — a scheduled Stop server really stops the server. Name tasks clearly.
• Start server after backup only starts a server that the backup left stopped; if something else started it while the backup ran, the task leaves it alone.
• If the panel was down when a task was due, the task runs when the scheduler starts again instead of being skipped. Check Last run after an outage.
• A failed run still counts in Runs and records its error on the task; a task whose node is unreachable fails instead of waiting.
• Over-frequent restarts annoy players and can corrupt worlds if they coincide with heavy saves. Daily is plenty for most servers.

Related

• Backups — manual backups and restoring one
• Power controls — starting, stopping, and restarting by hand