Maintenance mode and maintenance windows

During a maintenance window, octoja pauses the areas you choose for a device — for example alerts and checks while you rebuild a server. You set a window directly on a device or plan it in a config package for every device the package matches. How to read the maintenance notice on the device page is described in Device Statuses.

Prerequisites

• For a window on a device, your group grants the Maintenance mode device action for that device. An administrator assigns it under Administration → Groups → Device Access → Allowed actions.
• For maintenance windows in config packages, you need the Monitoring Check Management permission.

What a maintenance window pauses

A new window initially pauses all five areas. Click a card under Pause during this window to deselect or reselect that area. When the window ends, octoja resumes the paused areas automatically.

If several windows apply at the same time, octoja pauses every area that at least one active window pauses. Maintenance ends only with the latest window; if one of them is open-ended, the device stays in maintenance until that window ends.

Put a device into maintenance

1. Open the device, click the actions menu (…) in the top-right corner and choose Maintenance mode.
2. In the Set maintenance mode dialog, optionally enter a Name (optional), for example Weekly reboot. While the window is active, the name appears as the reason in the maintenance notice.
3. Under When, choose when the window applies:

4. Under Pause during this window, select the areas.
5. Click Save. octoja confirms with "Maintenance mode updated".

A device has at most one window set directly on it. If you open the dialog again, it shows that window for editing, and Save replaces it. The Maintenance bulk action in the device list (see Edit multiple devices at once) and the Maintenance mode automation step set the same window; each of them replaces the previous one. octoja records setting and clearing it in the device log under Activities → Logs.

End maintenance on the device

While a window set directly on the device is active, the maintenance notice on the device page shows Clear maintenance. Clicking it removes the window completely, so for Recurring it also removes all future occurrences.

If a recurring window is not active at the moment, there is no maintenance notice. To remove it anyway, select the device in the device list and use Maintenance → Clear maintenance mode.

Clear maintenance and Clear maintenance mode remove only the window set directly on the device. Windows from config packages remain; Config Packages in the device's actions menu shows which packages apply to the device.

Plan maintenance windows for many devices

In a config package, maintenance windows apply to every device that matches the package's rules. How to create a package and define its rules is described in Assign checks with config packages.

1. Open the package under Configuration → Config Packages. If the Maintenance tab is missing, add the module with Edit modules.
2. On the Maintenance tab, in the Maintenance windows section, click Add window.
3. Optionally enter a name and under When choose Scheduled window or Recurring. Now until… is only available on a single device.
4. Under Pause during this window, select the areas. Add more windows if needed; the trash icon removes a window.
5. Save the package.

You cannot end a package window for one device on the device itself. Remove or change the window in the package, or adjust the rules so the device no longer belongs to the package.

Times and time zones

You enter Until, Start and End in your browser's time zone. octoja evaluates the Schedule of a recurring window in the time zone of the octoja instance (Europe/Berlin by default), not in the device's time zone.

Maintenance windows in patch policies

The maintenance window of a patch policy is something different: it defines when updates are installed and pauses nothing. Only a patch policy's Automatic maintenance mode option suppresses alerts while patches run; see Set up patch policies and cycles.

FAQ

Why does the device stay in maintenance after "Clear maintenance"?

Another window is still active, for example from a config package or a patch policy's Automatic maintenance mode. The maintenance notice lists named windows under Reason or Reasons. Check Config Packages in the device's actions menu to see which packages apply, and change the window there.