Azure Automation: Assets - Schedules

Please go through the list of other articles to understand Azure Automation.

1. Azure Automation – Basics
2. Azure Automation: Author Runbook Using PowerShell - Hello World
   
3. Azure Automation - Import PowerShell Runbook From Portal Gallery
   
4. Azure Automation - Publish Runbook
   
5. Azure Automation: Assets – Variables
   
6. Azure Automation: Assets – Modules
7. Azure Automation: Assets - Schedules
8. Azure Automation: Assets - Schedules - Link Runbooks
9. Azure Automation: Assets - Schedules - Unlink Runbooks

Azure Automation supports the following type of Assets:



In this article, we will learn more about Schedules.

Azure Automation Schedules are used to schedule the Runbooks to run automatically, based on a scheduled time. These schedules are global to the Azure Automation account and can be used by multiple Runbooks. Once a Runbook is associated with a schedule, it will run based on the settings configured in the Schedule.

Let’s go ahead and create a Schedule.

Navigate to your Azure Automation account and go to Assets blade. Click “Schedules” tile, as shown below:



Currently, there are no schedules. Let’s create one by clicking on the “Add a Schedule” button available in the “Schedules” blade, as shown above.

As of this writing, there are two type of schedules, which you can create.

• Run-Once Schedule
• Recurring Schedule

Run-Once Schedule

Run-Once schedule is used to run some scripts, (using runbooks), which triggers some action, which is required to be done only once.

Below is the screen shot with all the required details to create a “Run-Once” schedule.



You need to provide the details, when the schedule should start and the type of recurrence in the “Recurrence” toggle, which is highlighted above.

Click the “Create” button, shown in the above screenshot, which creates a new schedule, shown below, which runs only once, based on the time selected in the “Start” field of the above screenshot.


Recurring Schedule

Recurring Schedule is used to trigger some action (using Runbooks) on a regular basis. For example, you would like to Start / Stop few VMs everyday, then you can use Recurring Schedules. Let’s create one by clicking on the “Add a schedule” button, as shown below in the “Schedules” blade.


As shown in the screenshot, given below, select “Recurring” in the Recurrence toggle and you will be asked to select the frequency on which the schedule should recur.


As of now, there are 4 recurring frequencies, as shown below:



For this article, I selected “Day”. Now click “Create” to create the schedule.



While creating the schedule, you can also select the Time Zone on which the schedule has to be triggered. By default, the time zone of the Browser will be taken automatically.

I’m writing this article from India (Hyderabad) so the dropdown has selected “India Standard Time” by default, as shown below:



Expire Schedule

Let’s say, you just wanted to run a script (using runbook) only for 10 days and so you would like to disable a schedule automatically after 10 days. For this, you can use the “Set Expiration” toggle button to True, provide a Date and Time, as shown below:


Hope, you enjoyed the article. Your feedback is highly appreciated.