What are scheduled tasks

Scheduled Tasks enable you configure N-able N-central to perform specific maintenance functions and tasks for a one-time or on a recurring basis, at all administrative levels. Setting the tasks on a schedule eliminates the need for you to remember to do them yourself, freeing time to give your attention to more important needs. Scheduled tasks can run across multiple customers or sites and take full advantage of filters to best target specific devices.

Scheduled tasks can only be performed at the Service Organization or Customer level.

To access scheduled tasks, click Configuration > Scheduled Tasks > Add/Delete.

You can also add scheduled tasks to a specific device. To do this, click the device name. In the Add Task menu in the upper-right corner, select the task. Note that if Security Manager | AV Defender is not installed on the device, the AV tasks are not available.

If you use filters for a task, N-able N-central uses a snapshot of the filter for the targeted devices to include in the task. This avoids potential unexpected behavior when running tasks in the future. If you need to apply a task to devices, it is best to use a scheduled task profile. This enables a task to apply to the devices using a rule.

If scheduled tasks appear grayed out when viewing at the Customer or Site level, the task was created at the SO level. It cannot be edited at the lower levels.

For Scheduled Task profiles that are probe-based, the profile will stop running if the probe associated with it is moved (for example, after moving a device). To continue running the profile:

  • Install another probe in the environment
  • Modify the rule that the scheduled task profile is associated with to reengage the probe. This can be as simple as renaming the rule.

If the N-able N-central server is in different a time zone than the devices that it is managing, scheduled tasks run according to the time zone of the target devices. When the device is in a downtime maintenance window or reboot, any logs are sent and saved with the N-able N-central server time, until the device is up and running again. For more information, see the Knowledge Base article Maintenance Windows and devices in different timezones.

Task interaction with agents and probes

You can setup scheduled tasks using a Windows agent (if available) and/or a Windows probe for some scheduled tasks. If the Use Agent where available, otherwise use Best available probe option is not selected, the selected Windows probe will be used even if the device has a Windows agent.

The interaction between a scheduled task and Windows agents will be carried out as follows:

  • The task identification is defined by the Task Name field for devices without Windows agents. Devices with Windows agents will have their device name added to the end of the task name.
  • If an existing scheduled task monitored by a Windows probe is modified by selecting additional devices, any devices with Windows agents will have individual tasks run on them using the agents. The device names are added to the end of the task name. This does not apply to scheduled tasks that are monitored only by Windows agents.

What type of schedule task to you want to create?