Scheduling Audits

Overview

Scheduled audits run automatically on a recurring basis without manual initiation. The scheduling workflow has two steps: create an audit template that defines the goal and scope, then create a scheduled audit from that template with a cron expression or interval. Scheduled audits are ideal for nightly consolidation runs, peak-hour workload stabilization checks, and post-recovery zone rebalancing.

Prerequisites

Administrator privileges
At least one data source configured for the selected goal

Audit Templates

Audit templates are reusable configurations that serve as the basis for both manual one-off audits and scheduled recurring audits.

Dashboard
CLI

Navigate to Audit Templates

Navigate to Optimization → Audit Templates.

Create a template

Click Create Audit Template and fill in:

Field	Description	Example
Name	Template identifier	`daily-consolidation`
Goal	Optimization objective	`server_consolidation`
Scope	Target scope	`CLUSTER`
Description	Optional documentation note	`Nightly server consolidation`

Save

Click Create. The template is now available for manual audits and scheduling.

Audit template created and visible in the template list.

Create an audit template

watcher audittemplate create daily-consolidation \
  --goal server_consolidation \
  --description "Nightly server consolidation"

List audit templates

watcher audittemplate list

Show template details

watcher audittemplate show daily-consolidation

Schedule a Recurring Audit

Dashboard
CLI

Navigate to Audit Templates and click Actions → Create Audit on your template. In the audit creation form, enable Auto Trigger and set a cron expression in the scheduling field.

Cron Example	Schedule
`0 2 * * *`	Daily at 02:00 AM
`0 /6 * *`	Every 6 hours
`0 2 * * 0`	Weekly on Sunday at 02:00 AM

Schedule consolidation audits during off-peak hours (02:00–06:00 AM) to minimize the impact of live migrations on active workloads.

Create a scheduled audit

watcher audit create \
  --audit-template daily-consolidation \
  --auto-trigger True \
  --goal server_consolidation

List all audits including scheduled

watcher audit list

The --auto-trigger True flag instructs the Decision Engine to execute the resulting action plan automatically after audit completion, without manual approval. Use this only for non-production environments or after thoroughly validating the strategy on your topology.

Auto-Trigger vs Manual Approval

Mode	Behaviour	Recommended For
Manual approval (default)	Plan requires explicit `execute` call	Production environments
Auto-trigger	Plan executes immediately after audit	Dev/test, or validated strategies only

Enable auto_trigger only after thoroughly testing the strategy behaviour on your cluster topology. Auto-trigger can initiate live migrations during business hours if the schedule is misconfigured.

Manage Scheduled Audits

List all audits

watcher audit list

Delete a scheduled audit

watcher audit delete <audit-uuid>

Delete an audit template

watcher audittemplate delete daily-consolidation

Action Plan Expiry

Action plans become stale when the cluster state changes significantly after audit completion. Configure expiry to prevent old plans from being executed.

Web Console
CLI

Open Advanced Configuration

Open the deployment console and navigate to Advanced Configuration. In the Service Tree (left panel), select watcher.

Edit the Expiry Setting

Click New File or select an existing watcher.conf from the File Browser (right panel). Add the following in the Code Editor (center panel):

/etc/ironcore/config/watcher/watcher.conf

[DEFAULT]
action_plan_expiry = 24

Plans older than action_plan_expiry hours are automatically invalidated. A new audit must be run to generate a fresh plan.

Save and Apply

Click Save Current File. Return to Operations and run reconfigure to apply the expiry setting.

Action plan expiry configured and applied via the deployment console.

Edit the configuration file directly:

/etc/ironcore/watcher/watcher.conf

[DEFAULT]
action_plan_expiry = 24

Plans older than action_plan_expiry hours are automatically invalidated. A new audit must be run to generate a fresh plan.

Next Steps

Action Plan Policies

Configure manual vs automatic action plan execution policies.

Strategy Configuration

Tune strategy parameters for scheduled audits.

Audit History (User)

Review scheduled audit results and trends over time.

Troubleshooting

Diagnose scheduled audit failures and data source issues.

Core Services

Other Services

Overview

Audit Templates

Navigate to Audit Templates

Create a template

Save

Schedule a Recurring Audit

Auto-Trigger vs Manual Approval

Manage Scheduled Audits

Action Plan Expiry

Open Advanced Configuration

Edit the Expiry Setting

Save and Apply

Next Steps

Action Plan Policies

Strategy Configuration

Audit History (User)

Troubleshooting

​Overview

​Audit Templates

Navigate to Audit Templates

Create a template

Save

​Schedule a Recurring Audit

​Auto-Trigger vs Manual Approval

​Manage Scheduled Audits

​Action Plan Expiry

Open Advanced Configuration

Edit the Expiry Setting

Save and Apply

​Next Steps

Action Plan Policies

Strategy Configuration

Audit History (User)

Troubleshooting

Overview

Audit Templates

Schedule a Recurring Audit

Auto-Trigger vs Manual Approval

Manage Scheduled Audits

Action Plan Expiry

Next Steps