Creating and Managing Maintenances

This guide covers how to create and manage maintenance windows through the Kener management dashboard.

Accessing Maintenances

Navigate to the maintenances section:

1. Log into the management dashboard at /manage/app
2. Click Maintenances in the sidebar
3. You'll see a list of all existing maintenances

From here you can:

• View all maintenances (filter by ACTIVE/INACTIVE/ALL)
• Create new maintenances
• Edit existing maintenances
• View maintenance events

Creating a Maintenance

Step 1: Start Creation

Click the New Maintenance button in the top-right corner of the maintenances list page.

Step 2: Choose Schedule Type

Select whether this is a one-time or recurring maintenance:

One-Time:

• Occurs exactly once
• Ideal for migrations, upgrades, one-off work
• RRULE automatically set to FREQ=MINUTELY;COUNT=1

Recurring:

• Repeats on a schedule
• Ideal for regular updates, backups, routine maintenance
• Configure frequency and pattern

Step 3: Basic Information

Title (Required)

• Keep it concise and descriptive
• Examples: "Weekly Security Updates", "Database Migration"

Description (Optional)

• Provide details about the maintenance work
• What's being done and why
• Any user-facing impacts
• Supports Markdown formatting

Example:

**What:** Upgrading database servers to latest version
**Why:** Security patches and performance improvements
**Impact:** Read-only mode during maintenance

Step 4: Schedule Configuration

For One-Time Maintenances

Start Date/Time (Required)

• Select the exact date and time when maintenance begins
• Time is in your local timezone
• Stored in UTC internally
  title: Creating and Managing Maintenances
  description: Create a maintenance window, choose impact, and manage recurring schedules

Use **Manage → Maintenances** to create and manage planned work windows.

Create a maintenance

For Recurring Maintenances

1. Click New Maintenance.
2. Choose schedule type:
   • One-time
   • Recurring (RRULE)
3. Fill required fields:
   • Title
   • Start date/time
   • Duration
4. Select affected monitors and set impact.
5. Click Create Maintenance.
   First Occurrence Date/Time (Required)

Impact settings

• Date determines the starting point for the recurrence pattern
  Set per monitor:
  RRULE Pattern (Required)
• MAINTENANCE (recommended)
• DOWN
• DEGRADED
• UP
  Enter an iCalendar RRULE pattern directly or use the quick pattern buttons:

RRULE quick examples

Quick Pattern Buttons:

FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=SU
FREQ=DAILY
FREQ=MONTHLY;BYMONTHDAY=1

• Every Sunday - FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=SU
  For one-time maintenances, Kener uses:
• Weekdays - FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=MO,TU,WE,TH,FR

FREQ=MINUTELY;COUNT=1

Edit maintenance

You can edit title, description, schedule, duration, monitor list, and status.

When schedule/duration changes, future generated events are recalculated.

Activate or pause

• ACTIVE: normal behavior and event generation
• INACTIVE: disables maintenance behavior
  RRULE: FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=SU

Delete maintenance

Deleting a maintenance removes it and related events.

Related guides

• Maintenance Events
• Impact on Monitoring
• RRULE Patterns

Total Duration:
The system calculates duration_seconds = (hours × 3600) + (minutes × 60)

Examples:

• 30 minutes: Hours=0, Minutes=30 → 1800 seconds
• 2 hours: Hours=2, Minutes=0 → 7200 seconds
• 2.5 hours: Hours=2, Minutes=30 → 9000 seconds

Note: Duration applies to each occurrence of the maintenance, not the entire maintenance period.

Step 6: Affected Monitors

Select which monitors are affected by this maintenance:

Selecting Monitors

1. Check the boxes next to monitors you want to include
2. All active monitors are available for selection
3. You can select multiple monitors

Setting Monitor Impact

For each selected monitor, choose its status during maintenance:

UP

• Monitor remains operational
• Rare, for non-disruptive maintenance
• Example: Adding monitoring to existing service

DOWN

• Monitor completely unavailable
• Use for services that will be offline
• Example: Server restart

DEGRADED

• Monitor partially available or slow
• Use for services with reduced capacity
• Example: Read-only database mode

MAINTENANCE (Recommended)

• Shows as under maintenance
• Clear communication to users
• Example: General maintenance work

Best Practice: Use MAINTENANCE status when possible for clarity.

Example Configuration:

Monitors:
- API Server → MAINTENANCE
- Database → DOWN
- Frontend → DEGRADED

Step 7: Review and Create

Review your configuration:

• Check schedule type and RRULE (displayed at bottom)
• Verify duration calculation
• Confirm affected monitors and their impacts

Click Create Maintenance to save.

What Happens Next:

1. Maintenance is created with status ACTIVE
2. Events are generated:
   • One-Time: 1 event created immediately
   • Recurring: Events for next 7 days created
3. Events appear on the status page according to their timing

Editing a Maintenance

Accessing Edit Mode

From the maintenances list:

1. Click on a maintenance row, or
2. Click the pencil icon in the Actions column

What You Can Edit

Always Editable:

• Title
• Description
• Status (ACTIVE/INACTIVE)
• Affected monitors and their impacts

Schedule Editable With Caution:

• Start date/time
• RRULE (frequency, interval, days)
• Duration

Warning: Changing schedule settings affects event generation:

• One-Time: Non-completed events deleted, new event created
• Recurring: Future SCHEDULED events deleted, new events generated

Editing Schedule

When you edit start time, RRULE, or duration:

For One-Time Maintenances:

1. All non-completed events are deleted
2. A new event is generated with the updated schedule
3. ONGOING or COMPLETED events are preserved

For Recurring Maintenances:

1. Future SCHEDULED events are deleted
2. New events are generated for the next 7 days
3. READY, ONGOING, and COMPLETED events are preserved

Example Scenario:

Original: Every Sunday at 3 AM for 1 hour
Edited to: Every Sunday at 4 AM for 2 hours

Result:
- All SCHEDULED events deleted
- New events created: Every Sunday at 4 AM, 2-hour duration
- Currently ONGOING or past COMPLETED events unchanged

Editing Monitors

Adding or removing monitors:

1. Check/uncheck monitors in the selection area
2. For new monitors, set their impact status
3. Save changes

Effect:

• Applies immediately to all future events
• Does not retroactively change past events

Changing Status

Toggle between ACTIVE and INACTIVE:

ACTIVE → INACTIVE:

• Stops new event generation
• Existing events remain (must manually cancel/delete if needed)
• Maintenance hidden from users

INACTIVE → ACTIVE:

• Resumes event generation for recurring maintenances
• Events generated for next 7 days

Deleting a Maintenance

Click the Delete button at the bottom of the edit page.

Warning: This action:

1. Deletes the maintenance record permanently
2. Deletes all associated events (past and future)
3. Cannot be undone

Confirmation Required: You must confirm deletion before it proceeds.

Alternative: Instead of deleting, consider setting status to INACTIVE to preserve historical data.

Managing Events

Viewing Events

On the maintenance edit page, scroll down to see the Maintenance Events section.

Events are displayed with:

• Status badge (SCHEDULED, READY, ONGOING, COMPLETED, CANCELLED)
• Start and end date/time
• Duration
• Current event highlighted

Event Actions

Cancel Individual Event:

1. Click the trash icon next to an event
2. Confirm cancellation
3. Event status changes to CANCELLED

Note: You cannot edit individual events directly. Changes must be made at the maintenance level.

Event Status Indicators

Ongoing:

• Green badge
• Event is currently in progress
• Monitor statuses overridden

Upcoming:

• Blue badge with countdown
• Shows "In X hours/days"
• Event scheduled for future

Completed:

• Gray badge
• Event finished
• Historical record only

Maintenance List View

The maintenances list page shows:

Filters

Status Filter:

• ALL - Show all maintenances
• ACTIVE - Only active maintenances
• INACTIVE - Only inactive maintenances

Table Columns

ID

• Unique maintenance identifier
• Used in API calls

Title

• Hover to see full title and description

Type

• One-Time (calendar icon)
• Recurring (repeat icon)

Duration

• Shows maintenance window length
• Hover for full details (start time, RRULE)

Monitors

• Count of affected monitors
• Hover to see monitor tags

Next Event

• Shows upcoming or current event
• Badge indicates status
• Hover for event details

Status

• ACTIVE (blue) or INACTIVE (gray)

Actions

• Edit button (pencil icon)

Pagination

• 10 maintenances per page
• Navigate with Previous/Next buttons
• Shows "X-Y of Z total"

Best Practices

Clear Titles:
Use descriptive, concise titles that immediately communicate the maintenance purpose.

✅ Weekly Security Updates
✅ Monthly Database Optimization
❌ Maintenance
❌ Work

Detailed Descriptions:
Include what, why, and impact in descriptions.

**What:** Upgrading Kubernetes cluster to v1.28
**Why:** Security patches and new features
**Impact:** Services remain available, brief restarts possible

Appropriate Impact Levels:

• Use MAINTENANCE for general maintenance
• Use DOWN only when truly unavailable
• Use DEGRADED for reduced capacity

Advance Notice:
Schedule maintenances with sufficient lead time:

• Critical systems: 7+ days notice
• Regular maintenance: 2-3 days notice
• Emergency work: As much notice as possible

Recurring Schedules:

• Choose low-traffic times (e.g., 2-4 AM)
• Be consistent (same day/time each week)
• Avoid holidays and peak usage periods

Duration Buffers:
Add buffer time to your estimates:

• Estimate 1 hour? Schedule 1.5 hours
• Better to finish early than run over

Troubleshooting

Problem: Events not appearing on status page

Solutions:

• Check maintenance status is ACTIVE
• Verify events are within visibility window (configure in page settings)
• Check affected monitors are not hidden

Problem: RRULE validation error

Solutions:

• Ensure BYDAY is set for weekly frequency
• Check interval is positive number
• Verify RRULE syntax (see RRULE Patterns)

Problem: Events not generated for recurring maintenance

Solutions:

• Check maintenance status is ACTIVE
• Wait for hourly scheduler to run
• Verify start_date_time is not too far in future

Problem: Can't delete event

Solutions:

• COMPLETED events can be deleted
• ONGOING events should be cancelled first
• Or delete the entire maintenance

Next Steps

• Maintenance Events - Learn about event lifecycle and automatic transitions
• Maintenance Impact on Monitoring - How maintenances affect monitor status display
• RRULE Patterns - Advanced scheduling patterns and examples