Scheduling Actions

Automate recurring tasks on your Azure resources with scheduled actions.

Overview

Task Ember's scheduler lets you define recurring actions on your resources - start VMs at 9am, stop them at 6pm, run PowerShell scripts on a schedule, or make HTTP requests at set intervals.

Creating a Schedule

1. Navigate to a Workspace
2. Open the Remote PowerShell component or use the schedule button on any resource
3. Click Schedule
4. Configure the schedule:
   • Select days of the week
   • Set start and stop times
   • Choose the timezone
   • Select which resources to target

Schedule Types

VM Start/Stop

The most common use case. Schedule your Azure VMs to start in the morning and stop in the evening to save costs.

Example: Start at 08:00, Stop at 18:00, Monday-Friday, UK timezone.

PowerShell Scripts

Run PowerShell scripts on Azure VMs at scheduled times. Useful for maintenance tasks, health checks, or data collection.

Example: Run disk cleanup every Sunday at 02:00.

HTTP Requests

Send HTTP requests to external APIs on a schedule. Useful for health checks, data syncing, or triggering workflows.

Script Chains

Script chains let you run multiple PowerShell scripts in sequence on your VMs.

Creating a Chain

1. Open a workspace's Remote PowerShell component
2. Add scripts from the library or upload your own
3. Drag to reorder scripts
4. Configure parameters for each script

Execution Modes

Decision Branches

Add decision nodes between scripts to conditionally execute different paths based on the output of the previous script.

Script Parameters

Scripts can accept parameters that are:

• Manually configured - Fixed values you set in advance
• Mapped from previous output - Dynamic values from the previous script's JSON output

Targets

Select which resources the schedule applies to. You can target one or multiple resources in the same workspace.

Monitoring

View execution results in the Logs tab of the Remote PowerShell component. Each run shows:

• Start and end time
• Success/failure status per script
• Script output (piped to ConvertTo-Json for table formatting)

Failed executions automatically create alerts in your Inbox.

Tips

• Pipe PowerShell output to ConvertTo-Json for structured table formatting and Excel export
• Use the Long Running mode for scripts that may take more than 5 minutes
• Set up webhook alerts for schedule failures to get notified immediately
• Use member bundles to quickly assign team members to workspaces with scheduled actions