2.2.3. Times
Keywords: fwbackups, user guide, help, documentation, configuration

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### ⁠2.2.3. Times

This tab controls the time and date at which the backup should be started at. Both easy configuration and manual configuration (crontab) methods are supported. Using the easy configuration is recommended for most users.
The easy configuration uses a series of drop-down boxes, and sliders to determine at which time fwbackups should schedule a backup. A backup of the set is run whenever the date matches the chosen parameters. That being said, be careful when selecting the minute for your backup operation! A common user error is choosing Every minute for the backup time, causing a a new backup to start at every minute of the hour. It is recommended instead to choose a specific minute at which the backup will start at, for example "0" (at the beginning of the hour) or "30" (for half-way through the hour).
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Figure 2.3. Setting a backup schedule for a set

If you wish to further customize the times at which the backup operation starts, you may use the manual configuration method to do so. It uses crontab syntax:

+-------------- minute (0 - 59)
| +------------ hour (0 - 23)
| | +---------- day of month (1 - 31)
| | | +-------- month (1 - 12)
| | | | +------ day of week (0 - 7) (Sunday=0 or 7)
| | | | | +-- command to run
| | | | | |
* * * * * command

Simply enter the same values you would into a crontab, as outlined above, into the designated entry boxes. Please note that you cannot enter all five fields onto one line; the four fields are divided among four different entry boxes. As well, it is important to note that in manual configuration mode no validation is performed on user input and you must supply valid values for the first five fields. The sixth field, used for the command, is generated automatically by fwbackups.

- Use a comma (,) to specify a list of values
  ⁠

  Example 2.1. Using a comma

  2,4,5,7,8,9
- Use a dash (-) to specify a range of values
  ⁠

  Example 2.2. Using a dash

  1-4 is equivalent to 1,2,3,4
- Use an asterisk (*) to specify all possible values
  ⁠

  Example 2.3. Using an asterisk

  * in the hours field is the same as 0-23 or 1,2,3,[...],23
- Most variants of cron support the forward slash (/) to designate a skip
  ⁠

  Example 2.4. Using a forward slash

  */2 in the minutes field is equivalent to 0,2,4,6,8,[...],58
- In the day of the week field, both 0 and 7 are counted as Sunday.
- If both day of month and day of week are present, the command will be executed when either is true.

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