Scheduling

Important! Before you schedule a sync, you should to run it manually at least once to make sure the sync commences fine, free of login or other network problems.

AASync 2 has what many computer users wanted for a long time: unattended operation in the background without the need of any user intervention. Set the parameters once and .. well, forget it! AASync's Schedule Panel has all the options to achieve this.

In order to use the scheduling feature on a sync, turn on the "Use Scheduled Sync" button. Set the schedule type (eg. Daily) the time to perform it and click OK on the bottom. That is how easy it is. Here is what you need to know about the scheduled sync: Once the sync has been scheduled, AASync will not have to be running! The sync will still execute in the background, even if somebody else is logged in during your sync. The logs will be left according to the log setting in the Options Panel. Next time you start AASync the time of the last sync will be shown. and clicking the "Last Log" button will open the log of the last sync.

Before the Sync

What is great is that your computer does not have to be awake, or even ON during a scheduled sync. This a major upgrade from version 1. This popup button lets you set the machine to wake or power on befor sync. If you set this, AASync will automatically schedule the WakeOrPoweron repeating power event to happen couple of minutes before the sync would start. This lets you set up your syncs in the middle of the night, which is what a lot of users like doing.

After the Sync

After a scheduled sync there are some options that can be executed:

• Attempt to put the machine to sleep - It is called an attempt for a good reason. In normal circumstances it should succeed, unless some running software prevents it from happening. It should be tested in your particular environment. If it works, it allows the user to have a truly unattended sync in the middle of the night.. the machine will wake up, execute the sync, then back to sleep.
• Do the Chain Thing..execute another sync right after this one? See below..

Some Important Caveats about power events

• The wake event AAsync will schedule will be a repeating power event. There are limitations imposed by the system on such events, most important of which is that you can have only one of these at a time, meaning that if you set this on one sync it will wipe it out on an another sync you may have set it on previously. USE THIS OPTION CAREFULLY! YOU MUST BE AN ADMIN USER TO USE THIS FEATURE. Once it is set, you may view it in the Preferences App's Power Tab.
• Wake is only available on daily, once a week, weekdays or weekends schedules.
• Sleep events can be scheduled as many times as you want, but still one has to be careful. This scheduled sleep will effect all user on your system! USE THIS OPTION CAREFULLY! YOU MUST BE AN ADMIN USER TO USE THIS FEATURE.
• Power events triggered only if the sync is started on a schedule! If the sync is run manually, wake/sleep settings are ignored!

The Chain

So, since you can only wake your machine on one set schedule, it would be great execute more than one syncs in a sequence. This way, all periodic (like daily or weekly) backups can be executed in the middle of the night, one after another. The first sync will wake the machine, then call the next sync by using the "After the Sync" popup button (be sure to turn on the "Use Scheduled Sync" button). The sync sync should sleep the machine after it completes, and voila, you have a chain of backups executing completely unattended whenever you want, and you do not have to worry about your box running needlessly.
One sync can only be part of one chain! Chains have to be set up from the top. The first sync will be triggered by time (this will have an alarm clock icon next it's name). The rest will have a chain icon next to their name. Chained syncs cannot set their start times, since they will be triggered after the previous sync completes. A chain can be broken up also from the top, by resetting the "After the Sync" option. Chain sequences are triggered only if the sync is started on a schedule! If the sync is run manually, chain (also wake/sleep) settings are ignored!