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Scheduling

Configure how often and when your tests run.

Frequency

Set how often the test executes:

FrequencyUse Case
1 minuteCritical production services
5 minutesStandard monitoring
15 minutesLess critical services
30 minutesLow-priority endpoints
60 minutesBackground services

Choosing a Frequency

Consider:

  • Impact of downtime: Critical services need faster detection
  • SLA requirements: Match frequency to your SLA commitments
  • Cost: More frequent tests use more of your plan's execution quota
  • API rate limits: Don't exceed your API's rate limits

Plan Limits

Your plan determines the minimum frequency:

  • Free: 15 minutes minimum
  • Starter: 5 minutes minimum
  • Pro: 1 minute minimum
  • Enterprise: 30 seconds minimum

Active Hours

Optionally limit when tests run:

  • Timezone: Your local timezone
  • Start Time: When to start running (e.g., 08:00)
  • End Time: When to stop running (e.g., 18:00)

Use Cases

Business hours only:

  • Internal tools used 9-5
  • Services that are intentionally down at night
  • Development environments

Off-hours only:

  • Batch processing jobs
  • Maintenance window monitoring

24/7 Monitoring

Leave active hours empty for continuous monitoring. This is recommended for:

  • Production APIs
  • Customer-facing services
  • Services with global users

Execution Timing

Tests are distributed across the frequency window to avoid thundering herd. A 5-minute test doesn't necessarily run at :00, :05, :10 - it runs every 5 minutes from when it was created.

Pausing Tests

Temporarily stop a test without deleting it:

  1. Go to the test detail page
  2. Click Pause
  3. The test stops running but retains its configuration

Resume when ready by clicking Resume.

When to Pause

  • During planned maintenance
  • While investigating issues
  • When an endpoint is intentionally down
  • During development/testing of the test itself

Pingward - API Monitoring Made Simple