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Schedules

The schedules page lets you configure automated recurring tasks for device data collection, WAN monitoring, and integration sync.

SonicWall Data Collection

SonicWall data collection is organized into two schedules that work together to balance freshness and efficiency.

Device Metrics (Lightweight)

Collects time-series and status data without pulling configuration or triggering backups:

  • Health metrics — CPU, memory, connection counts
  • Interface bandwidth — per-interface throughput counters
  • VPN tunnel status — tunnel up/down state, detects state changes
  • HA status — high-availability peer health and mode

Default interval: 15 minutes (minimum 5 minutes)

This schedule connects to each device, authenticates, collects only lightweight data, and disconnects. No configuration audit, backup, or documentation is performed — keeping connections fast and low-impact.

Device Config (Full Poll)

Collects everything the metrics schedule does, plus heavy configuration data:

  • All metrics data listed above
  • Security services audit — license status, signature versions, service health
  • Local user accounts — user list and role assignments
  • Device documentation — full configuration snapshot stored for change detection
  • Configuration backup — exports saved to backup storage

Default interval: 4 hours (minimum 15 minutes)

Smart Poll

The Device Config schedule uses smart poll to avoid redundant heavy work. Before pulling configuration data, it checks whether the device has actually changed:

  • Firmware version — has it been upgraded since last poll?
  • Uptime — has the device rebooted (uptime reset)?
  • Last full poll — has it been more than 24 hours since the last config audit?

If none of these conditions are met, heavy phases (config audit, backup, documentation) are skipped — but metrics are always collected. This means the Device Config schedule acts like a metrics poll most of the time, only doing heavy work when something has changed or enough time has passed.

Backups and documentation only happen when a change is detected (or 24+ hours since last audit). You don’t need to worry about unnecessary backup operations on every poll cycle.

How They Work Together

When the Device Config schedule runs and collects metrics, it updates freshness timestamps so the Device Metrics schedule knows not to re-poll the same device redundantly. The two schedules coordinate automatically:

Data TypeDevice MetricsDevice Config
Health metricsYesYes
Interface bandwidthYesYes
VPN tunnel statusYesYes
HA statusYesYes
Security audit—When changed
Local users—When changed
Documentation—When changed
Backup—When changed

WAN Monitoring

WAN Probe

Sends ICMP probes to WAN gateway IPs to measure network quality:

  • Latency — round-trip time to each gateway
  • Jitter — latency variation
  • Packet loss — percentage of dropped probes

Default interval: 5 minutes

WAN probes run independently of device polls — they don’t require SonicWall authentication or API access.

Integration Schedules

ITGlue Sync

Synchronizes device documentation with ITGlue flexible assets. Pushes configuration data collected by Device Config polls to your ITGlue organization.

Default interval: 4 hours

System Schedules

Credential Rotation Check

Monitors device credential age and flags credentials that should be rotated based on your security policy.

Evidence Snapshot

Generates compliance evidence snapshots for SOC 2 audit trails.

Configuration

Each schedule can be configured with:

  • Enabled/Disabled — toggle the schedule on or off
  • Interval — how often the task runs (constrained by minimum intervals)
  • Run Now — trigger an immediate execution outside the normal schedule

Best Practices

  • Start with defaults — the default intervals are tuned for most environments
  • Device Metrics at 15 min is a good balance for VPN and health monitoring
  • Device Config at 4 hours catches configuration drift without excessive load
  • Stagger schedules — avoid running all tasks at the same time
  • Monitor schedule health — check for failed runs in the schedule cards
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