Preferred maintenance windows

PRIVATE PREVIEW FEATURE: Understanding the preferred maintenance windows

Preferred maintenance windows are regularly scheduled time periods that are designated for maintenance activities on your deployment. This feature provides a predictable schedule for maintenance downtime.

By default, maintenance windows are scheduled for 8-hour time blocks, but the actual downtime is typically less than that. Maintenance windows are scheduled in UTC, providing a universal standard across regional time zones.

The Maintenance dashboard shows your current preferred maintenance window. Click View details to view the following information about this maintenance window:

Setting Description
Default time window The default maintenance time window and day currently set for your deployment. Splunk typically schedules standard or customer-requested changes that require downtime only during this selected day and within this time window. All times are UTC.
Alternate days Days that Splunk may use for maintenance if it cannot be completed on the default day. Alternate day maintenance uses the same time window as your default day.
Additional windows for smaller changes Shorter maintenance windows for the delivery of smaller, customer-requested changes, such as app installation or config changes. The impact of these types of changes is relatively small, typically causing less than 60 minutes of downtime. All times are UTC.
To make changes to your default maintenance window or manage additional change windows, click Manage preferences.

Manage your preferred maintenance window

PRIVATE PREVIEW FEATURE: Edit your preferred maintenance window in the CMC

Preferred maintenance windows are pre-selected by Splunk for your deployment, based on typical usage patterns. However, you can change the start time and day of your maintenance window or choose different alternate days. You can also edit or add windows for smaller changes.
Note: All times are in UTC to provide consistency across regional time zones.
  1. In the CMC Maintenance dashboard, click View details in the Preferred maintenance window panel.
  2. On the Preferred maintenance window page, click Manage preferences.
  3. Use the Default time window drop-down to choose a new time window.
  4. Use the Choose alternate days drop-down to choose one or more alternate maintenance days. Alternate days will use the same 8-hour time window as the default day.
  5. Scroll down to acknowledge that you've reviewed the Splunk Cloud Platform maintenance policy.
  6. Click Save to save changes.

Manage additional change windows

PRIVATE PREVIEW FEATURE: Edit or add additional change windows for smaller maintenance operations in the CMC

Additional change windows ensure faster delivery of smaller, customer-requested changes, such as app installation or config changes. The impact of these types of changes is relatively small, typically causing less than 60 minutes of downtime. By default, Splunk assigns a single additional change window. You can edit the duration and days of this window or add additional windows.
Note: All times are in UTC to provide consistency across regional time zones.
  1. In the CMC Maintenance dashboard, click View details in the Preferred maintenance window panel.
  2. On the Preferred maintenance window page, click Manage preferences.
  3. Under Additional windows for smaller changes, use the drop-down menus to modify start and end times and select days of the week. The end time must be 2 to 23 hours after the start time.
  4. If you need to add another change window, click New item. Use the drop-down menus to define the change window start time, end time, and days of the week.
  5. If you need to remove a change window, click the X icon to the right of the Start Time drop-down.
  6. Acknowledge that you've reviewed the Splunk Cloud Platform maintenance policy.
  7. Click Save to save changes.