Maintenance window recurrence pattern offset from a base day
Allow the recurrence pattern for maintenance windows to be scheduled with an offset from a base day.
Meaning, if we want a maintenance window on the Wednesday following the Second Tuesday of every month, we could configure a maintenance window for the Second Tuesday with a +1 offset.
(This would be similar to the offset option added to ADRs in 1802.)

24 comments
-
Dave commented
there should be an offset option in the maintenance windows along with task sequences and im surprised this has not been added since it was added for ADRs starting with 1802. being able to run ADRs with the offset is ideal, but we need that same option for running task sequences (when we want to run patching task sequences). and of course, the maintenance windows need to align accordingly with running ADRs and TSs with an offset applied. as it is today, i have to manually change the maintenance windows every 1st of the month to ensure the maintenance window for the "wed following 2nd tues" is set appropriately. the only other option is to NOT set a maintenance window or establish two maint windows; one for wed following 2nd tues and one for wed following 3rd tues. having the offset option in maintenance windows and task sequences is a must
-
Paul Graham commented
How is this still not a thing? The ability to align maintenance windows with the ADR is essential to timely patching.
-
Matt MN commented
We have maintenance windows T1 through T10 mandated from management. This is a must have option.
-
Dan Cornfield commented
Any news on this? We have potential (still on WSUS for now) for dozens of collections that have reoccurring patch days every month based off patch Tuesday. It's going to get really tedious having to key them in every month. Thanks.
-
Ivan Kruger commented
Agree with the Patch Tuesday + X (days) Scheduling. Not a Offset of a few days though. You should be able to specify any amount of days in the month. This will help allot with our patch Automation.
-
JonPaul Heurich commented
Would make life a lot easier !
-
David Guirl commented
can we please allow use of a negative offset, so we can configure something to run the day before patch tuesday?
-
Marcel Mulder commented
Great idea I was thinking the same. However I would suggest that the offset days is just a little less than a month. Why? Quite simple our environment has a lot of servers and we have DTAP in place where we apply patches x days after patch Tuesday for DT servers and xx days after patch Tuesday for AP servers. That way we have enough time to tackle any updates with regard to patching before applying these onto Production.
Currently to allow for this setup we use our own created PowerShell script that calculates these dates and creates non-recurring maintenance window for a year. Once this is implemented things will be much easier because we can just create a recurring maintenance windows without using complex scripts. -
Ibrahim commented
I think this idea is duplicated there is already similar idea
https://configurationmanager.uservoice.com/forums/300492-ideas/suggestions/9399159-maintenance-window-relative-to-patch-tuesday -
Ibrahim commented
I would like to mention that current ADR offset day doesn't allows you to go beyond 4 for offset days when you select second tuesday and you only can go up to saturday only for offset we want it to go beyond that because we create maintenance windows on Sunday and Mondays following the second Tuesday. I guess if you make to be able to go to 6 days maximum that would be perfect because any thing beyond that is useless as it will hit third Tuesday.
-
Ibrahim commented
I would like to mention that current ADR offset day doesn't allows you to go beyond 4 for offset days and you only can go up to saturday only for offset we want it to go beyond that because we create maintenance windows on Sunday and Mondays following the second Tuesday. I guess if you make to be able to go to 6 days maximum that would be perfect because any thing beyond that is useless as it will hit third Tuesday.
-
Jon Sowles commented
We use a PS script to update all of our collections, but it would be much nicer to have this added to console since it was done for ADR's.
-
Arthur Benedetti White commented
Since they used offset days in ADR rules, does that mean they might be able to do the same for the Maintenance windows?
-
Noam Salomon commented
Just give us offset days like in the ADR's and we'll be able to build proper schedules. Nothing fancy is required.
-
Russ Rimmerman commented
It's nice to see the added Offset option to ADRs, but not having it available in Maintenance Windows as well still makes it tricky to use the ADR offset feature since the maintenance window doesn't have the same feature and may not align properly with the ADR two months out of the year unless we manually change the maintenance window those two months.
-
Dennis commented
The entire IT world revolves around patch Tuesday, and yet Microsoft's patching product has no way to scheduled tasks relative to this event. My conclusion is that no one associated with SCCM development has any experience actually patching servers in an enterprise. Microsoft appears to be indifferent that each individual customer must re-invent the wheel.
-
Gordon Schillinger commented
I had asked our PFE/DSE's for this for several years and explained how the current scheduling does not accommodate the month to month drift. Very happy to see this requested. Would be a huge time savings not to have to edit and set 30+ maintenance windows every month.
-
Scott Williams commented
One thing to keep in mind is that "patch Tuesday" is not the same in all timezones. In Australia it falls on a Wednesday, and if a Wednesday is the first day of the month then schedules relative to the 2nd Wednesday won't match up. "Patch Tuesday" would need to be a localised date.
-
Harshal commented
Yes this feature will make life easier for creating one time maintenance window for complete year. Thanks
-
Nathan Nitzel commented
The idea of having a logic type schedule may sound convoluted but it would be a huge help in automating things. Example logic: Patch this Device Collection on the 1st/2nd/3rd/4th *name of day* that occurs after *2nd Tuesday* + *Days/Hours* between the times of *1:00AM* and *5:00AM*. It could be something like how Outlook rules are setup with clickable drop downs for the different variables. I know this has been a huge struggle for us for getting testing done for 1 week then getting things patched within 30 days for things like PCI compliance.