Schedule Examples
Common scheduling patterns for different use cases, with estimated cost savings.
Minimum Schedule Intervals
The minimum time between start and stop depends on your plan:
- Free: 2 hours minimum
- Pro: 15 minutes minimum
- Enterprise: 5 minutes minimum
Understanding Savings
How Savings Are Calculated
Monthly Hours: 730 hours (24 × 365 ÷ 12)
Weekday Hours: ~522 hours (12 hours × 5 days × 4.33 weeks)
Off-Hours: ~208 hours (730 - 522)
Savings = (Off-Hours ÷ Total Hours) × Monthly Cost
Typical Savings by Schedule
| Schedule | Running Hours | Savings |
|---|---|---|
| 24/7 | 730 hrs/month | 0% |
| Business Hours (12hr × 5d) | 260 hrs/month | 64% |
| Extended Hours (14hr × 5d) | 304 hrs/month | 58% |
| Business Hours + Saturday | 312 hrs/month | 57% |
| Weekdays Only (24hr × 5d) | 520 hrs/month | 29% |
Standard Schedules
Weekday Business Hours
The most common schedule for staging environments.
Name: Weekday Business Hours
Type: Weekly
Timezone: America/New_York
Start: 8:00 AM
Stop: 8:00 PM
Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Savings Example:
| Environment | 24/7 Cost | With Schedule | Monthly Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staging (8 assets) | $2,500 | $900 | $1,600 (64%) |
| Development (5 assets) | $1,200 | $432 | $768 (64%) |
Extended Business Hours
For teams that work early/late or across timezones.
Name: Extended Business Hours
Type: Weekly
Timezone: America/New_York
Start: 6:00 AM
Stop: 10:00 PM
Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Savings Example:
| Environment | 24/7 Cost | With Schedule | Monthly Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staging | $2,500 | $1,100 | $1,400 (56%) |
Developer Hours
Later start for developer teams.
Name: Developer Hours
Type: Weekly
Timezone: America/Los_Angeles
Start: 9:00 AM
Stop: 9:00 PM
Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Business Hours with Saturday
For teams that occasionally work Saturdays.
Name: Business Hours + Saturday
Type: Weekly
Timezone: America/New_York
Start: 8:00 AM
Stop: 6:00 PM
Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Savings Example:
| Environment | 24/7 Cost | With Schedule | Monthly Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| QA Testing | $800 | $344 | $456 (57%) |
Team-Specific Schedules
APAC Team Hours
For teams in Asia-Pacific timezones.
Name: APAC Business Hours
Type: Weekly
Timezone: Asia/Singapore
Start: 9:00 AM
Stop: 7:00 PM
Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
EMEA Team Hours
For teams in Europe/Middle East/Africa.
Name: EMEA Business Hours
Type: Weekly
Timezone: Europe/London
Start: 8:00 AM
Stop: 6:00 PM
Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Global Team (Follow the Sun)
Keep resources running during business hours across all regions.
Name: Global Business Hours
Type: Cron
Timezone: UTC
# Multiple start/stop windows in cron format
Start: 0 22 * * 0-4 # 10 PM UTC Sunday-Thursday (APAC morning)
Stop: 0 22 * * 5 # 10 PM UTC Friday (End of Americas)
# Results in approximately 20 hours/day coverage
Note: For complex multi-timezone schedules, consider separate collections per region.
Use Case Schedules
QA/Testing Environment
On-demand during testing periods, scheduled for regular test runs.
Name: QA Testing Hours
Type: Weekly
Timezone: America/New_York
Start: 7:00 AM # Ready before testers arrive
Stop: 7:00 PM # Cleanup after testing
Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Savings Example:
| Environment | 24/7 Cost | With Schedule | Monthly Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| QA (6 assets) | $950 | $312 | $638 (67%) |
Demo Environment
Only on during sales/demo hours.
Name: Demo Hours
Type: Weekly
Timezone: America/New_York
Start: 8:00 AM
Stop: 5:00 PM
Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Savings Example:
| Environment | 24/7 Cost | With Schedule | Monthly Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demo (4 assets) | $600 | $180 | $420 (70%) |
Load Testing Environment
Only on during scheduled load tests.
Name: Load Test Windows
Type: Cron
Timezone: America/New_York
# Tuesday and Thursday afternoons
Start: 0 14 * * 2,4 # 2 PM Tuesday, Thursday
Stop: 0 18 * * 2,4 # 6 PM Tuesday, Thursday
Savings Example:
| Environment | 24/7 Cost | With Schedule | Monthly Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Load Test (10 assets) | $3,500 | $192 | $3,308 (95%) |
Training Environment
Only during scheduled training sessions.
Name: Training Sessions
Type: Weekly
Timezone: America/Chicago
Start: 8:00 AM
Stop: 5:00 PM
Days: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday # Training days only
CI/CD Build Environment
On during work hours plus buffer for overnight builds.
Name: CI/CD Hours
Type: Weekly
Timezone: UTC
Start: 6:00 AM # Early to catch overnight commits
Stop: 11:00 PM # Late for evening deployments
Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Savings Scenarios
Scenario 1: Small Staging Environment
Setup:
- 4 EC2 instances (m5.large): $479/month
- 1 RDS instance (db.t3.medium): $50/month
- 2 ECS services: $180/month
- Total: $709/month
Schedule: Weekday Business Hours (8am-8pm)
Result:
- Running: 260 hours/month
- Savings: 64%
- New Cost: $255/month
- Monthly Savings: $454
- Annual Savings: $5,448
Scenario 2: Multi-Environment Setup
Setup:
| Environment | Assets | 24/7 Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Staging | 8 | $2,500/month |
| Development | 5 | $1,200/month |
| QA | 4 | $800/month |
| Total | 17 | $4,500/month |
Schedules:
- Staging: Business Hours (64% savings)
- Development: Developer Hours (64% savings)
- QA: QA Hours (67% savings)
Result:
| Environment | New Cost | Savings |
|---|---|---|
| Staging | $900 | $1,600 |
| Development | $432 | $768 |
| QA | $264 | $536 |
| Total | $1,596 | $2,904 |
Annual Savings: $34,848
Scenario 3: Large Development Platform
Setup:
- 3 Staging environments: $7,500/month
- 5 Development environments: $6,000/month
- 2 QA environments: $1,600/month
- 1 Demo environment: $600/month
- 1 Load test environment: $3,500/month
- Total: $19,200/month
Optimized Schedules:
| Environment | Schedule | Savings % |
|---|---|---|
| Staging (3) | Business Hours | 64% |
| Development (5) | Developer Hours | 64% |
| QA (2) | QA Hours | 67% |
| Demo (1) | Demo Hours | 70% |
| Load Test (1) | Test Windows | 95% |
Result:
- Total New Cost: $6,144/month
- Monthly Savings: $13,056
- Annual Savings: $156,672
Advanced Patterns
Graduated Schedules
Different schedules for different tiers.
# Critical services: longer hours
Data Tier:
Start: 7:00 AM
Stop: 9:00 PM
# Starts before, stops after other tiers
# Standard services: business hours
Application Tier:
Start: 8:00 AM
Stop: 8:00 PM
# Less critical: shorter hours
Development Tools:
Start: 9:00 AM
Stop: 6:00 PM
Weekend On-Call
Minimal coverage for weekend emergencies.
Name: Weekend On-Call
Type: Weekly
Timezone: America/New_York
Start: 9:00 AM
Stop: 5:00 PM
Days: Saturday, Sunday
Combine with weekday schedule for full coverage:
- Weekdays: Full business hours
- Weekends: Reduced on-call hours
Release Windows
Extended hours during release weeks.
Name: Release Week Hours
Type: Weekly
Timezone: America/New_York
Start: 6:00 AM
Stop: 11:00 PM
Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
# Swap schedules during release weeks
Calculating Your Savings
Step 1: List Your Assets
| Asset | Type | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| api-server-1 | EC2 m5.large | $120 |
| api-server-2 | EC2 m5.large | $120 |
| rds-primary | RDS db.t3.medium | $50 |
| ... | ... | ... |
| Total | $XXX |
Step 2: Determine Hours Needed
| Day | Start | End | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon-Fri | 8:00 AM | 8:00 PM | 12 |
| Sat-Sun | Off | Off | 0 |
Weekly hours: 60 Monthly hours: 260 (60 × 4.33)
Step 3: Calculate Savings
Savings Rate = 1 - (Scheduled Hours ÷ 730)
Savings Rate = 1 - (260 ÷ 730)
Savings Rate = 64%
Monthly Savings = Current Cost × Savings Rate
Step 4: Verify with NightOps
- Create the schedule
- Attach to a collection
- View Estimated Savings in the collection details