title: Scheduling & Jobs category: Synchronization tags: scheduling, jobs, quartz, recurring, automation, cron priority: Normal
Scheduling & Jobs
IdentityCenter uses an enterprise-grade job scheduling engine to automate recurring tasks like directory synchronization, policy evaluation, and report generation. Set it up once and your identity data stays current automatically.
Overview
Navigate to Administration > Schedules to manage all scheduled jobs.
The scheduling system supports:
- Recurring schedules — Run syncs hourly, daily, weekly, or on custom intervals
- One-time runs — Trigger any job manually at any time
- Schedule templates — Pre-built templates for common scheduling patterns
- Job history — Complete execution log with status, duration, and item counts
Schedule Templates
IdentityCenter comes with pre-built schedule templates for common patterns:
| Template | Frequency | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Every 15 Minutes | Runs 4 times per hour | Near real-time sync for critical data |
| Hourly | Once per hour | Standard sync for most environments |
| Every 4 Hours | 6 times per day | Balanced approach for medium environments |
| Daily (2 AM) | Once per day at 2:00 AM | Overnight full sync for large environments |
| Daily (6 AM) | Once per day at 6:00 AM | Morning sync before business hours |
| Weekly (Sunday) | Once per week | Schema, DNS, and other rarely-changing objects |
| Monthly | First day of month | Compliance reports and monthly reviews |
Setting Up a Schedule
For a Sync Project
- Navigate to Synchronization > Projects
- Click on the sync project you want to schedule
- Go to the Schedule tab
- Choose a schedule template or set a custom schedule
- Click Save
Custom Schedule
For custom timing, you can specify:
| Field | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | How often to run | Every 2 hours |
| Start Time | When the schedule begins | 6:00 AM |
| Days of Week | Which days to run | Monday through Friday |
| Time Zone | Schedule time zone | Eastern Time |
Recommended Schedules by Object Type
| Object Type | Recommended Schedule | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Users | Every 1-4 hours | User accounts change frequently |
| Groups | Every 1-4 hours | Group membership changes affect access |
| Computers | Daily | Computer objects change less often |
| Contacts | Daily | External contacts rarely change |
| OUs | Weekly | OU structure is relatively static |
| gMSAs | Daily | Service account monitoring |
| GPOs | Weekly | Policy objects change infrequently |
| Schema | Monthly | Schema changes are rare |
Job Execution History
Viewing History
Navigate to Synchronization > History or Administration > Jobs to see:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Job Name | Which sync project or task ran |
| Status | Completed, Failed, Running, or Cancelled |
| Started | When the job began |
| Duration | How long it took |
| Items Processed | Total objects handled |
| Items Succeeded | Objects successfully synced |
| Items Failed | Objects that encountered errors |
Understanding Job Status
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Completed | Job finished successfully |
| Completed with Warnings | Job finished but some items had issues |
| Failed | Job encountered a critical error and stopped |
| Running | Job is currently in progress |
| Cancelled | Job was manually stopped |
Investigating Failures
When a job fails:
- Click on the job in the history list
- Review the error message and details
- Common causes:
- AD connection lost (network or credential issue)
- Timeout (too many objects for the configured timeout)
- Permission denied (service account lacks access)
Running Jobs Manually
You can trigger any scheduled job immediately:
- Navigate to the sync project or scheduled task
- Click Run Now
- The job starts immediately regardless of its schedule
- Watch progress in real time on the job detail page
Tip: Use manual runs to test a new sync project before scheduling it. This lets you verify the results before committing to a recurring schedule.
Managing Multiple Schedules
Avoiding Overlaps
If you have multiple sync projects for the same connection, stagger their schedules to avoid overwhelming your domain controllers:
Good approach:
- Users: Every hour at :00
- Groups: Every hour at :15
- Computers: Daily at 2:00 AM
Avoid:
- Running all projects simultaneously, especially in large environments
Monitoring Schedule Health
Check Administration > Jobs regularly to ensure:
- All scheduled jobs are completing successfully
- Job durations aren't increasing (sign of growing data or performance issues)
- No jobs are consistently failing
Troubleshooting
Job Keeps Failing
- Check the error details in the job history
- Verify the AD connection is still valid (test it from Administration > Connections)
- Ensure the service account password hasn't expired
- Check that the domain controller is reachable
Sync Takes Too Long
- Narrow the LDAP filter to target specific OUs
- Reduce the number of attributes being synchronized
- Increase the command timeout in settings
- Consider splitting into multiple smaller sync projects
Schedule Doesn't Run
- Verify the schedule is enabled (not set to Manual)
- Check that the application is running at the scheduled time
- Review the job history for any previous errors that may have paused the schedule
Next Steps
- Creating a Sync Project — Build custom sync configurations
- Auto Sync Projects — Understand auto-generated projects
- Common Issues — Troubleshoot sync problems