Restart/Start scheduled machine

,
1

I’ve set a machine to run on an hourly schedule. The schedule works. However, it is not possible to manually start/restart the machine.

fly machines update <REDACTED> --schedule=hourly

[
    {
        "id": "<REDACTED>",
        "name": "<REDACTED>",
        "state": "stopped",
        "region": "syd",
        "image_ref": {
            "registry": "registry.fly.io",
            "repository": "<REDACTED>",
            "tag": "deployment-<REDACTED>",
            "digest": <REDACTED>",
        },
        "instance_id": "01JK4HEV8295G2CZ5Q6DW6DJP0",
        "private_ip": "<REDACTED>",
        "created_at": "2025-01-15T03:33:28Z",
        "updated_at": "2025-02-02T23:56:40Z",
        "config": {
            "env": {
                <REDACTED>
            },
            "init": {},
            "guest": {
                "cpu_kind": "shared",
                "cpus": 1,
                "memory_mb": 1024
            },
            "metadata": {
                "fly_flyctl_version": "0.3.72",
                "fly_platform_version": "v2",
                "fly_process_group": "app",
                "fly_release_id": "<REDACTED>",
                "fly_release_version": "85"
            },
            "image": "registry.fly.io/<REDACTED>",
            "schedule": "hourly",
            "restart": {
                "policy": "on-failure",
                "max_retries": 10
            }
        },
        "events": [
            <REDACTED>
        ],
        "host_status": "ok"
    }
]

fly machines stop <REDACTED>

Sending kill signal to machine <REDACTED> has been successfully stopped.

fly machines restart <REDACTED>

Restarting machine <REDACTED>
Error: failed to restart machine <REDACTED>: could not stop machine <REDACTED>: failed to restart VM <REDACTED>: failed_precondition: machine still active, refusing to start (Request ID: 01JK4HWJFGS3MX011DBMST8NB4-syd)

fly machines start <REDACTED>

Error: could not start machine <REDACTED>: failed to start VM <REDACTED>: failed_precondition: machine still active, refusing to start (Request ID: 01JK4HXKDTZFSQVGWCMV3WEH4X-syd)`

Seems to me that I should be able to start/restart a scheduled machine, just like any other machine.

Even if the schedule is set to a new time within the hour, we don’t have a choice when in the hour the machine runs on the hourly schedule anyway, and it is of no consequence to me if the scheduled time changes due to start/restart. I only care that it runs once an hour… and that I can manually start/restart whenever I want).

2

Hi… This is a known limitation (unfortunately):

Scheduled machines cannot be started via flyctl or Machines API commands, they will only run according to the schedule.

It would definitely be nice to have more flexibility, though…

3

Curiously, it is possible to start the machine via the cli once after an update.

fly machines restart <REDACTED>

Restarting machine <REDACTED>
Error: failed to restart machine <REDACTED>: could not stop machine <REDACTED>: failed to restart VM <REDACTED>: failed_precondition: machine still active, refusing to start (Request ID: 01JK4JF4EV6TKFYM73MEN83NMF-syd)

fly machines update <REDACTED> --schedule=daily

Configuration changes to be applied to machine: <REDACTED> (<REDACTED>)

        ... // 25 identical lines
          },
          "image": "registry.fly.io/<REDACTED>",
-         "schedule": "hourly",
+         "schedule": "daily",
          "restart": {
            "policy": "on-failure",
        ... // 3 identical lines
  
? Apply changes? Yes
Updating machine <REDACTED>
No health checks found
Machine <REDACTED> updated successfully!
==> Monitoring health checks
No health checks found

fly machines start <REDACTED>

<REDACTED> has been started
5

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