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Basic Scheduler and Scripts

Basic Scheduler and Scripts

Section titled “Basic Scheduler and Scripts”

TL;DR (quick start)

Section titled “TL;DR (quick start)”

For the impatient: here’s the 30-second version.

# Create and schedule a daily backup script
/system script add name=daily-backup source="/system backup save name=auto-backup"
/system scheduler add name=daily-backup-job start-time=00:00:00 interval=1d on-event=daily-backup

Overview

Section titled “Overview”

This guide demonstrates how to create scripts and schedule them on MikroTik RouterOS for automated tasks.

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”
  • A MikroTik router running RouterOS 7.x or later
  • Access to the router via SSH, WinBox, or WebFig

Configuration steps

Section titled “Configuration steps”
Overview / Configuration steps diagram

Step 1: Create a Simple Logging Script

Section titled “Step 1: Create a Simple Logging Script”

Create a script that logs the current date and time:

/system script add name=log-time source=":log info \"Scheduled check at \$[/system clock get time]\"" comment="Time logging script"

Step 2: Create a Backup Script

Section titled “Step 2: Create a Backup Script”

Create a script that generates a configuration backup:

/system script add name=daily-backup source="/system backup save name=auto-backup" comment="Daily backup script"

Step 3: Schedule the Logging Script

Section titled “Step 3: Schedule the Logging Script”

Schedule the logging script to run every hour:

/system scheduler add name=hourly-log interval=1h on-event=log-time comment="Run log-time every hour"

Step 4: Schedule the Backup Script

Section titled “Step 4: Schedule the Backup Script”

Schedule daily backup at midnight:

/system scheduler add name=daily-backup-job start-time=00:00:00 interval=1d on-event=daily-backup comment="Daily backup at midnight"

Verification

Section titled “Verification”

Check 1: Scripts

Section titled “Check 1: Scripts”
/system script print

Expected Output:

Flags: I - invalid
 #   NAME         OWNER  POLICY      RUN-COUNT  LAST-STARTED
 0   log-time     admin  read,write          5  jan/17/2026 14:00:00
 1   daily-backup admin  read,write          1  jan/17/2026 00:00:00

Check 2: Scheduler

Section titled “Check 2: Scheduler”
/system scheduler print

Expected Output:

Flags: X - disabled
 #   NAME             START-DATE  START-TIME  INTERVAL  ON-EVENT
 0   hourly-log       jan/17/2026 00:00:00    1h        log-time
 1   daily-backup-job jan/17/2026 00:00:00    1d        daily-backup

Check 3: Test script execution

Section titled “Check 3: Test script execution”
/system script run log-time
/log print where message~"Scheduled check"

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”

Problem: Script not running

Section titled “Problem: Script not running”

Symptoms: Scheduled task never executes, no log entries.

Causes & Solutions:

  1. Syntax errors in script - Test script manually:

    /system script run log-time

    If error appears, fix the script source.

  2. Scheduler disabled - Check scheduler status:

    /system scheduler print

    Look for X (disabled) flag. Enable if needed.

  3. Wrong script name in scheduler - Verify on-event matches script name exactly.

Problem: Script runs but nothing happens

Section titled “Problem: Script runs but nothing happens”

Symptoms: Script executes (run-count increases) but expected action doesn’t occur.

Causes & Solutions:

  1. Permission issues - Check script policy:

    /system script print detail where name=daily-backup

    Ensure script has required policies (read, write, policy, test, etc.)

  2. Variable scope issues - Local variables don’t persist. Use global for cross-script data.

  3. Silent errors - Add logging to script for debugging:

    :log info "Script started"
    # ... commands ...
    :log info "Script completed"

Problem: Script timing is wrong

Section titled “Problem: Script timing is wrong”
Troubleshooting / Problem: Script timing is wrong diagram

Symptoms: Script runs at unexpected times.

Causes & Solutions:

  1. System clock wrong - Verify NTP is configured:

    /system clock print
    /system ntp client print

  2. Start-time not set - For specific times, set both start-time and interval:

    /system scheduler set daily-backup-job start-time=00:00:00

  3. Timezone issues - Check timezone setting:

    /system clock print

Problem: Backup files not created

Section titled “Problem: Backup files not created”

Symptoms: Backup script runs but no files appear.

Causes & Solutions:

  1. Disk full - Check available space:

    /file print
    /system resource print

  2. Path issues - Verify file destination:

    /file print where name~"backup"

  3. Filename collision - Use unique names with date:

    /system script set daily-backup source=":local date [/system clock get date]; /system backup save name=(\$date . \"-backup\")"
Section titled “Related topics”

Common Scripting Use Cases

Section titled “Common Scripting Use Cases”
Section titled “Related system topics”

Monitoring

Section titled “Monitoring”

References

Section titled “References”