Restart policy
A restart policy says what the Overseer agent may do when maintenance leaves a computer needing a restart. This page covers the four settings, what "If necessary" really means, and where a policy applies.
What a restart policy is
Some maintenance cannot finish without a restart. A restart policy says what the Overseer agent may do about it.
The policy exists because a restart is the part of maintenance the person using the computer notices most. Deciding the rule once, in advance, is better than leaving it to chance on each computer.
The four settings
| Setting | What the agent does |
|---|---|
| If necessary | Restarts only when this run's own work made a restart necessary |
| Force | Restarts regardless |
| Suppress | Never restarts |
| Prompt | Asks the person using the computer |
What "If necessary" means
"If necessary" means that this run made the restart necessary. It does not mean that the computer happens to need one.
A computer can already owe a restart before Overseer touches it. Windows Update may have left one waiting, or someone may have installed something by hand. That is an inherited restart, and it is not Overseer's restart to take.
To tell the two apart, the agent notes what is waiting before it does its work and compares again afterwards. It restarts only when the difference is something the run itself created.
Without that comparison, "If necessary" would mean "restart whenever the computer happens to owe one". A routine software check would turn into an unplanned restart in the middle of someone's working day.
Restarts a computer already owed
Overseer does not act on an inherited restart, and it does not hide it either. Computers that owe an inherited restart are listed, so you can see them and decide what to do on purpose.
Where a policy applies
Like a maintenance window, a restart policy is declared at one of four levels:
- every client
- one client
- a tag
- one named computer
The more specific one wins. A policy on a single computer beats the policy on its tag, which beats the policy on its client, which beats the policy for every client. That lets you set a sensible rule everywhere and then make a deliberate exception, such as Suppress on a computer that must stay up.
Setting a restart policy requires the capability to act on computers.
What a restart policy does not do
- It does not schedule a restart. It governs only the restarts that maintenance would otherwise cause.
- It does not clear an inherited restart. Those are shown to you, not acted on.
- It does not decide when work runs. Timing belongs to schedules and maintenance windows.