> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.ilert.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.ilert.com/alerting/configure-alerting/maintenance-windows.md).

# Maintenance windows

A maintenance window does two things at once, for two different audiences:

* **Alert sources** you name create no alerts for the duration. Nobody is paged for work you already knew about.
* **Services** you name show as **Under maintenance** on every status page they appear on, and their subscribers can be notified.

You can use either half alone. A window covering only alert sources is silent housekeeping; a window covering only services is a customer announcement.

## Schedule one

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

### Open the form

In the sidebar, go to **Alerting** → **Maintenance windows**, then click **Schedule maintenance**.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Describe the work

Write a **Summary**, and optionally a **Message** — this is what subscribers read, and it supports [markdown](https://www.markdownguide.org/). **Templates** fills both from an [incident template](/incidents-and-status-pages/status-updates.md#incident-templates) if your team keeps them.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Set the window

Pick **Start** and **End**, and check the **Timezone** — it defaults to yours, not to the reader's. The **+1 hour**, **+3 hours** and **+1 day** shortcuts set the end relative to the start.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Choose what it covers

Under **Affected alert sources** and **Affected services**, either take **All** or pick individually. The limits are **50 alert sources** and **200 services** per window.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Decide who hears about it

Tick the notifications you want, then click **Schedule maintenance window**.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

<figure><img src="/files/8AlmSnT1EXLh0RUYLvTO" alt="The New maintenance window form in ilert: Summary field with a Templates dropdown, Start, End and Timezone fields with plus one hour, plus three hours and plus one day shortcuts, a Message box, and radio choices for affected alert sources and affected services offering All or Choose."><figcaption><p>Alert sources and services are chosen independently. A window can cover one, the other, or both.</p></figcaption></figure>

## Notifications

Subscriber notifications are only available once at least one **service** is selected — alert sources have no subscribers, so a source-only window has nothing to announce.

| When                                        | Good for                                         |
| ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| **Immediately**                             | Unplanned or short-notice work — tell people now |
| **24 hours before this maintenance starts** | Standard notice for planned work                 |
| **1 hour before this maintenance starts**   | The reminder people actually act on              |
| **At the start time of this maintenance**   | "It has begun"                                   |
| **At the end of this maintenance**          | "We are back"                                    |

They are not exclusive. A typical window uses 24 hours before, 1 hour before, and the end notification.

{% hint style="warning" %}
**A maintenance window suppresses alerting; it does not pause your monitoring.**

Events still arrive and are still recorded in the [alert source logs](/alerting/working-with-alerts/alert-source-logs.md). What does not happen is alert creation — so a genuine outage that starts during the window will not page anyone until the window closes.
{% endhint %}

## FAQ

### Does a maintenance window resolve alerts that are already open?

No. It stops new alerts being created from the sources it covers. Alerts already open continue to escalate as normal.

### Can I extend a window that is already running?

Yes — edit it and change the end time. Subscribers notified about the original end time are not automatically told it moved, so consider an update if the change is material.

### What do customers see on the status page?

The affected services show **Under maintenance**, together with your summary and message. That state is visually distinct from an outage, which is the point: planned work should not look like something going wrong.

### Which plans include this?

All of them, including Free.


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