Cisco IOS Cookbook, 2nd Edition

Specifying a Router Reload Time

Problem

You want to set the router to automatically reload at a specified time.

Solution

You can set the router to reload after waiting a particular length of time with the reload in command:

Router1#reload in 20
Reload scheduled for 11:33:53 EST Sat Feb 1 2003 (in 20 minutes)
Proceed with reload? [confirm] <enter>
Router1#

The reload at command lets you specify a particular time and date when you want the router to reload:

Router1#reload at 14:00 Feb 2 
Reload scheduled for 14:00:00 EST Sun Feb 2 2003 (in 26 hours and 44 minutes)
Proceed with reload? [confirm] <enter>
Router1#

If you set the router to reload at a specific time and date, then we highly recommend using an accurate time source to ensure that the router reloads when you think it will. For more information on time and time sources, please see Chapter 14.

Discussion

Usually, when you reload a router, you want it to do so immediately. However, it can also be quite useful to specify a particular time to reload. For instance, reloading is the only way to fix badly fragmented memory on a router. But you almost certainly don’t want to reload during production hours. This feature thus allows you to instruct the router to reload at a safe low-traffic time, such as the middle of the night.

Another excellent reason for using this delayed reload feature is to avoid locking yourself out of a router while making possibly dangerous configuration changes. There are many types of configurations changes, such as ...