Clone schedule time Issue There is a difference in the behavior of the clone schedule time in versions before Kingston. This can cause confusion when reviewing the change associated with the clone to answer questions in regards to how long a clone took or clone not started at the scheduled time. Understanding clone schedule time For instances that are on versions prior to Kingston, the Clone Schedule Start time has a lead time of 4 hours ahead of the current time. The clone will start the preparation work 4 hours earlier with the idea that the data restoration process would be completed in about 4 hours. The remaining clone steps will kick off at the Clone Schedule Start time specified in the UI and actual clone duration will be calculated from then onwards. This is visible on the change request where the Data Center Automation changes the Planned start date to a time 4 hours prior to the Clone Schedule Start time specified in the UI. Example of the message on a change record: From Kingston onwards, the Clone Schedule Start time in the UI is not restricted to start 4 hours lead time. The system will notify you if the time stated is not available and prompt you to select a different time. The instance checks if the requested time will conflict with other automation activities on the data center. The validation process prevents scheduling conflicts with other automated processes using the same target instance. Checking availability for the new start time Message: This time is not available for Cloning due to already scheduled operations. Proceeding with this time may delay your clone." It also gives you an estimate for the duration of the clone: Message: Based on the Clone Scheduled Start time specified above and the size of the data to be copied to the target instance, the estimated duration for the Clone is 5 Hours 15 Minutes. On the change request, the clone actually starts at the time that has been specified in the UI. At the start of the clone, the planned end time will be adjusted to give a more realistic change window based on the information on the previous clone times. Example of message on the change record: Note: Please Note: There is a general exception where the data center will modify the clone start and end time if there are other automation activities running on the target CI at the clone start time. The time will be adjusted to a time outside of the change window for the conflicting change.Related LinksRequest a cloneClones FAQ [All versions]