Applies To: WatchGuard Cloud-managed Access Points (AP130, AP230W, AP330, AP332CR, AP430CR, AP432)
This feature is only available to participants in the WatchGuard Cloud Beta program.
The recurring reboots feature is currently only supported on the AP130 and AP330 with firmware v3.1 and higher.
Overview
You can schedule a recurring reboot for access points. The access point reboots at the scheduled date and time based on the time zone set in the device configuration. Regular reboots refresh access point resources and optimize channel selection, and can also help access points recover from wireless client connectivity issues or poor performance.
If you want to schedule a one-time only reboot, you can do this from the Device Summary or Device Settings page for the access point. For more information, go to Reboot an Access Point from WatchGuard Cloud. A one-time reboot does not affect any recurring reboots that are already scheduled.
When you reboot an access point, any connected wireless clients will be temporarily disconnected until the device restarts. Follow these best practices to reboot access points at appropriate times to avoid network disruption:
- Schedule a reboot during times of low network activity, such as late night or very early morning when client traffic is minimal.
- Avoid business‑critical hours to prevent client disconnects during reassociation and channel renegotiation.
- We recommend you reboot an access point after major RF environment changes or other wireless SSID, radio, or VLAN configuration changes so access points can re‑evaluate the wireless environment and select optimal channels.
- For recurring reboots, select a consistent weekly maintenance window on a specific day, such as on a Sunday, to ensure a predictable service impact. Your organization might have regular maintenance windows defined for this purpose.
- Stagger reboots across groups of access points to prevent large coverage gaps and maintain overall network availability. You can stagger reboots for access points subscribed to an Access Point Site.
Configure Recurring Access Point Reboots
You can schedule recurring reboots in a device configuration or an Access Point Site. When you schedule recurring reboots with an Access Point Site, this enables you to reboot all your access points subscribed to the site at the scheduled date and time and stagger the reboots in 5-minute intervals to avoid network disruption.
To configure recurring access point reboots:
- For a device configuration, select Configure > Devices, select an access point, then select the Device Settings tile.
For an Access Point Site configuration, select Configure > Access Point Sites, edit an existing site or add a new site, then select the Device Settings tile.
Device Configuration Settings
Access Point Site Configuration Settings
- Select the Schedule Recurring Reboots check box.
- Select the Stagger Reboots option (Access Point Site configuration only) to reboot access points subscribed to the site in 5-minute intervals to prevent network disruption.
- From the Frequency drop-down list, select a specific day of the week to perform a weekly reboot, or select Daily for a daily reboot at a specific time.
- In the Time text box, type the time for the reboot in 24-hour format (for example, 23:59), or drag the Hours and Minutes sliders to select times.
- Click Save, then deploy the configuration.
View Scheduled Reboots
After you have scheduled a recurring reboot, the scheduled date and time shows on the Device Settings (Configure > Devices) and Device Summary (Monitor > Devices) pages in the time zone configured for the access point.
When recurring reboots are scheduled, you cannot schedule a one-time reboot, but you can click Reboot Device to reboot the device immediately. This does not affect the upcoming scheduled recurring reboot.
If you want to reschedule or cancel a recurring reboot, you must update the schedule where it is configured. To determine if the recurring reboot was scheduled from the device configuration or an Access Point Site, hover over the lock icon, next to the scheduled reboot date and time.
Reboot an Access Point from WatchGuard Cloud