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Weekend Subset Wakeup (suspend + targetOverrides)

Ten RDS instances hibernate every night to save cost. This weekend, developers need just two of them back online for testing — waking all ten wastes money, and hand-patching the restore point is slow and easy to forget to revert.

The answer is a suspend exception with targetOverrides: for the weekend window only, the wakeup runs a subset. On Monday everything reverts automatically.

Goal

  • Friday night: all 10 databases hibernate as usual.
  • Saturday–Sunday: only the 2 dev databases run; the other 8 stay stopped.
  • Monday: the next scheduled wakeup brings back all 10. The 2 already running are skipped safely.
  • The base plan is never edited.

Base Plan (unchanged)

apiVersion: hibernator.ardikabs.com/v1alpha1
kind: HibernatePlan
metadata:
  name: rds-fleet
  namespace: hibernator-system
spec:
  schedule:
    timezone: "UTC"
    offHours:
      - start: "20:00"
        end: "06:00"
        daysOfWeek: ["MON", "TUE", "WED", "THU", "FRI", "SAT", "SUN"]

  execution:
    strategy:
      type: Parallel
      maxConcurrency: 4

  behavior:
    mode: Strict

  targets:
    - name: db-prod-01
      type: rds
      connectorRef:
        kind: CloudProvider
        name: aws-production
      parameters:
        selector:
          tags:
            Environment: production
    - name: db-prod-02
      type: rds
      connectorRef:
        kind: CloudProvider
        name: aws-production
      parameters:
        selector:
          tags:
            Environment: production
    # ... db-prod-03 through db-prod-08 identical ...
    - name: db-dev-01
      type: rds
      connectorRef:
        kind: CloudProvider
        name: aws-production
      parameters:
        selector:
          tags:
            Environment: development
    - name: db-dev-02
      type: rds
      connectorRef:
        kind: CloudProvider
        name: aws-production
      parameters:
        selector:
          tags:
            Environment: development

The Exception

apiVersion: hibernator.ardikabs.com/v1alpha1
kind: ScheduleException
metadata:
  name: weekend-dev-subset
  namespace: hibernator-system
spec:
  planRef:
    name: rds-fleet
  type: suspend
  validFrom: "2026-09-06T00:00:00Z"
  validUntil: "2026-09-07T23:59:59Z"
  windows:
    - start: "00:00"
      end: "23:59"
      daysOfWeek: ["SAT", "SUN"]
  targetOverrides:
    - targetName: db-prod-01
      disabled: true
    - targetName: db-prod-02
      disabled: true
    # ... disable db-prod-03 through db-prod-08 the same way ...
    # db-dev-01 and db-dev-02 are unlisted → they follow the base plan as-is.

kubectl apply -f weekend-dev-subset.yaml

How It Works

  • type: suspend is a carve-out: while active, the plan stays awake instead of hibernating. Because the fleet is already Hibernated from Friday night, the suspend window triggers a Hibernated → WakingUp transition — but only for the enabled targets.
  • disabled: true means "stay stopped", not "hibernate". There is no partial hibernation via suspend. A disabled target keeps its Friday restore data untouched and is marked Completed with a Skipped: disabled by exception ... message in status.executions — visibly skipped, never run.
  • Only what you list changes. Unlisted targets (db-dev-01, db-dev-02) and unlisted fields follow the base plan exactly. parameters, when set, is a FULL replacement for that target — restate the complete block.
  • Monday is automatic. Expiry rebuilds from the base plan, so the next wakeup covers all 10; the 2 already-running instances no-op via runner idempotency.
  • executionOverride is forbidden on suspend. Weekend subsets change which targets run, never the strategy or behavior.

All Suspend + Override Possibilities

Situation Result
Plan Active, suspend active (overrides or not) Nothing happens — stays Active, no jobs
Plan Hibernated, suspend active, no overrides Full wakeup (all targets), as before
Plan Hibernated, suspend + disabled subset Only enabled targets wake; disabled stay stopped, marked Skipped
Suspend + parameters only (nothing disabled) All targets wake; listed ones run with replaced params
Entry with both disabled: true and parameters Target skipped; parameters ignored
Entry with neither field No-op; target follows base
Override names an unknown target Skipped with a log line (rejected at admission in normal flow)
All targets disabled Wakeup cycle completes immediately with zero jobs
Suspend validity covers now but daily window doesn't match No wakeup — overrides only matter at a real Hibernated → WakingUp transition
Suspend expires or is deleted mid-wakeup Cycle completes its original set (intent is frozen at transition); next cycle uses base
Suspend starts mid-execution No effect until the in-flight cycle finishes — overrides apply at transitions, never interrupt jobs

Strategy Notes

  • Sequential / Parallel — subsets just work; fewer targets, same order and concurrency.
  • DAG — disabling any target is allowed, upstream or downstream. A disabled target counts as instantly succeeded, so dependents proceed with ordering preserved.
  • Staged — disabled targets are skipped inside their stages; stages always complete. No ghost entries, no hangs.
  • Only one exception with overrides may overlap a plan at a time (any type mix). Plain exceptions without overrides can still coexist.

Verification

# Exception state (Pending → Active → Expired)
kubectl get schedex weekend-dev-subset -n hibernator-system

# Who ran and who was skipped this cycle
kubectl get hibernateplan rds-fleet -n hibernator-system \
  -o jsonpath='{range .status.executions[*]}{.target}={.state} {.message}{"\n"}{end}'

# No wakeup Jobs for the disabled eight
kubectl get jobs -n hibernator-system \
  -l hibernator.ardikabs.com/plan=rds-fleet,hibernator.ardikabs.com/target=db-prod-01
# No resources found.

Variations

  • Different weekend fleet — use parameters instead of disabled to point a target at a different selector (e.g. a weekend replica) while keeping all ten running. See Event-Mode Overrides for the parameters pattern on extend.
  • No hibernation at all this weekend — use a plain type: suspend with no targetOverrides. See Suspend Scheduled Shutdown.
  • Different schedule AND different targets — use type: replace instead. See Holiday Schedule Replacement.

Next Steps