Scheduled Reboot

Most dedicated administrators are determined to keep their server running at its full potential. One way to help do this is rebooting the system. Personally, I like to reboot my system every morning.

Scheduling

As I stated before, I like to reboot my system at least once per day. However, what if I'm not at home? What if I'm going to be gone for days? A timer object would be very useful here.

[ITEMDEF i_reboot_system_obj]
ID=i_crystal_ball
NAME=Reboot [DO NOT REMOVE]
WEIGHT=200
TYPE=t_eq_script

ON=@Create
    ATTR=attr_decay
    TIMER=60
    
ON=@Timer
    LOCAL.HOUR = <SERV.RTIME.FORMAT %H>
    IF (<LOCAL.HOUR> == 06)
        SERV.SAVESTATICS
        SERV.SAVE
        SERV.SHUTDOWN 1
        LOCAL.SPAWN = <SYSSPAWN C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe -r -t 120>
    ENDIF
    TIMER = 60
    RETURN 1

Fortunately for us, there is an internal FORMAT function that extends RTIME to return more specific information. It just so happens that the argument %H will return the hour, so we can take advantage of this. If you'll look at the IF statement, you'll notice that I'm looking for hour 06. At this point, we'll announce the daily reboot, perform a save on the statics, as well as a world save. Finally, we'll use SYSSPAWN to call the external program.

Restarting Sphere

I bet now you're thinking, "OK, so he figured out how to reboot, but how the heck is he going to start the server again?" There are quite a few ways to approach this:

1. Use the Startup folder.
2. Run Sphere as a service.

I've never tried running Sphere as a service, so we'll use the first method. Follow these directions:

1. Open your Sphere folder.
2. Create a shortcut from SphereSvr.exe (right-click > Create Shortcut).
3. Single-click the shortcut, then Cut (Ctrl+X).

Now you need to navigate to your Startup folder (C:\Documents and Settings\<USER_NAME>\Start Menu\Programs\Startup or Start > All Programs > Startup). Paste the shortcut into this folder (Ctrl+V). You're done! Sphere should now start on every boot.