Make Maintenance Window only affect installing updates but not watching for updates

[verybadsoldier]

I realized that the maintenance window does also affect watching for new updates and even watching for new containers. I spun up a new container and it refused to show up in the UI at all.
After some time I figured out that the maintenance window I had configured was the reason.

So, maybe it would be a nice feature if we would be able to limit the maintenance window to only affect installing updates but still being able to watch for updates/containers (and get notifications about them) outside of the maintenance window.

[scttbnsn]

Thanks for the clear example. Current maintenance-window behavior gates the scheduled watcher scan itself, so updates and newly discovered containers can wait until the next window. Automatic installation is also deferred, while manual UI/API updates remain available outside the window.

Separating those concerns so Drydock keeps watching and sending notifications but only installs updates during the window makes sense as a separate maintenance-window enhancement. I will track it as roadmap work under the existing Maintenance Windows area. There is not already a duplicate entry for this request.

[verybadsoldier]

Thanks for considering that.

Just noticed another thing (which is totally logical of course) that is confusing: I just open my drydock UI and found that InfluxDb seems to be stopped (which is not the case):

So, probably DD just shows the last status from the maintenance window and not the current status. Also, trying to start the container in the DD UI leads to an error (which also makes sense, yes).

[scttbnsn]

Same root cause. The window gates the whole watcher scan, so the UI keeps showing the state from the last scan inside the window. InfluxDB is running, the record just hasn't been refreshed, and the start button fails because Docker refuses to start a container that's already running.

I've pulled the split forward. Watching, discovery, container state and notifications will keep running outside the window and only automatic installs wait for it, with an option to keep the old whole-scan behaviour for anyone who wants Drydock quiet outside the window. It's being built on the 1.8 line now. Until it ships, the docs will say plainly what the window gates today, and a manual scan from the UI still refreshes everything immediately.

[scttbnsn]

The split has landed on the 1.8 line. Scans, discovery, container state and notifications run on the normal cron whatever the window says, and only the automatic install waits for it. DD_WATCHER_<name>_MAINTENANCE_WINDOW_SCOPE=install is the new default; scan keeps today's whole-scan gate for anyone who wants Drydock quiet outside the window. Deferred installs show up on a new dd_watcher_maintenance_deferred_updates_total metric, and digest-mode action triggers flush as soon as the window opens instead of waiting for their next digest.

So in your case InfluxDB would have shown as running, and the start button would not have been offered. It ships with v1.8.0. I'll note the rc here when there is one to try.

[verybadsoldier]

Sounds great, thanks.