Rules can be activated and deactivated at specific times by selecting actions that are time-based. The methods by which activation/deactivation times can be defined are:
- Time Period
- Uses pre-defined time period. At least one time period must be defined to use this option.
- Policy Table field
- Uses time-related field from a policy table. At least one policy table must be defined, at least one time-related field must be specified in that table, and that table must be selected during the rule definition process to use this option.
- Absolute time
- Uses exact time, or a combination of the time and date, to define rule activation/deactivation. If only a time is specified, the begin/end dates are calculated as the minimum future dates for those times.
- Relative time
- Uses the number of hours, minutes, or seconds from the current time to start/end. For example, the value 5 with units of hours would state that a rule should activate (or deactivate) 5 hours after this policy condition is processed by the MPE device. Expressions may include policy variables.
Note: If an activation time is not specified, a rule becomes active immediately. If a deactivation time is not specified (or it is in the past), a rule never deactivates.
CAUTION: If all rules defined in a system have a deactivation time specified, all rules for the session on a PCEF can become deactivated. To prevent this from occurring, the session on the PCEF is set to validated 1 to 30 minutes before the last active rule deactivates.