Skip to content

Guide

Pending Orders

Guide 3 min read

This page explains the Pending Orders screen, why Robot orders are asynchronous, and how the cron job reconciles a transaction ID into an active server. It is written for WHMCS administrators handling day-to-day dedicated server fulfillment.

Why orders are pending

Hetzner Robot does not provision dedicated servers instantly. When a customer orders a Standard or Market/Auction product, the module places the order with Robot and immediately receives a transaction ID — not a server number. The physical server is assigned by Hetzner afterward, which can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours depending on availability.

Until that happens, the WHMCS service stays in the Pending status. The Pending Orders screen exists to make that period visible and to give admins a way to check on — or force — reconciliation.

Where to find it

Addons → Hetzner Data Center Core → Dedicated Servers → Pending Orders

Pending Robot orders

Table columns

Column Source
Service WHMCS service ID
Client Client name
Domain Service domain
Transaction Robot transaction ID, stored in the robotTransactionID custom field
Type standard or market
Ordered Registration timestamp

Actions

Action Description
Run Dedicated Cron Reconciles every pending order in one pass, applies the configured auction stale/out-of-stock policy, and optionally auto-imports new market products
Reconcile (per row) Polls Robot for a single service and, if a server number is now available, marks the service Active

How the cron reconciles orders

The Dedicated cron entry point (cron-dedicated.php) is wired into the addon's central cron and can also be triggered manually from this page:

  1. For each pending service, the cron checks Robot using the stored robotTransactionID.
  2. If Robot has assigned a server number, the cron writes it to the serverID custom field and clears robotTransactionID.
  3. The WHMCS service transitions to Active.
  4. If Robot has not yet assigned a server, the service remains Pending until the next cron run.

Tip

If a customer reports their new server "never arrived," check this screen first — most cases are simply awaiting Robot fulfillment, not a module fault. Compare the Ordered timestamp against typical Hetzner fulfillment times before escalating.

Client area visibility

Customers see their own pending order too: the dedicated server's client area overview shows a pending banner with the transaction ID and a Reconcile Order button, which runs the same reconciliation logic scoped to that one service. See Client Area.

Troubleshooting

Problem Fix
Order stuck pending for an unusually long time Run Reconcile manually for that row; if still pending, check the transaction directly in the Hetzner Robot panel
Run Dedicated Cron does nothing Confirm the central addon cron is scheduled and running in WHMCS Utilities → Logs → Cron Log
Auction product marked pending never resolves The listed hardware may have sold to another buyer before the order completed — verify in the Robot panel