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    CronJob On Linux OS

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    mohammad shaheryar

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    CronJob On Linux OS

    Uploaded by

    mohammad shaheryar
    22 views6 pages

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    CronJob on Linux OS

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    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    22 views6 pages

    CronJob On Linux OS

    Uploaded by

    mohammad shaheryar

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    JOB SCHEDULING IN LINUX

    Linux is an open-source kernel for operating systems. It is widely used in operating systems
    such as Ubuntu, Debian, etc. One of the unique features of Linux is that it allows the user to
    have a higher degree of control over the machine. We can execute and program a vast
    number of things into our computer using simple commands.
    Scheduling processes and commands is one of these things. If we wish to schedule a
    particular script to run next Monday, how would we do so? This is what we will look at in
    our article. There are 2 basic commands that we can use for this - at and crontab.

    At Command
    The at command can be used to schedule a job to run at a specific time. We can send
    reminders, execute system updates, and take backups at our desired time. We can specify a
    specific time and date (such as 12th October at 12 AM) or an interval (such as after 3 hours).

    Installation:
    at needs to be installed first. We can use apt-get to install it. At is not always installed by
    default on all Unix-like systems. Run the command:
    sudo apt-get install at

    atq : To list all the jobs currently pending


    atrm :atrm is used to delete a pending job.

    Once it is installed, we must start it and enable it. We can do so by running the commands:
    sudo systemctl start atd
    sudo systemctl enable atd
    To schedule the creation of an empty file, use the at command. For example, to create the
    file one minute from now:
    - echo "touch /path/to/yourfile.txt" | at now + 1 minute
    - “ ls ” check the file has been created.
    Cron
    One limitation of the at command is that we can't use it to run recurring tasks. For example,
    if I want to run a task every Monday, we can't use at to accomplish this. For this, we use
    crontab. Before we see what crontab is, let us look at the cron daemon first.
    Cron Daemon
    The cron daemon is a background process that is always running on a Linux machine. It is
    used to schedule jobs at regular time intervals, at specific recurring intervals, or on a
    particular date and time.
    Cron Tables - known as crontab for short, are where the commands to be run, and the times
    to run them are stored.
    Crontab
    A crontab file is a simple plain text file in which each line represents a job. They are usually
    in the /etc folder (or its subdirectories), and each user has their own crontab file. Crontab
    files contain all of the scheduled jobs of a particular user. It is a text file that each user can
    edit and add their tasks to.
    A cron job is a scheduled task that runs automatically at specified intervals. To set up a cron
    job that runs at 9 a.m. every day, you need to edit your crontab file.
    Cron is installed by default, so we do not have to install it. However, we may have to create
    a crontab file for the current user.
    Format for Crontab
    Each line must have five fields, separated by a space - followed by the command or the
    script to execute. It looks like this:

    Open the crontab file by using the command crontab -e


    After using the crontab -e it will ask for editor to use. Select the editor as per your need.
    * * * * * touch /home/ubuntu/fileB this command will run every minute of every hour of
    every day of every month, and every day of the week to create the file.

    This will create a file called fileB in our home directory.


    The file just created should be visible. In home directory, check if the file has been created.

    Whether you're managing server tasks or developing scripts, mastering cron and at can
    significantly enhance your productivity.

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