We now understand how to use Cron to schedule tasks. First, we looked at the syntax and definitions for how to use Cron. Then, we walked through three real-world examples that each demonstrated how scheduled tasks can be utilized to simplify our lives.
The possibilities are endless from here. You can set up Cron jobs to perform any of the tedious tasks you would normally do manually or you could use it to check on the status of many of your computer-related operations.
- Check the status of your servers and email you if one goes down.
- Generate a nightly report for disk usage to identify a trend and plan for future disk space requirements.
- Run a weekly backup of any important files modified during the week.
The main goal of this article was to explain how to utilize Cron to schedule jobs and accomplish tasks automatically that you would normally perform manually. You should now have all the tools necessary to do exactly that. A little work now can pay off big time down the road, and it might just save you from the heartbreak of an overheating server!
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