Cron Job

[dschuett]

Hi all,

I am running Ubuntu server 10.04 and use rsync to do all my backups. I would like to backup multiple directories to my external hard drive, but I am faced with a problem on how to set up crontab -e to allow each rsync statement to perform one after the other. Right now I have each one set to run on different nights, but I would like them all to run the same night to allow for a more efficient backup. I know I could just run them at different times in the same night, but I don't want to chance one not completing before the other starts. Can I just list them one after the other like so in crontab -e:

# m h dom mon dow command
00 4 * * 7 rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Music /Backup
rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Documents /Backup
rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Setups /Backup
rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Pictures /Backup
rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Backups /Backup
rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Videos /Backup

This is my current crontab -e
# m h dom mon dow command
00 4 * * 7 rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Music /Backup
00 4 * * 6 rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Documents /Backup
00 4 * * 5 rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Setups /Backup
00 4 * * 4 rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Pictures /Backup
00 4 * * 3 rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Backups /Backup
00 4 * * 2 rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Videos /Backup

Thanks in advance!

[aleix]

An option could be creating a shell script to run all these tasks.

For example something like this (/home/user/scripts/backup.sh):

#!/bin/bash

rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Music /Backup
rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Documents /Backup
rsync -auv --delete /Godfather/Setups /Backup
...

Then, program just one cronjob:

# m h dom mon dow command
00 4 * * 7 /home/user/scripts/backup.sh

If you want, you could add more controls into the script, like "IF"...

[dschuett]

will that shell script wait for each rsync task to complete before the next one starts?

[aleix]

I think that shell script is sequential, so every command starts when the last one finished.

Good luck!