Scheduled Script Execution

[jljensen]

I need a script to run once a month and another script to run each day at midnight. How do I do this? The server I need to set this up on is running Fedora Core 2 or 3. Is there a way I can do it without the admin's help? Thanks in advance, - Jeff Jensen

[Cabhan]

It depends.

For scheduled execution, you want to use cron. The real question here is whether cron is enabled for the users.

To check, run:

crontab -l

If it is enabled, this will print out some stuff. If it's not, it will tell you command not found or some other thing about cron not working for you.

If it is enabled, you can find some info at:

* Our own LinuxForums tutorial:

http://www.linuxforums.org/tutorials...rial-4017.html

* The Gentoo Cron Tutorial:

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/cron-guide.xml

Obviously ignore all the stuff about installing cron, but the Gentoo tutorial gives some examples and all that jazz.


Hope that helps!

[jljensen]

Alas, I have no crontab. Thanks a bunch for your help, I'm in touch with the admin. - Jeff Jensen

[Santa's little helper]

man crontab also explains things fine.

Jeff , out of curiosity what did crontab -l give you ?

[jljensen]

"no crontab for jensen" - Jeff Jensen

[Santa's little helper]

This means that you have not created a crontab file.It does not
mean that you cannot use the utility.Try crontab -e This
will start some editor (probably vi) so that you can create your crontab
file.

[scm]

"man 5 crontab" will tell you what to put in your crontab file to schedule your jobs. Feel free to ask more questions when you've read it.