Cron

From Wiki2

cron and backups

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CronHowto

php www-data program that creates a crontab and calls a C program that executes root commands to copy it into crontabs and install it

current crontab in /var/spool/cron/crontab/pathbost <syntaxhighlight>

# m h  dom mon dow   command
0 3 * * * cd /usr/local/lib/tm/scripts; ./backup.sh
0 2 * * * find /var/backups/s3/*.gz -ctime +21 -type f -print | xargs rm -f
cron tutorial another
Re: Where is crontab stored?
Root-level crontab should be in /etc/crontab.
Root-level anacron and periodics should be in /etc/cron*
User-level crontabs should be in /var/spool/cron/crontabs - they are listed by user, pathbost isactually a chrontab
select-editor

installing and testing a crontab

installing
even after you change it by yourself you can install it by running as root
sudo crontab -u pathbost /var/spool/cron/crontabs/pathbost
testing
* * * * * /bin/echo " pathGZoobar $(date) " >> /usr/local/docs/testcron.txt

will append this every minute to testcron.txt

 pathGZoobar Thu Jan  3 14:15:01 EST 2013

You can check the logs to see if the crontab got installed/executed by running as root

sudo tail /var/log/syslog

vi with crontab 101

  • su to user then 'crontab -e'
  • 'i' to insert text
  • 'esc :wq to save change, and quit
    • then crontab is installed
  • 'esc :q!' exits without saving (or installing)
  • you can kill your crontab with crontab -r
  • you can list the installed crontab with crontab -l

backup to s3

Backups have a 30 day life on s3 and a 21 day life in /var/backups/backup backup_to_S3 code

directory backup

To backup a directory run this from the terminal:

sudo php /home/sitebuil/scripts/S3-Site-Backups/s3cli_backupDir.php /home/sitebuil/public_html/doku doku
database backup
sudo php php /home/sitebuil/scripts/S3-Site-Backups/s3cli_backupDb.php sitebuil_wiki

or goto http://pathboston.com/zstill/stillwater.html

refs

s3 backup with s3napback

string meaning

   ------ -------
   @reboot Run once, at startup
   @yearly Run once a year, "0 0 1 1 *"
   @annually (same as @yearly)
   @monthly Run once a month, "0 0 1 * *"
   @weekly Run once a week, "0 0 * * 0"
   @daily Run once a day, "0 0 * * *"
   @midnight (same as @daily)
   @hourly Run once an hour, "0 * * * *"