{"id":717,"date":"2016-06-29T11:58:09","date_gmt":"2016-06-29T15:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/?p=717"},"modified":"2026-02-05T11:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:03:16","slug":"configuring-cron","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/configuring-cron\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Cron and How do I Use It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The system utility <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cron<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can be used to schedule programs to run automatically at predetermined intervals.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advanced users can use cron via the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/unix-basics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unix shell<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/acc.pair.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Account Control Center (ACC)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to easily set up and maintain a schedule of programs to be run.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-ht-blocks-messages wp-block-hb-message wp-block-hb-message--withicon is-style-danger\">Please note that&nbsp;<strong>you should not use both the Unix shell and the ACC to manage cron<\/strong>. If you make changes to cron via the Unix shell, all future changes to that cron command will not show up in the ACC cron interface. Any attempts to edit the command in the ACC will not take effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is Cron?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cron<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a standard Unix utility that is used to schedule commands for automatic execution at specific intervals. For instance, you might have a script that produces web statistics that you want to run once a day automatically at 5:00 AM.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Commands involving <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cron<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are referred to as \"<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cron<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> jobs.\"<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cron in the Account Control Center<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Account Control Center (ACC) has a built-in interface for cron. We recommend that all customers use the ACC cron interface, although <a href=\"#advanced-cron-usage-manual\">advanced users may use cron manually<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To find the ACC cron interface, follow these steps:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Choose the tutorial that reflects your ACC interface type:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#if-you-are-using-the-legacy-interface\">Legacy Interface<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#if-you-are-using-the-new-acc-interface\">New ACC Interface<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Not sure what the difference is? See<a href=\"http:\/\/pair.com\/support\/kb\/which-acc-interface-am-i-using\/\"> Which ACC Interface Am I Using?&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">If you are using the Legacy Interface:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li>Log in to the Account Control Center (ACC) at<a href=\"http:\/\/my.pair.com\/\"> my.pair.com<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the left sidebar, click <strong>Advanced<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the drop-down, click <strong>Manage Cron Jobs<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">If you are using the New ACC Interface:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li>Log in to your Account Control Center (ACC) at <a href=\"http:\/\/my.pair.com\/\">my.pair.com<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the top navigation bar, click <strong>Hosting<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Under the \u201cSite Management\u201d section, click the <strong>Manage Cron Jobs<\/strong> button<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This will take you to the <\/span><b>Cron Job Configuration <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">interface where you will be able to create, edit, and delete cron jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-ht-blocks-messages wp-block-hb-message wp-block-hb-message--withicon is-style-alert\">If this is your first time visiting the Manage Cron Jobs page, you may need to&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/crontab\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Enable Cron Jobs&nbsp;<\/a><\/strong>before accessing the rest of the cron interface.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The table at the bottom of the page contains currently configured <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cron <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">jobs. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Creating a Cron Job<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-ht-blocks-messages wp-block-hb-message wp-block-hb-message--withicon is-style-danger\">Do<strong> not <\/strong>use both the command line and the ACC to manage cron. Using both may result in conflicts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can add a cron job directly from the<\/span> <a href=\"#accessing-cron-in-the-account-control-center\">Cron Job Configuration page<\/a>. If you need help coming up with a cron command, see these resources: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#example-cron-commands\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Example Cron Commands<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/paircloud-using-cron\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Using Cron<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/docs\/en\/aix\/7.2?topic=c-crontab-command\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Crontab Commands by IBM<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To add a cron job in the Account Control Center: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li>Go to the Cron Job Configuration interface in the Account Control Center<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click the <strong>Add New Cron Job<\/strong> button<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enter the cron job information:<br><\/span><table> <tbody> <tr> <td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Command to run<\/span><\/td> <td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the command that the cron job will run automatically. <\/span> <p>&nbsp;<\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We recommend you specify the full file path to the command. <a href=\"#a-note-on-cron-job-commands\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">See this note for more information<\/a>. <\/span><\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, cron commands, see our Example Cron Commands section.<\/span><\/p> <\/td> <\/tr> <tr> <td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Frequency<\/span><\/td> <td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Establishes how often the cron job will run<\/span><\/td> <\/tr> <tr> <td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Day of the month\/Day of the week\/Interval<\/span><\/td> <td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The day or time frame when the cron job will run. <\/span> <p>&nbsp;<\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This section will change based on the selected frequency<\/span><\/p> <\/td> <\/tr> <tr> <td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Time of day<\/span><\/td> <td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The specific time that the cron job will run. <\/span><b>Note that the time specified is <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeanddate.com\/time\/zones\/est\"><b>EST<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span> <p>&nbsp;<\/p> <p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This section is only used with the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once a Month<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once a Week<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once a day<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> frequencies<\/span><\/p> <\/td> <\/tr> <\/tbody> <\/table> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">    \t\t<div class=\"hts-messages hts-messages--info   hts-messages--withicon \"   >\r\n    \t\t\t    \t\t\t    \t\t\t\t<p>\r\n    \t\t\t\t\tWe recommend scheduling cron jobs at different times to keep cron jobs from slowing down web performance.    \t\t\t\t<\/p>\r\n    \t\t\t    \t\t\t\r\n    \t\t<\/div><!-- \/.ht-shortcodes-messages -->\r\n    \t\t<\/span>  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Click <\/span><b>Add Cron Job<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n    \t\t<div class=\"hts-messages hts-messages--danger   hts-messages--withicon \"   >\r\n    \t\t\t    \t\t\t    \t\t\t\t<p>\r\n    \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It's important to understand that our servers are set to the Eastern time zone. This setting could affect your cron jobs during Daylight Saving Time (DST). In the United States, DST begins at 2 A.M. during the second Sunday in March and ends 2 A.M. during the first Sunday in November.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you set a cron job to run in the DST hour \"gap\" (between 2 AM and 3 AM), your cron job will not run when DST begins and time jumps ahead one hour. In addition, if you have a cron job set to run in the DST hour \"gap\" and DST ends, your cron job will run twice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>    \t\t\t\t<\/p>\r\n    \t\t\t    \t\t\t\r\n    \t\t<\/div><!-- \/.ht-shortcodes-messages -->\r\n    \t\t\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If any errors have occurred, you will be notified by the Account Control Center immediately and given a chance to correct them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After you have added a job, you will see it listed in the table on t<\/span>he Cron Job Configuration<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> page. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Manage Existing Cron Jobs<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>You can edit or delete existing cron jobs from the Cron Job Configuration page<strong>.<\/strong> All of your cron jobs will be listed in the table at the bottom of the page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To edit a cron job, find the command in the <\/span><b>Command <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">column and click it. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By clicking on the job's command link, you'll be taken to that cron job's management page. From this page, you can edit the job or delete it entirely. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Edit Existing Cron Job<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>Choose the tutorial that reflects your ACC interface type:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#if-you-are-using-the-legacy-interface-2\">Legacy Interface<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#if-you-are-using-the-new-acc-interface-2\">New ACC Interface<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Not sure what the difference is? See<a href=\"http:\/\/pair.com\/support\/kb\/which-acc-interface-am-i-using\/\"> Which ACC Interface Am I Using?&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\">If you are using the Legacy Interface:<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li>Go to the Cron Job Configuration interface&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the \u201cManage Cron Jobs\u201d section, find the cron job and click its link in the \u201cCommand\u201d column<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Edit the command in the <strong>Command<\/strong> field<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click the <strong>Change Command<\/strong> button<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\">If you are using the New ACC Interface:<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li>Go to the Cron Job Configuration interface&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the \u201cManage Cron Jobs\u201d section, find the cron job and click its <strong>Edit<\/strong> button<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Edit the command in the <strong>Command<\/strong> field<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click the <strong>Change Command<\/strong> button<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>This will change the cron job immediately. When the cron job is next scheduled to run, it will run the new command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Delete Existing Cron Job<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>Choose the tutorial that reflects your ACC interface type:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#if-you-are-using-the-legacy-interface-3\">Legacy Interface<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"#if-you-are-using-the-new-acc-interface-3\">New ACC Interface<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Not sure what the difference is? See<a href=\"http:\/\/pair.com\/support\/kb\/which-acc-interface-am-i-using\/\"> Which ACC Interface Am I Using?&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">If you are using the Legacy Interface:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li>Go to the Cron Job Configuration interface&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the \u201cManage Cron Jobs\u201d section, find the cron job and click its link in the \u201cCommand\u201d column<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click the <strong>Delete Job <\/strong>button<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">If you are using the New ACC Interface:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>Go to the Cron Job Configuration interface&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the \u201cManage Cron Jobs\u201d section, find the cron job and click its <strong>Edit<\/strong> button<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click the <strong>Delete Job <\/strong>button<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This will permanently delete the cron job.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Advanced Cron Usage (Manual)<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To use <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cron<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> manually, you must first set up a file of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cron<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> entries. This file can be placed anywhere in your account and can have any filename (though <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">crontab.txt<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a good choice). <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It should contain one entry for each job you are scheduling.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instructions on how to create a file using Unix commands, read our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/unix-basics\/#create-new-file\">How to Create New File section of the Unix Basics article<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Basic Cron Entry<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A cron entry looks similar to the following:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">30<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">*<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">*<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">*<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/usr\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bin<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nice<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">usr<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">home<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">username<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">script<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pl<\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this case, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">script.pl<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> would be run nightly at 3:30 AM.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-family: monospace;\">\/usr\/bin\/nice<\/span> utilizes the system nice command to lower the impact of the call on the server. We recommend that you use it with all your cron jobs to best preserve system resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-family: monospace;\">\/usr\/home\/username\/script.pl<\/span> is the full path to the script\/program you would like cron to run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also use regular <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/unix-basics\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unix commands<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> using full paths to programs. For instance, you could have the following command to remove all files from some temporary directory:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">30<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">*<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">*<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">*<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/usr\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bin<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nice <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bin<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rm <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">-<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">f<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">usr<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">home<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">username<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">temp<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/*<\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Establish Cron Time<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: monospace;\">\"30 3 * * *\"<\/span> in the example requires a bit more explaining:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">30 3 * * *<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/usr\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bin<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nice <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bin<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rm <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">-<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">f<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">usr<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">home<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">username<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">temp<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/*<\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The time a <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cron<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> command is executed is controlled by the 5 numbers that precede the program call.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first number is the minutes after the hour (0-59)<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second is the hour of the day (0-23, with 0 being 12 AM EST)<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The third number is the day of the month (1-31)<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fourth is the month of the year (1-12)<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fifth is the day of the week (0-6, with 0 = Sunday and 6 = Saturday, etc.)<\/span><\/span>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cron-time.png\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"765\" height=\"234\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cron-time.png\" alt=\"time image\" class=\"wp-image-6687\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cron-time.png 765w, https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cron-time-300x92.png 300w, https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cron-time-50x15.png 50w, https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cron-time-60x18.png 60w, https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cron-time-100x31.png 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 765px) 100vw, 765px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">This example would run at 1:15 on December 9th.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An asterisk (*) matches all possibilities. For instance, in the given example the script runs every day because the asterisks for day of the month, day of the week, and month of the year match all values.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Multiple values are separated by commas. For instance, you might start with <span style=\"font-family: monospace;\">\"15 1,3,5 * * *\"<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to run a script every day at 1:15, 3:15, and 5:15.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-ht-blocks-messages wp-block-hb-message wp-block-hb-message--withicon is-style-alert\">Note that our policies prohibit a program running via cron more often than once every hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Activate the Cron Command<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you have your <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cron <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">directive file in your account, you must <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/connecting-with-ssh\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">connect via SSH<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and issue the command:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">crontab crontab<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">txt<\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Replace <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: monospace;\">crontab.txt<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with the actual file name of the file holding your cron entries. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-ht-blocks-messages wp-block-hb-message wp-block-hb-message--withicon is-style-alert\">Note that you must be in the same directory as the cron file at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After this, your <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cron<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> job should be activated. If the programs running via <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cron<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> generate errors, the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cron<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> daemon will email them to your account.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you would like to change any of your <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cron<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> jobs, just edit your file, and rerun the<a href=\"#activate-the-cron-command\"> crontab command as shown above<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Example cron Commands<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The following are commands that you can use to backup your site's files. These commands can be used in the ACC cron interface's <\/span><b>Command to run<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> field or in the manual creation of cron jobs. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<a name=\"a-note-on-cron-job-commands\"><\/a>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-ht-blocks-messages wp-block-hb-message wp-block-hb-message--withicon is-style-info\"><strong>A Note on Cron Job Commands<\/strong><br><br>Be sure to specify the full path to each program used in the cron job.<br>For instance, to use the Unix \"cat\" command, you should use \"\/bin\/cat\" instead of just \"cat.\"<br><br>In another example, you may run a script in your home directory by using:<br>$HOME\/script.pl<br><br>Keep in mind, that when you run a custom script, it must be marked as <br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/file-permissions\/#permission-types\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">executable<\/a> or the cron job will fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Backup Home Directory Command<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To back up your home directory (and exclude the \"www_logs\" and \"backup\" directory) use the following command:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/usr\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bin<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tar czf <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">usr<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">home<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">username<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">backup<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">home<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">`\/bin\/date<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">+\\%Y\\%m\\%d`<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tar<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">gz <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">--<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">exclude www_logs <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">--<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">exclude <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">backup<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">usr<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">home<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">username<\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Replace \"username\" with your Pair Networks username.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Backup public_html Directory Command<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Accounts Created before June 11, 2011<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For accounts with a separate public_html directory (typically, accounts created before June 1, 2011), the public_html directory can be backed up with:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/usr\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bin<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tar czf<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">usr<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">home<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">username<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">backup<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">web<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">`\/bin\/date<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">+\\%Y\\%m\\%d`<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tar<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">gz<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">usr<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">www<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">users<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">username<\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Replace \"username\" with your pair Networks username.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Accounts Created after June 11, 2011<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To back up your public_ftp directory:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/usr\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bin<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tar czf<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">usr<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bin<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tar czf<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">usr<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">home<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">username<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">backup<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ftp<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">`\/bin\/date<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">+\\%Y\\%m\\%d`<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tar<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">gz <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">usr<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">public_ftp<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">username<\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Replace \"username\" with your Pair Networks username.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Backup Web Logs Command<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To back up your web logs:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/usr\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bin<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tar czf <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">usr<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">home<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">username<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">backup<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">logs<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">`\/bin\/date<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">+\\%Y\\%m\\%d`<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tar<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">gz <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">usr<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">home<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">username<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">www_logs<\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Replace \"username\" with your Pair Networks username.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Backup Database Command<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To back up a particular database, see our automated backups setup tutorials:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/how-to-set-up-automated-database-backups-on-freebsd\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to Set Up Automated Database Backups on FreeBSD<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/support\/kb\/how-to-set-up-automated-database-backups-on-ubuntu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to Set Up Automated Database Backups on Ubuntu<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Running PHP Scripts via Cron Job<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is possible to run PHP scripts via a cron job. To do so, there are three options:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Change the Starting Line of Code<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One option to run PHP scripts via cron jobs is to change the starting line of the code to be a full path to a CGI copy of PHP. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: monospace;\">&lt;?php <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">starting line of code could be changed to:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#!\/usr\/www\/cgi-bin\/php<\/span>8<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.cgi -q<\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The file could then be called with the full path to the file. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Call PHP CLI First<\/span><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another way to run PHP scripts in the command line is by calling the PHP CLI first and give it the path to the PHP code you want to run. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, you could also use the path:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/usr\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">local<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bin<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">php <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">path<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PHP_SOURCE_FILE<\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this example, you would change \"\/path\/to\/\" to the actual path to the PHP file, and change <span style=\"font-family: monospace;\">PHP_SOURCE_FILE<\/span>&nbsp;to the file name of the PHP code.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The default <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: monospace;\">\/usr\/local\/bin\/php<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is now PHP 8.2. But there are other versions such as PHP 5.6 at <span style=\"font-family: monospace;\">\/<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: monospace;\">usr\/local\/bin\/php56<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or PHP 7.3 at <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: monospace;\">\/usr\/local\/bin\/php73<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Users can run the following command to see all of the available PHP versions:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ls \/usr\/local\/binphp*<\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Call a Program<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A third option is to call a program like wget on the URL of the PHP script to have it run through PHP.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/usr\/local\/bin\/wget -q -O - <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">http:\/\/yourdomain.com\/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &gt;\/dev\/null 2&gt;&amp;1<\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: monospace;\">-q <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">stands for \"quiet;\" it turns off the wget output.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: monospace;\">-O - <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tells wget to write to the standard output<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: monospace;\">&gt;\/dev\/null<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> redirects the standard output to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/dev\/null<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: monospace;\">2&gt;&amp;1 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">redirects the standard error to standard output, which was redirected to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/dev\/null<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Cron Policy<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The use of cron on our systems is subject to our published <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pair.com\/why-pair\/hosting-policies\/resource-usage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">policy of cron usage.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Please review this policy before configuring any cron jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The system utility cron can be used to schedule programs to run automatically at predetermined intervals. Advanced users can use cron via the Unix shell or the Account Control Center (ACC) to easily set up and maintain a schedule of programs to be run. What is Cron? Cron is a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"ht-kb-category":[175],"ht-kb-tag":[178,176,177],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Cron and How do I Use It? - Knowledge Base - Pair Networks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The system utility cron can be used to schedule programs to run automatically at predetermined intervals. 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