A cron job is an automated background task scheduled to happen at a specific time. A few examples include checking for updates, backups, or sending out reminder notifications. Cron jobs are important because they automate tasks that reduce manual operations to help with security, performance, and functionality for an administrator and all of the users of the server or website.
What is a Cron Job?
A Cron job is a scheduled task that runs automatically at specified intervals on Unix-like operating systems. It’s managed by the Cron daemon, which checks the configuration file (called the “crontab”) for tasks to execute.
You can set up a Cron job to run scripts, commands, or programs at regular intervals, such as hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. The syntax for defining a Cron job typically includes fields for minute, hour, day of the month, month, and day of the week, allowing for precise scheduling.
Components of a Cron Job
A Cron Job needs to have the following components:
- The script or task to be executed (the command);
- The command to execute the job repeatedly (set in cPanel);
- The resulting output/action of the script (report sent to the email address set by the user);
Prerequisites
The things you will need before setting up a cron job in cPanel are:
- A domain name (www.example.com);
- A web hosting account that supports cPanel (chennaiwebhosting);
- cPanel username and password.
Setting up a Cron Job in cPanel
There are four steps that you need to follow when setting up a cron job in cPanel.
Step 1: Log in to your cPanel Account
To log in to your cPanel Account, if you are a ChennaiWebhosting customer, you need to go to your Client Area. From there, you click on the Login to cPanel icon:
Step 2: Search for Cron Jobs
Once you are in the cPanel, you will be able to find Cron Jobs. You can do that quickly if you type it into the cPanel search bar. Go to the cron job menu by clicking on the link or the icon:
Step 3: Updating Cron Email
If you want to get notified when your cron jobs run, you need to enter your email in the “Cron Email” section. This is not a necessary step before you continue, but it’s recommended.
Those email notices would be handy to indicate whenever something goes wrong. For example, if you don’t receive an email after you have subscribed for cron job updates, you will know that something is not quite as planned.
Nevertheless, if you have a lot of cron jobs, such emails could start to irritate you.
To receive an email whenever a cron job runs, enter your email address in the Email field:
Note that there could be cases your default email address for the specific cPanel account is pre-set to receive the cron job notices. If you no longer wish to receive the notices, click on Update Email without inputting anything in the Email field.
Step 4: Setting up a Cron Job
To set up your cron job in cPanel, scroll down from the email options, and find the Add New Cron Job section:
Before you start configuring the individual time and date elements, find and click the Common Settings drop-down:
Cron Job Timings
You will need to follow some steps in regards to the timings of the cron job. You can select your desired cron job interval from the appropriate menus, or you can enter your values:
- Common settings — here, you can select one of the most commonly used intervals. If you choose one option from the drop-down, the system will configure the settings in the Minute, Hour, Day, Month, and Weekday boxes for you:
- Minute — indicates the number of minutes between each cron job or the minute of the hour that you have set for the cron job;
- Hour — indicates the number of hours between jobs, or the hour on the days that you have set for your cron jobs;
- Day — indicates the number of days between cron jobs, or the day of a month, on which you have cron jobs set;
- Month — indicates the number of months between jobs or the month of the year when you want to run the cron job;
- Weekday — sets the weekly schedule when you wish to run the cron job.
In the Command text box, you can enter your desired command that you want to run via the cron job.
Edit or Delete a Cron Job
Sometimes you might need to edit or delete one or more of your cron jobs. In such cases, you need to:
- Scroll down to the Current Cron Jobs section;
- Click the Edit or Delete link. Edit will bring up the cron job settings;
- Make all necessary changes and then click the Edit Line button:
- Delete opens a delete dialog. Click the Delete button:
That’s the Whole Procedure
You might have been surprised, but as you can see, setting up cron jobs via cPanel is quite a straightforward process. If you find that cron jobs are useful to you, you should start thinking about other uses for them.
However, in case anything goes wrong after setting a cron job, and you don’t know what to do—contact our 24/7 technical support team.