cPanel Cron Jobs Detailed Tutorial
A cron job allows you to run a command or function at times set by the job(cron). You could set a cron job to delete cache files every week that your disk space is not being used up by those files. You can also set a cron job to run and upload your product feed for example. A cron, which is short for chronograph, is only applicable on a Unix system for scheduling tasks.
To access the Cron Job interface, click on the cron icon in your lowest menu table icon of your cPanel.
The Cron Jobs Interface in your standard x3 theme appears like this:
Notice that here you have 2 options, Standard and Advanced CRON options. If you are just getting started, you should likely use the Standard Cron menu. If you are an advanced user then this tutorial is stuff you already know.
This is what the Standard Cron menu interface looks like:
There are several places to fill in information for your new Cron Job… starting with an email address to send the Cron report to. We suggest you use this report e mailer, at least until your Cron is functioning 100% to your satisfaction.
Next you will see the field to run the command or url from. Enter the command or url you would like to be executed by the Cron job to run in the blank field next to the command to run label (as shown in the image above).
Next, you will select how often you wish the Cron to be run by selecting an option in each of the boxes. These boxes may appear confusing at first… But its really very simple.
Every Minute box is set to “0″ by default. This box controls minutes. For example to run a Cron every 10 minutes (which is the shortest time allowed by your PRO-Webs hosting) you would select “Every Ten Minutes” from this menu and leave the rest default.
Every Hour Box, is set to 3am by default. If you wish to run a Cron everyday at 5am you would set this to 5am and leave everything else default.
Every Day Box, is the same. So if you wish to run a Cron every 2 days at 5am. You set the HOUR box to 5am and the DAY box to 2. This will then run every 2 days at 5am.
Every Month Box, will schedule Cron jobs for a certain month. Most people will not use this option and should leave it set to default, but it is a handy option for updating Copyright dates on January 1st.
Weekdays Box is to run Cron jobs by day. So lets say you wish to run a Cron every Tuesday at 4am. You would set the Weekdays box to Tuesday, the Hour box to 4am and the rest remain default.
Last step… When you are all finished creating your Cron, you must select the SAVE CRONTAB button on the bottom of the page to start your Cron Job.
