Task scheduling
Administrative automation
[Link]
Copyright © SUPINFO. All rights reserved
Task scheduling
Course objectives
By completing this course, you will:
Schedule tasks. Either repetitive
and punctual tasks.
List and remove scheduled
tasks.
Manage scheduling
permissions. Which users can
schedule tasks.
Task scheduling
Course topics
Course’s plan:
Working with cron. Scheduling
and managing repetitive tasks.
Working with at. Scheduling and
managing punctual tasks.
Manage Permissions. Who’s
allowed to schedule tasks?
Task scheduling
Working with cron
Scheduling and managing repetitive tasks
Working with cron
About cron
Repetitive tasks.
De facto standard
Many
implementations
Vixie-cron
System daemon
crond
Spawn processes
No STDOUT
Can send
mails
Working with cron
About cron
Repetitive tasks.
Per-user task list
crontab
/var/spool/cron/cron
tabs/username
System crontab
/etc/crontab
Don’t edit
/etc/cron.*
Monthly
Daily
…
Working with cron
Using cron
Schedule tasks with crontab
[user@linux ~]$ crontab [options]
Options Definitions
-u user Work on user’s crontab. Primary used by root.
-e Edit your crontab with $EDITOR.
-l List your active crontab.
-r Blank your active crontab.
Working with cron
Crontabs
One task per line.
Field Description
1 / Min Minutes 0-59
2 / Hour Hours 0-23
3 / DoM Day 1-31
4 / Month Month 1-12 or names (jan-dec)
5 / DoW Days 0-7 or names (mon-fri)
6 / Cmd Command to execute, with arguments
Working with cron
Crontabs
Advanced entries: Special characters.
Character Description
* Always match
Incremental range. */15 in first field: Every five
/
minutes
, List of values. DoW: mon,tue,thu,fri
- Range operator. Month: jun-sep
Working with cron
Stop-and-think
Do you have any questions ?
Working with cron
Stop-and-think
A task scheduled to be run as:
15-59/15 8-18 * nov-jun 1-5 Will run:
___________
Working with cron
Stop-and-think
A task scheduled to be run as:
15-59/15 8-18 * nov-jun 1-5 Will run:
From November to June, each
day from Monday to Friday,
Every fifteen minutes starting at
the fifteenth minute, from 8:00
am to 6:00 pm.
Task scheduling
Working with at
Scheduling and managing punctual tasks
Working with at
About at
Puncutal tasks.
De facto standard
Widely used
Many
implementations
System daemon
atd
Spawn processes
No STDOUT
Can send mails
Working with at
Using at
Schedule tasks with at
[user@linux ~]$ at [options] [timespec]
Options Definitions
-l List planned jobs for current user. Root lists all.
-d job Delete job
Interactive prompt
Type CTRL-D to
validate
Working with at
At timespec
Is it teatime already?
Very complex
Read the man page
Some time specs
HH:MM am/pm
noon, midnight,
teatime
now + x time-unit
Minutes
days
…
Working with at
Stop-and-think
Do you have any questions ?
Working with at
Stop-and-think
At “at” prompt, you need to press Ctrl-C to validate
your scheduled task.
True
False
Working with at
Stop-and-think
At “at” prompt, you need to press Ctrl-C to validate
your scheduled task.
True
False
Task scheduling
Manage permissions
Who’s allowed to schedule tasks
Manage permissions
User lists
Subtitle that introduces the list.
Both at and cron have
them
/etc
[Link] &
[Link]
[Link] &
[Link]
Same syntax
One user per line
Same behavior
Manage permissions
Allow and Deny
Parser behavior.
Allow exists
Only listed users
allowed
Deny file not parsed
Allow doesn’t exist
Deny parsed
Only not listed
users allowed
Neither exist
Only root allowed.
Manage permissions
Stop-and-think
Do you have any questions ?
Manage permissions
Stop-and-think
The supinfo user is present in both [Link] and
[Link]. Can he use cron ?
Yes
No
Manage permissions
Stop-and-think
The supinfo user is present in both [Link] and
[Link]. Can he use cron ?
Yes
No
Task scheduling
Course summary
Cron
Permissions
at
Task scheduling
For more
If you want to go into these subjects more deeply, …
Publications Courses
Linux Technologies: Edge
Computing
Linux system administration
Web sites Conferences
[Link] FOSDEM
[Link] RMLL
[Link] Solutions Linux
Congratulations
You have successfully completed
the SUPINFO course module
n°10
Task Scheduling
Task scheduling
The end
At uses a complex timespec: read the man page
Pay attention to allow and deny files.