Working With Cron Jobs

What is a cron job?

A cron job is a scheduled task that takes place (or are set to run) at predefined times or intervals on the server. Often, a cron job is a series of simple tasks executed from a script file.

Note: Always be careful when scheduling cron jobs. Setting them to run too often may slow down your server.

What is a cron email and how do I add it?

The Cron Email section of the cron jobs interface of our hosting control panel allows you to specify an email address at which you would like to receive notifications whenever your cron jobs are run. To specify a cron email address:

1. Login to your hosting control panel.
2. In the Advanced section, select Cron Jobs.
3. Enter the email address at which you wish to receive the notifications in the Email field.
4. Click the Update Email button.

Adding a cron job

To set up a cron job:

1. Login to your hosting control panel.
2. In the Advanced section, select Cron Jobs.
3. Configure the interval at which you wish to run the cron job.
• Common Settings — This menu allows you to select a commonly used interval without having to specify settings for the minute, hour, day, month, and so on.
• Minute — Use this drop-down menu to select the number of minutes between running the cron job, or the minute each hour on which you wish to run the cron job.
• Hour — Use this drop-down menu to select the number of hours between running the cron job, or the hour each day on which you wish to run the cron job.
• Day — Use this drop-down menu to select the number of days between running the cron job, or the day of the month on which you wish to run the cron job.
• Month — Use this drop-down menu to select the number of months between running the cron job, or the month of the year in which you wish to run the cron job.
• Weekday — Use this drop-down menu to select the day(s) of the week on which you wish to run the cron job.
4. In the Command field, type the command you wish the system to run.
• Note: If you do not wish to receive an email notifying you of a specific cron job, add the following line to the command: >/dev/null 2>&1
5. Click Add New Cron Job.

Editing a cron job

To edit a cron job:

1. Login to your hosting control panel.
2. In the Advanced section, select Cron Jobs.
3. Locate the cron job you wish to edit.
4. Click Edit.
5. Edit the settings you wish to change.
6. Click Edit Line.

Deleting a cron job

To delete a cron job:

1. Login to your hosting control panel.
2. In the Advanced section, select Cron Jobs.
3. Locate the cron job you wish to delete.
4. Click Delete.
5. Confirm that you wish to delete the cron job by clicking Delete again.