Cron jobs are scheduled tasks that take place at predefined times or intervals on the server. Often, a cron job is a series of simple tasks executed from a script file. cPanel offers this screen as a tool for setting up cron jobs.
Note: Be careful when scheduling cron jobs. Setting them to run too often may slow down your server.
Adding a cron email
The Cron Email section of this interface allows you to specify an email address at which you would like to receive notifications whenever your cron jobs are run. To specify an email address:
- Enter the email address at which you wish to receive the notifications in the email field.
- Click the Update Email button.
Adding a cron job
To set up a cron job:
- 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.
- 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
- Click Add New Cron Job.
Viewing existing cron jobs
The Current Cron Jobs table displays the cron jobs you have already set up on the server.
From here, you may edit or delete a cron job.
Editing a cron job
To edit a cron job:
- Locate the cron job you wish to edit.
- Click Edit.
- Edit the settings you wish to change.
- Click Edit Line.
Deleting a cron job
To delete a cron job:
- Locate the cron job you wish to delete.
- Click Delete.
- Confirm that you wish to delete the cron job by clicking Delete again.
