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December 30, 2009

How to Setup a Cron Job in cPanel

Setting up a cron job will allow you to run certain commands at scheduled times.  For example, you could set a cron job to create a backup of your website every week, or you could set a cron job to delete certain file types every week to save disk space. Cron jobs are useful for webmasters who have a busy schedule and would like to have daily tasks carried out automatically. There are many commands available online for cron jobs, and finding a cron job command list for your control panel should be your first step in deciding what kind of cron jobs would suit your needs.

You may think you have no need for a cron job, but once you've reviewed the list of available commands, you may reconsider this decision. Each command tells the control panel to do a certain task, and the prevalence of each command execution can be adjusted within the cron job manager. Users can choose to execute the command as little as once a month, or as often as once a day.

Whatever the reason, this tutorial will help you set up a cron job. In this tutorial we will discuss how to setup a cron job using the standard cron manager module in cPanel. There is a more advanced cron manager that can be used, but we will save that for another tutorial. Novice users should find this tutorial very helpful.

Setting a Cron Job in Standard Mode

1. First you'll need to access the Cron Jobs Menu in cPanel. To do this, click on the Cron jobs icon found on the main screen of the cPanel interface.

2. Then select Standard to access the Standard Cron Manager, and type in the email address that you would like the cron output to be sent to in the corresponding field.

3. Now type in the command code that you would like the cron job to run in the blank bar next to where it says Command to run. Make sure the command you enter is a valid command. If you are unsure about what kind of commands can be entered, try searching online for cPanel cron job commands.

4. Choose how often you would like the command to be executed by checking an option in all of the boxes.

5. To finish setting up the cron job, select Save Crontab to save your changes.

How to Delete the Cron Job

When you no longer need the cron job, you can delete it to prevent the task from being executed regularly. Follow the steps below to delete the cron job in standard mode.

1. Once again you'll need to access the Cron Jobs Menu, then select the cron job icon found on the main cPanel interface.

2. Then select Standard to open the Standard Cron Manager.

3. Finally, to delete the cron job, Click the Delete button located next to the cron job you would like to delete.

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