Do you use cron?

sapphirecat · Guru Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 376

vixie-cron, because it uses syslog properly. (Though I haven't looked at fcron with this attitude.)
Monthly: makewhatis
Weekly: updatedb, emerge sync && eupdatedb
Daily: makewhatis -u, prelink -q
Every 15 minutes: getmail. This conveniently keeps POP-before-SMTP hassles to a minimum.
_________________
Former Gentoo user; switched to Kubuntu 7.04 when I got sick of waiting on gcc. Chance of thread necro if you reply now approaching 100%...

crypt0shite · n00b Joined: 21 Nov 2003 Posts: 21 Location: slc, utah

vixie-cron

MRTG

zojas · Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2004 10:54 pm Post subject:

everyone here who has posted that they use cron to update their time should check out ntp. go find yourself 6 or so stratum 2 time servers (there are lists posted on the web), put them in ntp.conf, then rc-update add ntpd default && /etc/init.d/ntpd start and you will never ever have to worry about your clock again. ntpd constantly and smoothly corrects the clock, keeping it to millisecond-level accuracy always, rather than violently jumping the clock every few hours like rdate does. there are several threads about using ntp on here.

also, for cleaning /tmp and /var/tmp there are two utilities designed for this: tmpwatch (from redhat) and tmpreaper (from debian). both will basically delete all files and directories which haven't been accessed in a week. they come with cron scripts which can be run in the daily cron job.

I use vixie-cron to run my backups (rsync snapshots every 4 hours), to run gentoo-stats, to fetch a new xplanet cloudmap each day, and also to send me emails about relative's and friend's birthdays.
_________________
http://www.desertsol.com/~kevin/ppc

screwloose · Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2004 10:07 pm Post subject:

vixie-cron simply because I have been using it since I first started using Linux.

I figured out how to use vixie-cron to do DISHES!!

1. Set a cron script on the firewall to deny my roomate's MAC address after 7:00pm.
2. Roommate asks me why he can't connect to the internet.
3. I tell him to talk to me when he has done his dishes.
4. Roommate proceeds to do his dishes.
4. 7:45pm script automatically allows him to connect again (he doesn't know its automatic)

automation at it's best!!

Next I need to replace steps 2 & 3 with an automatic MSN message to him..... before I cut his connection in step 1.

Can you tell that I have gotten sick of dishes never getting done?
_________________
If something can go wrong it probably already has. You just don't know it yet. ~Henry's Modified version of Murphy's Law

adammc · Apprentice Joined: 07 Oct 2003 Posts: 230 Location: Europe

hvwees · Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2004 1:18 am Post subject:

I'm using vixie-cron.
Because I used to that one from my former distro.
_________________
With kind regards,

Huib

WaterSoul · Apprentice Joined: 31 Jan 2004 Posts: 158

Vixie Cron, because they recommanded it

updatedb, makewhatis, and new from today: eupdatedb (for esearch, really useful!!)

VolcomPimp · Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2004 3:03 am Post subject:

I dont use it... Vixie is installed but I havn't found
any uses...
What's updatedb exactly for?

I was thinkin of a good use, and if I knew a porn gallery
or somethin that added pix everyday, it'd be pretty cool
to have cron d/l all the pix once daily... heh
other than that I don't really have any use.
I don't mind emerge sync'ing myself.

sapphirecat · Guru Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 376

ChojinDSL · l33t Joined: 07 Jul 2003 Posts: 784

I use vixie-cron. The gentoo handbook seemed to recommend it.

Anyway here are some things my cron does.

Extract TV guide information from NxTVepg and store it in xml format and use that to update my mythTV TVguide.

Collect Daily Comic strips off the web using dailystrips.

Update clamav virus database and f-prot virus database.

emerge sync every 24 hours.

synchronize my pc clock with a time server on the internet every couple of hours.

lonegd · Apprentice Joined: 07 Dec 2003 Posts: 185 Location: UK

I use dcron ( cos I wouldn't touch software associated with Paul Vixie ) to do weekly emerge sync, check certain webpages for changes, update my dynamic dns, and grab my mail.
_________________
Mark Cooper
http://pvrhw.goldfish.org/ - Open Source PVR Hardware Database

etnoy · Posted: Sun May 02, 2004 9:38 pm Post subject:

PaNtHaLooN · n00b Joined: 03 May 2004 Posts: 1

I'm using vixie-cron - but I'm not quite happy.
neither dcron or fcron will do either...
I just can't go without system tweaks in an excessive way ;-)

So I might even turn vixie down and go on to mcron.

someguy · Posted: Tue May 04, 2004 4:37 am Post subject:

i never did understand the time system of cron anyone care to enlighten me on it
_________________
print pack"C*",split/\D+/,`echo "16iII*o\U@{$/=$z;[(pop,pop,unpack"H*",<>
)]}\EsMsKsN0[lN*1lK[d2%Sa2/d0<X+d*lMLa^*lN%0]dsXx++lMlN/dsM0<J]dsJxp"|dc`
while [ 1 ] ; do echo "*" | telnet ip.of.print.er 9100 ; done

Suicidal · l33t Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 959 Location: /dev/null

I use vixe-cron as well

I have a script for snort that every night it stops snort,
runs snortalog against /var/log/snort/alert
moves the output to /var/www/localhost/htdocs/snort/snort-$(date --iso8601)
moves all of the snort logs to /root/snort-archive/snort-$(date --iso8601)
then it restarts snort

otherwise snortalog takes hours to parse the logs.

Also I have mrtg installed and I have a different crontab entry for each device

an entry for my rsync server to sync every 4 hrs starting 1 am localtime (services over 75 boxen)

Deranger · Veteran Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 1215

Of course I do. Some tasks like setting date/time, chkrootkit, updatedb, logrotate, makewhatis etc. are handled by vixie-cron.

shagrat · Apprentice Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 219 Location: Norway

I use vixie-cron, but only for my eggdrops

Cintra · Advocate Joined: 03 Apr 2004 Posts: 2111 Location: Norway

Yes, vixie with SMART and logwatch to send myself emails of disk status ;-)

mvh
_________________
"I am not bound to please thee with my answers" W.S.

zieloo · Veteran Joined: 28 Mar 2004 Posts: 1337

No such need - don't use anyth. with *cron in its name;)

WhyteWolf · Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:21 pm Post subject:

sparks · Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2004 3:46 am Post subject:

I use cron daily to run a script that backs up my /home directory every night then pruns my backup directory for any backups older than 4 days. It is very useful IMHO.
_________________
True trade is honest, but not merciful. Politics is dishonest, no matter how merciful... and war is neither honest nor merciful.... therefore, choose trade above politics, but politics above war.

Suicidal · l33t Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 959 Location: /dev/null

Deranger · Veteran Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 1215

placeholder · Advocate Joined: 07 Feb 2004 Posts: 2500

I use vixie-cron and I use it for syncing my clock via ntpdate along with updatedb.

gentoo_lan · Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 11:47 am Post subject:

I use vixie-cron. I mainly use it for syncing the portage tree and doing a weekly prelink of my system.