Running Wusage Automatically

Since wusage is intended to be run on a regular basis, for the most part either daily, weekly or monthly, many administrators run the program automatically using automatic scheduling tools.

Under Unix, this is commonly accomplished using the standard Unix program cron. Cron can be used to schedule "jobs" to be run at particular times without human intervention.

New cron jobs are installed using the crontab command. To edit your crontab file, enter the following command:

crontab -e

This command typically launches the vi editor. You can, alternatively, create a text file using the editor of your choice and submit it to cron with the following command:

crontab filename

A typical crontab entry (line of the crontab file) to run wusage resembles the following entry:

0 1 * * 0 /full/path/to/wusage -c /full/path/to/configuration/file
The five digits (or asterisks) correspond to minutes, hours, days of the month, months, and weekdays, respectively. If a particular digit is not important to schedule the job, an asterisk is given. For instance, we want the job to run every month, not just in specific months, so an asterisk is specified for the fourth digit. Sunday is day zero (or seven). For more information, use the Unix commands man crontab and man 5 crontab.

"What about non-Unix platforms?"

Windows NT supports the AT command, which can also be used to schedule programs to run at particular times. Scheduling of this sort is not a standard feature of non-server operating systems such as MSDOS and Windows 95.

Note: Boutell.Com does not provide basic assistance with your operating system's commands. Please consult the online help of your operating system if you have questions about the basic operation of cron, AT, or the scheduling service of your particular operating system. This document is intended to provide an overview of the services that may be available to you as part of your operating system.


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