We want to automate the execution of a shell script on a unix server

Place username into /etc/cron.allow file

redfernd

For the purpose of testing, create a shell script into your tmp directory called testingcron.sh

vi /tmp/testingcron.sh

Then enter in the following information:

#!/bin/bash #testing sh echo "Hello World"

Test this by running the script:

. /tmp/testingcron.sh

I want to run my script every two minutes, so my cron will look like this:

*/1 * * * * /tmp/testingcron.sh > home/redfernd/cron.log

The cron schedule above will ensure that the testingcron.sh script is executed every minute and the results are placed into the home/redfernd/cron.log file

Whilst logged in as your user, type in the following:

crontab -e

Then enter in the following string (That you created earlier):

*/1 * * * * /tmp/testingcron.sh > home/redfernd/cron.log

Make sure the owner has execute permission against the script

chmod 744 /tmp/testingcron.sh

Review the home/redfernd/cron.log and check is the cron has ran hello world for you

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