HP-UX UNIX: Start / Stop and Configure Cron Services

Q. I need to run a backup and other stuff everyday. How do I check and start cron service under HP-UX UNIX operating system? How do I write cron jobs?

A. Cron service is required to run jobs and tasks such as backup.

You must login as the root to run following commands. Each user that is using the cron service must have a cron configuration file in the /var/spool/cron/crontab directory. Also users are permitted if their name appeared in /var/adm/cron/cron.allow file

Task: Find out if cron is running under HP-UX

Type the following command at a shell prompt
# ps -ef | grep cron

Open /etc/rc.config.d/cron file
vi /etc/rc.config.d/cron
Set control variable to 1 to enable cron : CRON=1
Set control variable to 0 to disable : CRON=0
Close and save the file. To start or stop cron you can type the following command:
# /sbin/init.d/cron start <-- start cron # /sbin/init.d/cron stop <-- stop cron

Task: HP-UX Start cron service

If cron is not running, simply type:
# cron

Task: Edit / create cron jobs

Type the following command to submit a cron job:
# crontab -e
List your cron file:
# crontab -l
Backup all your cron jobs:
# crontab -l > ~/backup.cron.jobs
Remove ALL cron job:
# crontab -r

Task: Crontab file format

Cron file format is as follows:

MIN    HOUR     DATE     MONTH      DAY    /PATH/TO/COMMAND
0-59   0-23      1-31      1-12         0-6     /root/scripts/backup2tape.sh

Easy to remember crontab file format:

* * * * * command to be executed
- - - - -
| | | | |
| | | | ----- Day of week (0 - 7) (Sunday=0 or 7)
| | | ------- Month (1 - 12)
| | --------- Day of month (1 - 31)
| ----------- Hour (0 - 23)
------------- Minute (0 - 59)

To run /root/script/backup at 23:00, every day, enter:
# crontab -e
Append following

0   23  * *  * /root/script/backup

Run foo job very weekday (MON-Fri) at 6am, enter:

0   6  * *  1-5 /root/script/backup

For more information refer to cron and crontab man pages.

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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }

1 David January 15, 2008 at 12:21 am: You might note that all files normally found in /etc/init.d, /etc/rc*.d, and others are all in /sbin in HP-UX 10.20 and up.
Note too that your formatting is off in the description of the /etc/rc.config.d/cron file. Also, if you run /usr/bin/cron instead of /sbin/init.d/cron start, the /etc/rc.config.d/cron file is not used.
2 rag January 16, 2008 at 7:50 am: it is very usefull
3 satya July 14, 2008 at 6:48 pm: Cron: Your job did not contain a valid audit ID.
4 SAGAR March 21, 2011 at 5:09 am: How can i schedule to run the job for a certain time in a day,say for 1am to 2am.Is it possible using crontab.
5 Ramesh May 5, 2011 at 11:50 am: hi all,
can anybody help me how to give permission to user to enable /disable cron daemon in redhat linux.
6 Vicky October 18, 2011 at 11:03 am: how do i tell cron to stop a running script?
7 Jorgito October 23, 2012 at 4:29 pm: Is there any way to look at the logs from the cron?
I’m able to schedule the jobs,
and I have one of them not running properly, (if i run it manually i can get the updated result, but i scheduled the task as to not need to run it manually)
I know one must define the enviroment variables on the script , but i did defined them.
so basically I’m missing something and will be nice to check logs as to find out what is it instead of blindly make changes.
8 Harunur Rashid April 25, 2013 at 4:17 am: very useful command for HP-Unix cron job.