How to use CRON.NLM

(Last modified: 20Aug2004)

This document (10024685) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

goal

How to use CRON.NLM

fact

Novell NetWare 6.0

Novell NetWare 5.x

Novell NetWare 4.11

cause

CRON.NLM is adapted from the well-known Unix clock daemon. Cron runs all day, spending most of its time asleep. Once a minute it wakes up and reads SYS:\ETC\CRONTAB. Any commands scheduled in CRONTAB matching the current date and time are executed.

Cron records all actions in the log file SYS:\ETC\CRONLOG.

CRONTAB SYNTAX:
Each crontab entry has six fields, each separated by tabs or spaces:

   minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week command

Each entry is checked in turn, and any entry matching the current time is executed. The entry * matches anything. A pound sign (#) is a comment. Valid values are:
    minute(0-59)
    hour(0-23)
    day-of-month(1-31)
    month(1-12)
    day-of-week(0-6) Note: week starts with 0=Sunday

    Examples:
         #Min Hr Dat Mo Day Command

         #print time every minute
         * * * * * time

         #print volumes on the hour
         0 * * * * volumes

         #do backup Mon-Fri at 0430
         30 4 * * 1-5 load sbackup

         #Start Oracle database every morning at 7:00 a.m.
         #Stop Oracle database every Sunday at 7:45 p.m.
         0 7 * * * orastart
         45 19 * * 0 orastop

         #Mon, Wed, Fri at 1930 down server
         30 19 * * 1,3,5 down

         #Xmas morning at 0900 only
         0 9 25 12 * load sing

fix

CRON is a useful scheduling tool for NetWare.

Copy CRON.NLM to the SYS:\SYSTEM directory on your server.

For NetWare 3.x:
Copy CRON.MSG to the SYS:\SYSTEM directory on your server.

NOTE: You MUST have CLIB.NLM and AFTER311.NLM from LIB312D.EXE

For NetWare 4.x and NetWare 5.x and NetWare 6:
  Copy CRON.MSG to SYS:\SYSTEM\NLS\<LANGUAGE NUMBER>

  For example, if you have the English message file you would
  copy CRON.MSG to SYS:\SYSTEM\NLS\4.

LOAD CRON [logfile size]

Logfile size specifies the size the logfile will reach before restarting. This keeps the logfile from getting too large and crashing the SYS volume. The default is 5 MB (5000000).

note

This utility helps system administrators. It is provided free of charge as a courtesy, and therefore, is not a Novell supported product.

For more advanced scheduling capabilities on a NetWare server you can purchase third-party scheduling utilities.For more information refer to the following web pages:

http://www.avanti-tech.com/taskmstr/tm_main.html

Novell does not support nor endorse these utilities.

document

Document Title:	How to use CRON.NLM
Document ID:	10024685
Solution ID:	1.0.49042245.2491980
Creation Date:	11Jan2000
Modified Date:	20Aug2004
Novell Product Class:	NetWare Novonyx

disclaimer

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