Scheduling Processes

Scheduling Processes 


So far in this chapter, you’ve learned how to execute and manage processes on a Linux system
from the shell prompt. However, there will be many occasions when you need a process to run
automatically without any intervention on your part. Backups are a good example. One of the
key problems with backups is not that system administrators perform them incorrectly; it’s that
they forget to perform them at all! One of the worst things you can do in your backup strategy is
to rely on a human being to remember to run them.


Instead, you can configure your Linux system to run programs for you automatically. This
removes the human element from the equation and ensures that the specified programs execute
regularly and on time. Two key utilities can be used to schedule processes to run in the future.
We’ll discuss the following in this part of the chapter:




• Using the at daemon
• Using the cron daemon
• Using anacron








LX0-104 Exam Objectives (L)