Editing the cron

In order to make additions or changes to scheduled tasks, the root cron file must be edited and loaded into memory. Editing can be carried out using a standard text editor such as vi.

A standard root cron file is provided with the LMS system. This resides in the /var/spool/cron/crontabs directory. You should tailor this file to meet your own requirements.

To edit the cron file

1. Log into UNIX root account, using the su command and the correct password.

2. Make a backup of the cron file:
   
   cd /var/spool/cron/crontabs
   cp  root  root.[date]

3. Edit the cron file:
   
   crontab -e
   
   This command will invoke the UNIX vi text editor. Make your required changes then exit the editor using the command :wq! at the command line prompt. This will update the information held by the cron process.