Cron Jobs and Web Hosting
Cron Jobs are a common requirement for a handful or scripts and tasks. However, not all web hosts or hosting providers will give you access to setup and run cron jobs. Depending on the server resources required some hosts may decline your request for a cron setup. It is important to confirm with host that you will be able to run the cron jobs you need.
Cron is the ability to run programs based on the server clock. A cron job is a scheduled task that you want to automatically run at a scheduled time, e.g. run my backup at 7:30pm everyday. You need to create a cron table or "crontab", a file of dates and commands that you want to run. A crontab file instructs the server to run specific commands at a given time.
Some hosts will offer tutorials or admin panels that will make creating a cron jobs a breeze. Some of them will even set your cron jobs for you based on your requirements.
More useful resources:
- Cron Job Tutorials
- Cron Jobs and Web Hosting
- Search Cron on Wikipedia