Will this crontab work right?

Question

I added two lines to my crontab:

0,4,1,* * * * * /srv/vhostsbackup.sh

30,4,1,* * * * * /srv/dbbackup.sh

Both sh should be executed one time at the first day of a month. Would they work?

Answer 1

I don't think they will work properly. You need to replace the asterisks with your numbers, and don't separate them with commas.

This will run at 4am on the first of each month:

0 4 1 * * /srv/vhostsbackup.sh

This will run at 4:30am on the first of each month:

30 4 1 * * /srv/dbbackup.sh

Good luck,

--jed

Answer 2

No - you've got too many asterisks and commas there.

For executing once on the first day of the month, you want something like

0 8 1 * * /srv/vhostsbackup.sh

That will run at 8AM on the 1st of each month.

Answer 3

Add this comment line on your crontab :

# m h dom mon dow user  command

(or without user if you are not on a Debian/Ubuntu plateform). Then you will see that you don't have the good number of parameters.

Of course, check your logs. With your line, I have :

Error: bad command; while reading /etc/crontab