Cron service allows you to run scheduled tasks in linux/unix.

It turns out that the service is not automatically turned on in Fedora core 17.

[root@fortis log]# less /val/log/cron.log
/val/log/cron.log: No such file or directory

no log file -> so it's not working

[root@fortis log]# ps aux | grep -i cron | grep -v grep

cron not found in the memory -> so it's not working
[root@fortis log]# service crond status
Redirecting to /bin/systemctl status  crond.service

crond.service - Command Scheduler
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/crond.service; enabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
CGroup: name=systemd:/system/crond.service

status is inactive: that definitely means that it's not enabled.

Enable cron
[root@fortis log]#  chkconfig crond on
Note: Forwarding request to 'systemctl enable crond.service'.

Start the cron service
[root@fortis log]# service crond start
Redirecting to /bin/systemctl start  crond.service

Check status just in case

[root@fortis log]# service crond status
Redirecting to /bin/systemctl status  crond.service
crond.service - Command Scheduler
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/crond.service; enabled)
Active: active (running) since Thu, 06 Jun 2013 02:31:56 +0000; 6s ago
Main PID: 3339 (crond)
CGroup: name=systemd:/system/crond.service
â 3339 /usr/sbin/crond -n

OK. It works.

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