Logging into server with SSH
 

How do I do this?
I'm trying to set up cron on my server and the documentation is saying I need to log in using telnet or ssh to run the command crontab cron.txt.

Thanks

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

Get Putty (or SecureCRT or any number of other SSH compliant terminal programs)

log in using the user/pass info and then you should get a prompt

if you have uploaded a file with the crontab entry that you need, you can do:

# get the current crontab listings appended to your file
crontab -l >> newcrontabfilethatyouuploaded
crontab newcrontabfilethatyouuploaded

If you feel comfortable with your editor on there, you could do:

# set the editor to nano just in case
EDITOR=nano;export EDITOR
VISUAL=nano;export VISUAL
crontab -e

and paste the line in.

Then if the editor is nano, control-X will save. If you are in nvi/vi, then inserting the line will be a little challenging if you don't feel comfortable with vi.

Alright thanks I'll give it a try.

Might help if you know how to login to your server once you have your hands on a terminal program.

Type,
ssh YOURUSERNAME@YOURDOMAIN.com

Then hit return at which time it will ask for your password. It will not show your password as you type it.

As cd34 said, type,
crontab -e

On most of the systems Vi is the default editor. I don't use Vi enough to remember how to use it sometimes so I pull up this page.
http://staff.washington.edu/rells/R110/#basics5

Sometimes Pico is the editor. This one is for humans to actually use and works like a regular word processor with the commands listed at the bottom of the screen.

Typing man crontab will pull up the manual for crontab. If you are really new to all this you may want to start off by typing man man to read the manual on using the manual.

Apparently I need shell access on my account. That's what it said after I typed my password.

Then you would need to ask your hosting company how to insert a cron.

There are ways to do it via the web, but, I wouldn't be entirely certain it would get where you need it to be -- and some hosts might get a tad upset if you put it in certain areas. :)

I put in a support ticket and they told me I can do it through Cpanel:

Please login to the cpanel.
On the home page, click on cron jobs.
click on standard.
Specify the command in the box for " Command to run "
Select the time at which you want the cron to be run.
click on save crontab button

So I'll give that a try.