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→Automating Backups (cron)
=== Automating Backups (cron) ===
Since your host machine and VMs are '''not continuously running''', '''you are not required to schedule to perform your FULL BACKUPS periodically''' (eg. every week at 2:00 AM). Instead, it will be YOUR responsibility to run your full backup script when you complete each of your OPS335 labs, or when you finish your OPS335 assignment working session. On the other hand, '''you will use cron to perform incremental backups''' (eg. copy updated files from the VMs/ /etc/ directory)
'''Cron''' is a ''daemon'' (i.e. a program that runs in the background). The term ''"Cron"'' is short for '''Chronograph''' which was an old fashioned term for a '''stop watch''' or '''timer'''. The role of '''Cron''' is to run tasks periodically. It can run tasks for the system (as root) or for a user (including regular users).
Every user has a crontab (Cron Table) which is a list of tasks they want to run periodically. You do not edit this file manually: instead, you edit this table using the command '''crontab -e'''. Once you run the command, you will get an empty file where you have to insert a line like this:
