Test a cron task

Question

I just created a cron task do a backup of a 10GB MySql file once every week. How do I test it?

Specifically it should run as the user, do the output email and error log of the cron task

Answer 1

You can separate the testing of your script and cron-setup this way,

1. Test your tool/script from the intended user login
   • verify that it works as expected (emails and logs, etc).
2. Setup a trial run of issuing it 2 or three times in the next few minutes through cron
   • verify that the first run correctly as with expected results (similar to 1)
   • verify that the next runs continue to work correctly
     and don't get messed up with any effects of the past run

Answer 2

Set it to run every minute, then see if it successfully runs one minute later. Once you have it working, set it back to run every week instead.