How To Backup "crontab -e" Files?

Question

I want to do a complete server backup.

I already have my backup script copying all of the html/php files for the web app, and the mysql databases, placing them into a .tar.gz file.

How can I add the crontab files to that backup?

Whenever I save the crontab, it goes to /tmp folder.. and when I check that folder immediately afterwards, it is empty.

Just a though, may versions of cron allow root to place the jobs in `/etc/cron.d/`, I generally prefer that instead, since my /etc folder is backed up, and tracked in a VCS. — Zoredache, Nov 18 '11 at 08:46
related: ["What I can I do to make the transition to some new computer hardware safe and smooth?"](http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/8272/what-i-can-i-do-to-make-the-transition-to-some-new-computer-hardware-safe-and-sm). — David Cary, Nov 18 '11 at 13:19
With regard to your username, sorry to take away your '666' upvote count -but I found the post useful. ;) — a coder, Sep 19 '13 at 15:30

dtoubelis · Accepted Answer · 2022-08-10T12:23:37.797

50

You could just backup the entire /var/spool/cron directory. It contains all crontabs for all users.

edited Aug 10 '22 at 12:23

answered Nov 18 '11 at 05:11

dtoubelis

score 24 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 29 '16 at 05:53

24

You can periodically run crontab -l > my_crontab.backup to backup the crontab into file.

answered Jun 29 '16 at 05:53

mitbal

score 11 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 18 '11 at 07:41

11

just backup the file /var/spool/cron/USER_NAME

edited Nov 18 '11 at 07:41

Bart De Vos

answered Nov 18 '11 at 05:10

chocripple

2

For Ubuntu 14.04 at least, the relevant files are in the directory `/var/spool/cron/crontabs`. – Kenny Evitt Jan 22 '15 at 01:31
@KennyEvitt and you must be the root to access it `sudo -i` – NineCattoRules Apr 23 '16 at 09:43

Nolan Conaway · Answer 4 · 2019-03-02T17:58:00.553

4

I made my backup into a cron job.

0 9 * * * crontab -l | gzip > /backups/'crontab-'$(date +"\%Y\%m\%d-\%H\%M\%S")'.gz'

edited Mar 02 '19 at 17:58

answered Feb 23 '19 at 21:22

Nolan Conaway

4 Answers4