The cron scheduler

One of the most used facilities on a server is actually the scheduler, even if we do not realize how much we rely on it. Some of the services that run unattended on our systems are dealt with by a scheduler, which is in charge to run them at specific times over a span of days, weeks, and months. All those humble, repetitive tasks, which are so essential for the correct functioning of our environment, are hidden behind the curtains and do what we would not like to do, for instance, rotate all the system logs when it is needed. Would we do these jobs every day, at crazy hours, for all the services that require maintenance? No, we have better things to do. The cron scheduler does not have any better things to do; its purpose is to wake up every minute and check if something has to be done, and this makes it the best candidate to perform tedious repetitive tasks...