Schedule a copy-script

[jenzbe]

Hi to all,

I'm a new ReadyNas-user with a brand new readynas ultra 6.
I also bought SABNZBd for the readynas ... but as i live in Belgium i need to check my downloadvolume each month.
At night everything i download is counted for only 50%

i now have a folder on my share called "\downloads\nzb\now" which is monitored by SABNZBd.
When a .nzb-file is placed there it is automatically downloaded.
I also have a folder called "\downloads\nzb\night" which contains 'larger' downloadfiles.

Is there a posibility to schedule a copy of *.nzb from "\downloads\nzb\night" to "\downloads\nzb\now" at lets say 0.30hours?

Can anyone help me with this?
Thank you very much!

[jenzbe]

no one?

[sphardy1]

How familiar are you with Linux? Scripting & cron?

[jenzbe]

not enough, but eager to learn 🙂

i'll search the forum for scripting and cron but if you can put me on the right track that would be great.
Tnx in advance!

[sphardy1]

Basic process is:

1. Enable root SSH access to your NAS - this will give you commandline access to the underlying linux OS so that you can make manual changes. You do this by installing the EnableRootSSH addon from http://www.readynas.com/addons. Lots of info on this forum about that and how to then access your NAS via SSH

2. Create a Shell Script on your NAS that performs the task you desire - test it well! There are lots of resources on the web about this if you search for "shell script"

3. Create a "cron job" that is a built-in scheduling mechanism for linux that allows you to run shell scripts at predefined times/intervals. (ReadyNAS devices use this facility alot to verify your disks for example). Again, lots of web resources - just search for "cron tutorial"

[jenzbe]

1 - Done
2 - made a script called nachttarief and placed in /Downloads/nzb/nacht
- chmod nachttarief 755
- tested it -> worked ok
3 - In /etc made a new file called cron.nachttarief
- content:
MAILTO=emailadres
15 00 * * * /Downloads/nzb/nachttarief
- then i did "crontab cron.nachttarief"

Hope to see it work tomorrow morning. Thanx a lot allready

[jenzbe]

Hey Sphardy,
It did not work 😞 any ideas on where to start the troubleshooting? can i find logfiles to see which/when cron-jobs were run?

[sphardy1]

/var/log/cron.log

[jenzbe]

tnx. Looks like it did run

cat cron.log:
Nov 6 00:08:01 Nas /USR/SBIN/CRON[18378]: (root) CMD ( /usr/bin/empty_exim &>/dev/null)
Nov 6 00:15:01 Nas /USR/SBIN/CRON[18468]: (root) CMD (/Downloads/nzb/nachttarief)

hmmmm, gonna remove the line with 'MAILTO'

Would u mind helping me 'live' like in remote control my pc? 🙂
Mercie pour tous votre aide? 😉

[jenzbe]

Sphardy did a SUPERB job explaining some stuff to me.

A quick how-to for other noobs like me 😄 :

1) First create a script (copyscript) in a directory of choice (i put it in /Downloads)

2) Edit the script (i used 'vi copyscript', while Sphardy proposed to use nano for it )
(to use nano first do: "apt-get update", then do "apt-get -f install" and answer "Y" two times)
put in the script the stuff you want but start with shbangs like this:

 #!/bin/sh

then put ur script (take in mind to use full paths!) my script needs to copy everything from the night-dir to the now-dir

mv -f /Downloads/night/* /Downloads/now

3) Make a new cron-job (this is the script you are going to schedule)
i made a cron-job called cron.nightcopy in my /etc-folder
in that cron.nightcopy i put this:

MAILTO=my@emailadres
15 00 * * * /Downloads/copyscript

(this means this script starts each day at 00:15 at night,
to learn more about cron google it or start here: http://adminschoice.com/crontab-quick-reference)

4) Schedule that cron-job by using 'crontab <filename>' in my case:

crontab cron.nightcopy

5) check your cron-jobs by using

'crontab -l'

Hope this helps some people as much as Sphardy helped me!

Regards,
JenZ

[dekkit]

...thanks for documenting that, its given me some ideas for improving my backups across my network (e.g. using Wake on Lan etc)