Triggering regular tasks with Systemd
Conclusions
Compared to good old Cron, the timers from Systemd offer a number of benefits. Systemd is now included with most distributions. The actions can also be started independently of the timer, executed in a very specific environment, assigned to groups, and made dependent on other units.
However, as the simple example from Listing 2 shows, the configuration overhead is significantly higher for Systemd timers. A short line is all it takes with Cron, but with Systemd, you first have to write a complete timer unit. Furthermore, unlike Cron, Systemd cannot send you an email in case of an error and thus draw attention to problems. Systemd timers should therefore not replace Cron, at least not in the near future, but merely supplement it.
Infos
- Manpage for Systemd timer units: https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd.timer.html
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