====== How to use cron on a Synology NAS ======

Unlike other Linux based systems, “crontab -e” won’t work on the Synology NAS.

==== Modifying crontab and enabling the deamon ====

  - Become root

|<code bash>sudo -i
</code>|

  - Edit /etc/crontab

|<code bash>nano /etc/crontab
</code>|

  - Restart the cron deamon by typing:

|<code bash>synoservice -restart crond
</code>|

Note: After a shutdown or reboot, you’ll need to restart the cron deamon to enable it again.

==== Running tasks using a different user account ====

If you want to run a task under a different user than root you can do the following:

|<code bash>#min    hour   mday    month   wday    who     command
30      0,6,12,18       *       *       *       root    /bin/su -c "/var/services/homes/myuser/apps/flexget.sh" myuser
</code>|

The task above will run a flexget script under the username **myuser** ever 4 hours.