We use scheduled tasks/cron jobs to perform many important tasks in Windows and linux.
- Moving files between machines
- Making a quick backup of files before they're processed
- Loading data into databases
- Restarting services if necessary
How do you document and manage tasks, to answer questions like these:
- If tasks are interrelated, in what order do they run?
- Are any tasks interfering with the backup window for the machine?
- Where is the job that backs up these files?
We're adding this information to the wiki page for each server, and a separate page for any complicated sequences. But is there a better way?
Best Answer
We try to maintain most batch process on a single server. The jobs are all run though an application call VisualCron on Windows. The descriptions and schedules of the jobs are all self-documenting. More complex processes are further documented on our SharePoint server which hold all other internal IT documentation.