---
title: "Cron use cases: scheduling guides for common jobs"
description: "Cron schedules for database backups, log rotation, cert renewal, ETL and more, with worked examples and how to tell when a run never happened."
url: https://norc.app/use-cases
---

# Cron use cases

These jobs all fail silently when they stop. Each guide gives you a cron expression, a worked crontab line, the ways that job fails, and how to tell when a run never happened. It also says when cron is the wrong tool.

[## Scheduling database backups with cron

Nightly pg\_dump/mysqldump with locking, retention, and a way to notice when it stops working.](https://norc.app/use-cases/database-backups)[## Scheduling log rotation, and why you probably shouldn't use cron

Almost always logrotate's job, already wired into cron.daily. Here's when to write your own.](https://norc.app/use-cases/log-rotation)[## Scheduling TLS certificate renewal

Certbot and acme.sh already schedule themselves. Here's what's left for you to own.](https://norc.app/use-cases/certificate-renewal)[## Scheduling cache warming with cron

Pre-hit expensive or cold paths on a schedule so real users never pay the first-request cost.](https://norc.app/use-cases/cache-warming)[## Scheduling recurring report generation

Weekly or monthly report jobs, and the date-math bugs that make them wrong on specific days.](https://norc.app/use-cases/report-generation)[## Scheduling data sync and ETL jobs with cron

Incremental sync/ETL runs with locking and idempotency, and where cron alone stops being enough.](https://norc.app/use-cases/data-sync-etl)[## Scheduling temp file and cache directory cleanup

Age-based deletion of stale temp/cache files, and why /tmp itself is probably already handled.](https://norc.app/use-cases/temp-file-cleanup)[## Scheduling health checks with cron

Cron's one-minute floor is too coarse for most health checks. Here's what to use instead, and when cron is fine.](https://norc.app/use-cases/health-checks)[## Scheduling email digests with cron

Daily or weekly digest sends, timezone-aware, with delivery failures treated as separate from generation.](https://norc.app/use-cases/email-digests)[## Scheduling disk space monitoring with cron

A simple threshold check for one host, and where it stops scaling once you have a fleet.](https://norc.app/use-cases/disk-space-monitoring)[## Scheduling dependency and security scans with cron

Periodic scans of what's actually deployed. They back up CI-time scanning and don't replace it.](https://norc.app/use-cases/dependency-security-scanning)