Since wusage is intended to be run on a regular basis, for the most part either daily, weekly or monthly, many administrators run the program automatically using automatic scheduling tools. In addition, recent versions of Wusage offer a built-in scheduling facility.

Updating Statistics Through the Built-In Scheduler

All users of Wusage can take advantage of the built-in scheduling facility.

Automatic Updates under Windows

Under Windows 2000/NT/XP, this feature is provided through a Windows NT Service installed at setup time. If you did not say yes to installing this optional feature, run the installer again (please DO NOT uninstall first).

Windows 95/98/Me users can also get automatic updates, provided that the Wusage application is left running on the desktop (yes, you may minimize the program, but it must be kept running). To make this easier, the installation process offers the option of installing the program in the startup group.

This facility provides a simple, user-friendly way to produce updates on a regular basis.

Automatic Updates under Unix

Unix versions of Wusage automatically install a simple "cron job" which causes Unix to launch Wusage every hour. The program then checks whether it is actually time to carry out a scheduled update. If not, the program exits immediately.

How to Schedule Updates

Under Simple Mode: click the Schedule Updates button on the control page.

Under ISP Mode: click the Schedule Updates button on the Account Administration Page. This button schedules a single update time for all accounts.

Under Advanced Mode: open the configuration file you are interested in. You should now see a web page with the heading "Control Page." Click the Schedule Updates button on this page.

Note: even though you may have set your configuration file for monthly reporting, you can still choose daily updates if you wish.

VERY IMPORTANT: Wusage will automatically analyze your logs at the scheduled time, if you have left the program running. If you have not left the program running, causing Wusage to "miss" a scheduled update, the program will begin analyzing your logs the next time you start the program.

If you attempt to use the program while a scheduled task is in progress, Wusage will tell you so and display the number of log lines analyzed so far. Old log data that has been analyzed before does not count toward the number of log lines analyzed, so do not be alarmed if the count is zero.

How to Check the Current Update Schedule

Look at the paragraph to the right of the Schedule Updates button. The text of this paragraph includes a description of the current settings.

Updating Statistics Using cron and AT

Unix users, as well as some Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP users, will want to use the standard scheduling facilities that are provided with those operating systems.

Under Unix, this is commonly accomplished using the standard Unix program cron. Cron can be used to schedule "jobs" to be run at particular times without human intervention.

New cron jobs are installed using the crontab command. To edit your crontab file, enter the following command:

crontab -e

This command typically launches the vi editor. You can, alternatively, create a text file using the editor of your choice and submit it to cron with the following command:

crontab filename

A typical crontab entry (line of the crontab file) to run wusage resembles the following entry:

0 1 * * 0 /full/path/to/wusage -c /full/path/to/configuration/file

The five digits (or asterisks) correspond to minutes, hours, days of the month, months, and weekdays, respectively. If a particular digit is not important to schedule the job, an asterisk is given. For instance, we want the job to run every month, not just in specific months, so an asterisk is specified for the fourth digit. Sunday is day zero (or seven). For more information, use the Unix commands man crontab and man 5 crontab.

"What about non-Unix platforms?"

Windows NT/2000/XP supports the AT command, which can also be used to schedule programs to run at particular times. Scheduling of this sort is not a standard feature of older client operating systems such as MSDOS and Windows 95. However, Windows 98 does offer a simple scheduler as a standard feature; an icon for that scheduler is typically displayed in the system tray, and it is not difficult to configure it to run Wusage at the command line. See the command line options section of the manual for more information.

Note: Boutell.Com does not provide basic assistance with your operating system's commands. Please consult the online help of your operating system if you have questions about the basic operation of cron, AT, or the scheduling service of your particular operating system. This document is intended to provide an overview of the services that may be available to you as part of your operating system. If you find your operating system's scheduling facilities to be too compliated, we recommend that you use the built-in scheduling capabilities of Wusage instead.

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