Automating Computer Tasks
Computers are great at automating tasks. One attraction for me when I first starting using Linux based operating system many years ago is automation through the cron and at scheduling daemons. Examples of tasks I automate include:
At home:
- Test ISP speed twice every hour.
- Create pretty weekly gnuplot graphs of ISP speeds.
- Run iperf tests in local LAN.
- Update this blog (often I binge write articles and queue them).
- Automate hourly rsnapshot backups and daily, weekly, monthly rotations.
- Send email alerts and desktop popups to perform weekly backups.
- Schedule nightly shutdowns.
- Schedule wakeups (to record old movies).
- Verify TV capture cards are functioning.
- Sync config files among LAN computers.
- Sync local copy of Slackware mirrors.
- Update dnsmasq block lists.
- Send email alerts for package updates.
- Send email alerts for certain log errors.
At work:
- Automate backups.
- Send email summaries of certain backups.
- Schedule nightly shutdowns.
- Sync config files.
- Automate package updates on certain systems.
- Send email alerts for server package updates.
- Check SSL certificates expiration.
- Check domain name registration expiration.
- Check company net range expiration.
- Check company Proxmox subscription.
- Check SSH logs.
- Send email alerts for server logins.
- Check server SEL logs.
- Send email summaries of monthly reboots of certain devices.
- Send email summaries of server disk usage.
- Send email summaries of RAID controllers health.
- Send email summaries of RAID controllers batteries.
- Send email summaries of smartmontools health checks.
Posted: Category: Usability Tagged: General
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