NT has a built in scheduling service. To use it with network
access, define a user account with all the permissions and rights
you want the schedule service to have. It must be a member of
the Administrators group and have the right to log on as a batch
job and as a service (advanced rights). It must have a non-blank,
non-expiring password.
In control panel/services, locate the scheduler service and change
the startup to use this account. Set it to logon automatically.
Now stop and restart the service. In a DOS window (Command prompt),
type AT /? This is the syntax for scheduling. Here is an example
on how to schedule a backup.
1. Using any text editor, such as Notepad, create a command file
(MYBACKUP.CMD) to perform the commands to backup the requested
files. (You must use full path names for every file and program.)
The following example would back up all files on the C: drive, replacing any files currently on the tape, label the backup set "My Backup Files", backup the local registry, and log all backup information to C:\BACKUP.LOG:
Drive:\WinNT\system32\ntbackup backup c: /D "My Backup Files" /B /L "c:\backup.log"
NOTE: For additional information on available NTBACKUP options, search Windows NT Help for NTBACKUP.
2. Using the AT command, schedule the command file (MYBACKUP.CMD) to run when desired. The following AT command will schedule MYBACKUP.CMD to execute at 11:00 P.M. every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday:
AT 23:00 /interactive /every:M,W,F cmd.exe /c "Drive:\Directory\MYBACKUP.CMD"
See tip 238.
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