Setting up the System Cron Job
From Brian Nelson Ramblings
Setting up the System Cron Job for Magneto
Now that you have Magento installed, you will notice that in your html directory are to files called [cron.php] and [cron.sh].
These two files do the same process - activate the Magento internal cron.
Of the two, the one I have found to work the best is cron.php
By default cron.sh pulls or runs cron.php, so lets just take a step out of the process.
To setup your cron from the command line, you would run
crontab -e
Then insert the cron to run every 5 mins, default suggested by Magento
*/5 * * * * /usr/bin/php -f /the/path/to/cron.php
You can also use the cron.sh file
*/5 * * * * /bin/bash -f /the/path/to/cron.sh
Now check and make sure the cron is running as scheduled
Now that you have setup the system you can check to make sure its working.
tail -f /var/log/cron | grep 'cron'
