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The default /etc/crontab runs the daily jobs at 03:02, the weekly at 03:22 and the monthly at 03:42. Given that some of the tasks, such as rolling over logs, running updatedb and doing backups, can take a fair bit of time, it's quite possible for the daily jobs to run into the weekly ones, resulting in a lot of competition for resources and thrashing. It's simple enough for a sysadmin to edit /etc/crontab and space the jobs out a bit more, but it would be kinder to Linux newbies if they were already better spaced out in the default crontab.
No matter how we will space them out, there will always be a potential of jobs overlapping. This is the responsability of the site admin to decide. If they are able to write lengthly jobs, they should be able to figure out how to space them in time too. ------- Additional Comments From 09/30/99 16:38 ------- Personally, I would recommend a slightly different tweak, which is to specify a different hour for the various levels. Here's what I use: # run-parts 05 * * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.hourly 35 2 * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.daily 35 3 * * 0 root run-parts /etc/cron.weekly 35 4 1 * * root run-parts /etc/cron.monthly 35 4 2 3,6,9,12 * root run-parts /etc/cron.quarterly I've moved the hourly stuff to five past each hour to reduce the likelihood of it overlapping with user crons which tend to get set on the hour, half or quarter, and the rest runs at 35 past, with the daily stuff at 2:35, the weekly stuff at 3:35, the monthly stuff at 4:35 on the 1st of each month and the quarterly stuff at 4:35 on the 2nd of each month.