Frequently encountered, we need to schedule tasks: run task automatically! To schedule your R task, edit /etc/crontab like this:

sudo nano /etc/crontab

At the end of the opened file, add such a line:

0 * * * * username Rscript /var/shiny-server/www/Project/load_data.R

Where 0 * * * * is the cron formula to schedule your task. The above one means run the followed command per hour at 0 minute. The username is your logged name. Sometimes, the scheduled task doesn’t run, then we should check two issues:

• Is the shell command correct? To check it, just paste the shell command (e.g. Rscript /var/shiny-server/www/Project/load_data.R) in the terminal. If it works, then go to the next step:

• Permission mode. Some files have strict permission, it allow only special users to execute. To check the perission, run the following command in termial:

sudo ls -l /var/shiny-server

Pleasetake a look how the permissons were defined under Linux. We can change the permission mode using the following command:

sudo chmod - R 777 /var/shiny-server/