Commands for RHEL/Fedora/CentOS/Scientific Linux user

If you are using Redhat (RHEL)/Fedora/CentOS Linux use the following commands.

Task: Start cron service

To start the cron service, use:
# /etc/init.d/crond start
OR RHEL/CentOS 5.x/6.x user:
# service crond start
OR RHEL/Centos Linux 7.x user:
# systemctl start crond.service

Task: Stop cron service

To stop the cron service, use:
# /etc/init.d/crond stop
OR RHEL/CentOS 5.x/6.x user:
# service crond stop
OR RHEL/Centos Linux 7.x user:
# systemctl stop crond.service

Task: Restart cron service

To restart the cron service, use:
# /etc/init.d/crond restart
OR RHEL/CentOS 5.x/6.x user:
# service crond restart
OR RHEL/Centos Linux 7.x user:
# systemctl restart crond.service

Commands for Ubuntu/Mint/Debian based Linux distro

If you are using Debian or Ubuntu or Mint Linux the following commands.

Task: Debian Start cron service

To start the cron service, use:
# /etc/init.d/cron start
OR
$ sudo /etc/init.d/cron start
OR
$ sudo service cron start

Task: Debian Stop cron service

To stop the cron service, use:
# /etc/init.d/cron stop
OR
$ sudo /etc/init.d/cron stop
OR
$ sudo service cron stop

Task: Debian Restart cron service

To restart the cron service, use:
# /etc/init.d/cron restart
OR
$ sudo /etc/init.d/cron restart
OR
$ sudo service cron restart

Task : Start the cron service at boot time

It is recommended that you start the service at boot time so that job can run w/o problems.

If you are using Redhat (RHEL)/Fedora Core/Cent OS Linux use the following commands to ensure that the service remains enabled after a reboot:
# chkconfig crond on
You can use a text based GUI tool called ntsysv to enable crond service:
# ntsysv

If you are using Debian or Ubuntu Linux use the following commands to ensure that the service remains enabled after a reboot:
# rcconf
OR
$ sudo rcconf
You can use command line tool update-rc.d:
# update-rc.d cron defaults
OR
$ sudo update-rc.d cron defaults