A few notes that I think are worth going over: 1. mysqldump can require quite a few more permissions than mentioned, depending on your utilization of mysql 2.

A few notes that I think are worth going over: 1. mysqldump can require quite a few more permissions than mentioned, depending on your utilization of mysql 2. The best way I've found to test the cron-like environmentis by following this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2135478/how-to-simulate-the-environment-cron-executes-a-script-with http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2135478/how-to-simulate-t... Otherwise you run the risk of .profile (and similar) being loaded, where they will not be when run in the cron task. 3. Extra emphasis on using a lock file to avoid overlapping cron tasks! 4. I love using `time` or similar means to pass execution time somewhere (a log file, or a web hook), which helps with point 3.