Timer units can be configured to control when service units run. You can use timer units instead of configuring the cron daemon for time-based events. Timer units can be more complicated to configure than creating a crontab entry. However, timer units are more configurable and the services that they control can be configured for better logging and deeper integration with systemd architecture.

Timer units are started, enabled, and stopped similarly to service units. For example, to enable and start a timer unit immediately, type:

sudo systemctl enable --now myscript.timer

To list all existing timers on the system, to see when they last ran, and when they're next configured to run, type:

systemctl list-timers

For more information about system timers, see the systemd.timer(5) and systemd.time(7) manual pages.