STEP ONE)

place file containing the python script you want to run in the web2py/applications/<name-of-your-web2py-application>/cron folder. For this example the file is named "crontest.py"; but you can give the file any name you wish.

Then upload the updated application to your rackspace VPS; if you are using a Windows based machine you may want to use an FTP application such as "WinSCP" (for example, http://winscp.net/eng/index.php)

STEP TWO)

log into your rackspace root account console; if you are using a Windows based machine you may want to download and use an application such as "PuTTY" (for example, http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html)

STEP THREE)

at the "root@<your-account-name>:~#" prompt, enter the command "crontab -e"

STEP FOUR)

hit the "down" arrow once, then enter:

*/1 * * * * python /home/www-data/web2py/web2py.py -S <name-of-your-web2py-application> -M -N -R applications/<name-of-your-web2py-application>/cron/crontest.py

then press "control-x" to exit and "Y" to save and "enter" to confirm the save

{begin note} replace "<name-of-your-web2py-application>" with the actual name of your web2py application (without the greater-than and less-than symbols) so for example, if the name of your web2py application is "tofu" then you'd enter

*/1 * * * * python /home/www-data/web2py/web2py.py -S tofu -M -N -R applications/tofu/cron/crontest.py

same convention applies for other similar notations in this web2py slice {end note}

Your CRON script should now be running once per minute. For other CRON settings, refer to the CRON syntax guide that can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron

Cheers!