For a site on my VM I needed an svn sync and the backup files on my developer site.

I initially didn't want to install backup_migrate module. This was partly due to my arcane workflow which is of course by hand and unfamiliarity with back_migrate module.

So this is what I deviced

test_site@serverVM:~$ crontab -l
# m h dom mon dow  command
*/7 * * * * wget -O - -q -t 1 http://test-site.com/cron.php
*/5 * * * * /home/test_site/svn-up 2>&1 > /home/test_site/svn-up.log
* */1 * * * /home/test_site/ant-backup 2>&1 > /home/test_site/ant-backup.log