Is there a MySQL equivalent to the MS SQL Server jobs and job scheduling? Or is that kind of thing considered an application-layer thing in the MySQL world?
Are you looking for the Event Scheduler?
When you create an event, you are creating a named database object containing one or more SQL statements to be executed at one or more regular intervals, beginning and ending at a specific date and time.
cron- a_horse_with_no_name 2012-04-04 22:04