Setting up cron tabs

Discussion in 'Site & Server Administration' started by olli460, Jan 14, 2009.

  1. #1
    Hello,

    Ive got a page that i was to update every 24 hours so i tryed to setup a cron tab in direct admin but it never seems to execute i was wondering if anyone had any ideas about what i can do to make this work.

    This is what im currently using
    
    1	*	*	*	*	/home/username/domains/domain.com/public_html/update_link_hits.php
    
    Code (markup):
    the reason i added 1 there is just to test if it work work at all but it dosent work, ive left it for over 48 hours.

    Thanks
    Olli460
     
    olli460, Jan 14, 2009 IP
  2. HSH

    HSH Peon

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    #2
    Since when can you run a php script from a command line? PHP is a server-side scripting language, and I am pretty sure it has to be run from inside a browser.
    You can get a text based browser like elinks and do it that way maybe..




    From: http://www.adminschoice.com/docs/crontab.htm


    Crontab - Quick reference
    Setting up cronjobs in Unix and Solaris

    cron is a unix, solaris utility that allows tasks to be automatically run in the background at regular intervals by the cron daemon. These tasks are often termed as cron jobs in unix , solaris.
    Crontab (CRON TABle) is a file which contains the schedule of cron entries to be run and at specified times.

    Following points sum up the crontab functionality :
    1. Crontab Restrictions
    2. Crontab Commands
    3. Crontab file - syntax
    4. Crontab Example
    5. Crontab Environment
    6. Disable Email
    7. Generate log file for crontab activity
    8. Next Steps

    1. Crontab Restrictions
    ____________
    You can execute crontab if your name appears in the file /usr/lib/cron/cron.allow. If that file does not exist, you can use
    crontab if your name does not appear in the file /usr/lib/cron/cron.deny.
    If only cron.deny exists and is empty, all users can use crontab. If neither file exists, only the root user can use crontab. The allow/deny files consist of one user name per line.


    2. Crontab Commands
    __________
    export EDITOR=vi ;to specify a editor to open crontab file.

    crontab -e Edit your crontab file, or create one if it doesn't already exist.
    crontab -l Display your crontab file.
    crontab -r Remove your crontab file.
    crontab -v Display the last time you edited your crontab file. (This option is only available on a few systems.)


    3. Crontab file
    ___________
    Crontab syntax :-
    A crontab file has five fields for specifying day , date and time followed by the command to be run at that interval.
    * * * * * command to be executed
    - - - - -
    | | | | |
    | | | | +----- day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday=0)
    | | | +------- month (1 - 12)
    | | +--------- day of month (1 - 31)
    | +----------- hour (0 - 23)
    +------------- min (0 - 59)


    * in the value field above means all legal values as in braces for that column.
    The value column can have a * or a list of elements separated by commas. An element is either a number in the ranges shown above or two numbers in the range separated by a hyphen (meaning an inclusive range).

    Note: The specification of days can be made in two fields: month day and weekday. If both are specified in an entry, they are cumulative meaning both of the entries will get executed .

    4. Crontab Example
    _______

    A line in crontab file like below removes the tmp files from /home/someuser/tmp each day at 6:30 PM.

    30 18 * * * rm /home/someuser/tmp/*
     
    HSH, Jan 14, 2009 IP
  3. olli460

    olli460 Peon

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    #3
    So is there no way i can get the Cron tab to run the PHP file and reset all the hits?
     
    olli460, Jan 14, 2009 IP
  4. HSH

    HSH Peon

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    #4
    Try this from the command line:
    php -v

    if the first line reads
    PHP 5.2.6 (cli) (built: May 8 2008 10:23:54)

    then you have the command line interface (cli) installed and you can just do:

    php /home/username/domains/domain.com/public_html/update_link_hits.php

    If not you may have to locate php-cli and execute that instead.
    Then your cron should read:

    00 0 * * * php /home/username/domains/domain.com/public_html/update_link_hits.php

    and it will run every day at midnight.
     
    HSH, Jan 14, 2009 IP
  5. olli460

    olli460 Peon

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    #5
    Hello,

    Ive ran

    php /home/username/domains/domain.com/public_html/update_link_hits.php

    It didn't give any confirmation or error does that mean it will now update every day at midnight?

    ive added the cron to the list so i assume it will run at mid night now

    Regards
     
    olli460, Jan 15, 2009 IP