LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] cron in debian is not executing a script at the scheduled time

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cron in debian is not executing a script at the scheduled time

Hi there,

I'm new to the boards so I didn't know what is the appropriate place to post this in... if the place is wrong the mods can move the thread to its place...

anyhow, I purged arch linux from one of my vps'es and installed debian6. restored my configs and data and was up and running in no time, but...

I noticed that my cron is 'not' working as expected. what I mean by this is that it is working and executing my bash scripts but is not executing them at the time set... for example, this is what I have in my 'crontab -l':

Code:

┌─[06:37:49]-[root@gordon]-[/etc/nginx]

└─› crontab -l

@reboot echo "$(hostname)" | /usr/bin/mail -s "Server up" my@email.net



*/5  *  *  *  *  /root/bin/update_vnstat_db

# daily backup

#*/5  *  *  *  *  /usr/bin/strace /root/bin/bkpTool > /tmp/strace.cron.out

59  7  *  *  *  /usr/bin/bkpTool 2>&1 | mail -s "GORDON: Backup report => $(date)" my@email.net



#|  |  |  |  |  user command

#|  |  |  |  weekday (0-6) (Sunday=0)

#|  |  |  month (1-12)

#|  |  day (0-31)

#|  hour (0-23)

#minute (0-59)

Code:

┌─[07:25:40]-[root@gordon]-[/etc/nginx]

└─› ls -la /usr/bin/bkpTool

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7333 Sep  4 07:54 /usr/bin/bkpTool

Code:

┌─[07:26:39]-[root@gordon]-[/etc/nginx]

└─› ps aux | grep -v grep | grep cron

root      1006  0.0  0.1  3816  552 ?        Ss  Sep19  0:00 /usr/sbin/cron

Code:

┌─[07:26:48]-[root@gordon]-[/etc/nginx]

└─› grep bkpTool /var/log/cron.log

Sep 16 13:59:01 gordon /USR/SBIN/CRON[3375]: (root) CMD (/usr/bin/bkpTool 2>&1 | mail -s "GORDON: Backup report => $(date)"  my@email.net)

Sep 17 13:59:01 gordon /USR/SBIN/CRON[6841]: (root) CMD (/usr/bin/bkpTool 2>&1 | mail -s "GORDON: Backup report => $(date)"  my@email.net)

Sep 18 13:59:01 gordon /USR/SBIN/CRON[20892]: (root) CMD (/usr/bin/bkpTool 2>&1 | mail -s "GORDON: Backup report => $(date)" my@email.net)

Sep 19 13:59:01 gordon /USR/SBIN/CRON[30375]: (root) CMD (/usr/bin/bkpTool 2>&1 | mail -s "GORDON: Backup report => $(date)" my@email.net)

Code:

┌─[07:26:48]-[root@gordon]-[/etc/nginx]

└─› grep bkpTool /var/log/cron.log

Sep 16 13:59:01 gordon /USR/SBIN/CRON[3375]: (root) CMD (/usr/bin/bkpTool 2>&1 | mail -s "GORDON: Backup report => $(date)"  my@email.net)

Sep 17 13:59:01 gordon /USR/SBIN/CRON[6841]: (root) CMD (/usr/bin/bkpTool 2>&1 | mail -s "GORDON: Backup report => $(date)"  my@email.net)

Sep 18 13:59:01 gordon /USR/SBIN/CRON[20892]: (root) CMD (/usr/bin/bkpTool 2>&1 | mail -s "GORDON: Backup report => $(date)" my@email.net)

Sep 19 13:59:01 gordon /USR/SBIN/CRON[30375]: (root) CMD (/usr/bin/bkpTool 2>&1 | mail -s "GORDON: Backup report => $(date)" my@email.net)

how can this be? am I missing something? the cron executes the script at 01:59 PM instead of 7:59 AM...

if someone can just sched some light to me it would be great as I'm in a `while true` loop for more than an hour trying to figure this out with no success

thanks,

- d

What can be found int the subject of the mail sent by the cronjob? "GORDON: Backup report => $(date)"
I can only imagine some tricky timezone settings.

Hey, pan64 thanks for your prompt reply. Here's what the subject looks like:

Code:

GORDON: Backup report => Tue Sep 18 13:59:01 CEST 2012

I checked the time zone too but anyhow:

Code:

┌─[07:58:52]-[root@gordon]-[/etc/nginx]

└─› ls -la /etc/localtime 

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 Aug 27 08:43 /etc/localtime -> /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Skopje



┌─[07:58:53]-[root@gordon]-[/etc/nginx]

└─› date

Thu Sep 20 07:58:55 CEST 2012

have really no idea what's going on...

Hi educated,

You said that your script is executing but at different time. So, sure the problem is of time or time zone on your system.

I would try to compare the environment (that means you execute set in a cronjob, save the output and compare it with set executed in a normal shell)

i've put this to run with set -x

Code:

*/5 * * * * /usr/bin/bkpTool 2>&1 | mail -s "GORDON: Backup report => $(date)" e@mail.com

and am waiting to complete and then to compare them. anyhow, here's what the env used by the cron looks like:

Code:

*/1  *  *  *  *  env > /tmp/env.cron



┌─[08:15:50]-[root@gordon]-[~]

└─› cat /tmp/env.cron 

HOME=/root

LOGNAME=root

PATH=/usr/bin:/bin

LANG=en_US.UTF-8

SHELL=/bin/sh

PWD=/root

and what is the env of a normal shell?

here's the difference between them:

Code:

┌─[08:23:35]-[root@gordon]-[~]

└─› diff -u /tmp/env.cron /tmp/env.shell 

--- /tmp/env.cron        2012-09-20 08:12:01.000000000 +0200

+++ /tmp/env.shell        2012-09-20 08:12:47.000000000 +0200

@@ -1,6 +1,55 @@

+LESS_TERMCAP_mb=

+LESS_TERMCAP_md=

+LESS_TERMCAP_me=

+MAILTO=m@email.net

+SHELL=/bin/bash

+TERM=screen

+HISTSIZE=20000

+SSH_CLIENT=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX 43378 PORT

+LESS_TERMCAP_ue=

+SSH_TTY=/dev/pts/0

+USER=root

+TERMCAP=SC|screen|VT 100/ANSI X3.64 virtual terminal:\

+        :DO=\E[%dB:LE=\E[%dD:RI=\E[%dC:UP=\E[%dA:bs:bt=\E[Z:\

+        :cd=\E[J:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[J:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:ct=\E[3g:\

+        :do=^J:nd=\E[C:pt:rc=\E8:rs=\Ec:sc=\E7:st=\EH:up=\EM:\

+        :le=^H:bl=^G:cr=^M:it#8:ho=\E[H:nw=\EE:ta=^I:is=\E)0:\

+        :li#56:co#183:am:xn:xv:LP:sr=\EM:al=\E[L:AL=\E[%dL:\

+        :cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:dl=\E[M:DL=\E[%dM:dc=\E[P:DC=\E[%dP:\

+        :im=\E[4h:ei=\E[4l:mi:IC=\E[%d@:ks=\E[?1h\E=:\

+        :ke=\E[?1l\E>:vi=\E[?25l:ve=\E[34h\E[?25h:vs=\E[34l:\

+        :ti=\E[?1049h:te=\E[?1049l:us=\E[4m:ue=\E[24m:so=\E[3m:\

+        :se=\E[23m:mb=\E[5m:md=\E[1m:mr=\E[7m:me=\E[m:ms:\

+        :Co#8:pa#64:AF=\E[3%dm:AB=\E[4%dm:op=\E[39;49m:AX:\

+        :vb=\Eg:G0:as=\E(0:ae=\E(B:\

+        :ac=\140\140aaffggjjkkllmmnnooppqqrrssttuuvvwwxxyyzz{{||}}~~..--++,,hhII00:\

+        :po=\E[5i:pf=\E[4i:k0=\E[10~:k1=\EOP:k2=\EOQ:k3=\EOR:\

+        :k4=\EOS:k5=\E[15~:k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:\

+        :k9=\E[20~:k;=\E[21~:F1=\E[23~:F2=\E[24~:F3=\E[1;2P:\

+        :F4=\E[1;2Q:F5=\E[1;2R:F6=\E[1;2S:F7=\E[15;2~:\

+        :F8=\E[17;2~:F9=\E[18;2~:FA=\E[19;2~:kb=:K2=\EOE:\

+        :kB=\E[Z:kF=\E[1;2B:kR=\E[1;2A:*4=\E[3;2~:*7=\E[1;2F:\

+        :#2=\E[1;2H:#3=\E[2;2~:#4=\E[1;2D:%c=\E[6;2~:%e=\E[5;2~:\

+        :%i=\E[1;2C:kh=\E[1~:@1=\E[1~:kH=\E[4~:@7=\E[4~:\

+        :kN=\E[6~:kP=\E[5~:kI=\E[2~:kD=\E[3~:ku=\EOA:kd=\EOB:\

+        :kr=\EOC:kl=\EOD:km:

+LESS_TERMCAP_us=

+PATH=/root/bin:/root/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin

+MAIL=/var/mail/root

+STY=2018.ViruSzZ

+PWD=/etc/nginx

+EDITOR=vim

+LANG=en_US.UTF-8

+HISTCONTROL=ignoredups:ignorespace

 HOME=/root

+SHLVL=2

+SCREEN_CONF_DIR=/root/.screen/configs

 LOGNAME=root

-PATH=/usr/bin:/bin

-LANG=en_US.UTF-8

-SHELL=/bin/sh

-PWD=/root

+VISUAL=vim

+WINDOW=0

+SSH_CONNECTION=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX 43378 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX PORT

+LESS_TERMCAP_so=

+SCREEN_CONF=main

+LESS_TERMCAP_se=

+_=/usr/bin/env

+OLDPWD=/root

thanks,

ok, this is solved by running:

Code:

┌─[08:33:16]-[root@gordon]-[~]

└─› dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

don't know why as I just re-set the same settings I set before .... Europe/Skopje and to test it set the cron to run at 08:35 and it executed just fine....

marking this as [SOLVED] ... what a waste of time ... but still interesting ....

thank you all for your inputs.

take care,

- d

EDIT: Sorry, but how would I go editing the subject and appending [SOLVED] to it?
EDIT2: Ok, found it at the top-right ..... I'm kinda tired was working 3rd shift all night long ...