nothing seems to run from cron
 

Hello.
I am very new to linux. And please forgive me if I'm slow.
Taking over from administrator leaving.
Anyway.
For some reason the backup jobs are no longer running.
I have read some info. about cron and even wrote a script for testing.
It does not run either.
We're running an older version of Suse
From my research I've found a couple of commands to see if the job is running:
lptest:/var/log # ps -aux | grep "cron"
root 25433 0.0 0.0 1428 4 ? S 2007 0:00 /usr/sbin/cron
root 9163 0.0 0.0 1580 568 pts/0 S 10:00 0:00 grep cron

lptest:/var/log # ls -lut /usr/sbin/cron
---x--x--x 1 root root 22904 Apr 3 09:42 /usr/sbin/cron


lptest:/var/log # crontab -l
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - edit the master and reinstall.
# (/tmp/crontab.9681 installed on Wed Apr 2 13:13:33 2008)
# (Cron version -- $Id: crontab.c,v 2.13 1994/01/17 03:20:37 vixie Exp $)
0 3 * * * /usr/local/bin/db2backupwsc.sh
10 15 * * 1 /usr/local/bin/cleanupbk.sh
30 13* * * /usr/local/bin/commercebackup.sh
2 * * * * /usr/local/bin/funscript.sh > /usr/local/bin/funscript.log
lptest:/var/log #

In testing with my funscript.sh It only runs when I use the ./funscript.sh and not from cron. Any Ideas??

lptest:/var/log # ls -lut /usr/local/bin/funscript.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 25 Apr 2 11:51 /usr/local/bin/funscript.log
lptest:/var/log #


P.S. Please include the commands if possible in helping with my issue.

may be you must put that command /usr/local/bin/funscript.sh > /usr/local/bin/funscript.log in another file like ffff.sh and add it to cron.
but it think there must be a better way of doing things

Hi There,

Is this what you mean?

# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - edit the master and reinstall.
# (/tmp/crontab.11065 installed on Thu Apr 3 11:21:44 2008)
# (Cron version -- $Id: crontab.c,v 2.13 1994/01/17 03:20:37 vixie Exp $)
0 3 * * * /usr/local/bin/db2backupwsc.sh
10 15 * * 1 /usr/local/bin/cleanupbk.sh
30 13* * * /usr/local/bin/commercebackup.sh
2 * * * * /usr/local/bin/ffff.sh
lptest:/usr/local/bin #

ffff.sh
#!/bin/sh
#
#
# Fun script to say Hello. Just to see how crontab works.
#
SHELL=/bin/bash
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin

./funscript.sh >> /usr/local/bin/funscript.log

echo "hello Chris, you did it!"



It still has not updated the file every 2 minutes.

I'm really trying here guys. Again my apology for my lack of knowledge.

I think this says crontab has not been accessed since Jan22.

lptest:/usr/local/bin # ls -lut /etc/crontab
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 511 Jan 22 10:00 /etc/crontab
lptest:/usr/local/bin #


cron seems to be running so why has it not been accessed???
Should I reboot the server or is there a way to wake it up.
or
Can I kill it, but I have no idea how to start the cron deamon again.


lptest:/usr/local/bin # ps -el | grep "cron"
002 S 0 25433 1 0 75 0 - 357 schedu ? 00:00:00 cron
lptest:/usr/local/bin #


lptest:/usr/local/bin # ps -u root | grep 25433
25433 ? 00:00:00 cron
lptest:/usr/local/bin #

Try this :
In cron put the line

2 * * * * /usr/local/bin/funscript.sh

contents of /usr/local/bin/funscript.sh

/usr/bin/touch /usr/local/bin/funscript.dat

Make sure script has execute perms

If you want to specify the shell to use (usually a good idea, not that on my machine (openSUSE 10.2), the shell paths are:

prompt:>which sh

prompt:>/usr/bin/sh

prompt:>which bash
prompt:>/bin/bash

note that that's different to your /bin/sh invocation.
Use the 'which' cmd to check

If cron is running, but having a problem with your script(s), it'll normally email the crontab owner eg root with details,
so login as eg root and use the cmd
mailx

note also that cron has a minimal default env, so it's advisable to always specify complete paths to
cmds & files.
Here's a good cron tutorial: http://www.adminschoice.com/docs/cro...Crontab%20file

Thanks Chris.

I was away on Friday, so I will take a look at this today and let you know.

Hi Chris

I have done everything as root user.
Please check the permissions, I think they are OK.

Testing the command:
lptest:/usr/local/bin # /usr/bin/touch /usr/local/bin/funscript.dat
lptest:/usr/local/bin # ls -lut /usr/local/bin/funscript.dat
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2008-04-08 14:23 /usr/local/bin/funscript.dat

Running the command:
lptest:/usr/local/bin # ./funscript.sh
lptest:/usr/local/bin # ls -lut /usr/local/bin/funscript.dat
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2008-04-08 14:26 /usr/local/bin/funscript.dat

Testing the file was touched:
lptest:/usr/local/bin # date
Tue Apr 8 14:26:31 EDT 2008
lptest:/usr/local/bin # ls -lut /usr/local/bin/funscript.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 215 2008-04-08 14:26 /usr/local/bin/funscript.sh

Looking from sh and bash location:
lptest:/usr/local/bin # which sh
/bin/sh
lptest:/usr/local/bin # which bash
/bin/bash
lptest:/usr/local/bin #

Checking my Path:
lptest:/usr/local/bin # echo $PATH
/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/X11R6/bin
lptest:/usr/local/bin #

Cron:
lptest:/usr/local/bin # crontab -l
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - edit the master and reinstall.
# (/tmp/crontab.16260 installed on Mon Apr 7 10:10:43 2008)
# (Cron version -- $Id: crontab.c,v 2.13 1994/01/17 03:20:37 vixie Exp $)
0 3 * * * /usr/local/bin/db2backupwsc.sh
10 15 * * 1 /usr/local/bin/cleanupbk.sh
30 13* * * /usr/local/bin/commercebackup.sh
2 * * * * /usr/local/bin/funscript.sh
lptest:/usr/local/bin #


Checking if cron is running the job every 2 min:
lptest:/usr/local/bin # ls -lut /usr/local/bin/funscript.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 2008-04-08 14:26 /usr/local/bin/funscript.dat
lptest:/usr/local/bin #

Hi Chris,

One thing I did notice, is if I'm not in the /usr/local/bin directory I cannot run the ./funscript.sh So maybe the problem is my Path.
Do you think this could be the issue?


login as: root
root@192.168.0.30's password:
Last login: Tue Apr 8 13:11:42 2008 from chrisnew
lptest:~ # ./funscript.sh
-bash: ./funscript.sh: No such file or directory
lptest:~ #


Thanks
Christine.

depending on how you are editing the cron file, you might need to restart the crond service so that it re-reads the contab file.

if you use crontab -e to edit that will restart the crond service automatically IF you change the file.

If you are simply vi root (ie: roots crontab file) then you would need to restart the crond service:
service crond restart

Hi DotHQ
I missed your thread.
Yes, I use crontab -e when ever I modify the file.
Thank you, I didn't realize that it will restart when using this, so we've eliminated one possible issue.

Thanks