php execute crontab script every 1 minute - php

as part of a php-slim web application, in my init.php file I require a Crontab.php which contains the following code:
<?php
// clears any existing crontab jobs first
exec("crontab -r");
$ctCommand = '"*/1 * * * * php ./ProcessCycleTimeData.php"';
exec("(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo " . $ctCommand . " ) | crontab -");
exec("crontab -l");
?>
When I run the commands manually, the job gets added and I can see it being recorded, however it doesn't seem to run. However, when I run php ./ProcessCycleTimeData.php it works fine. Any ideas where to troubleshoot this?
I'm looking into the error logs, and every minute I get the following log:
crontab: no crontab for daemon

You can use crontab -e to edit the crontab, this will open your default editor (generally vi if other is not set).
Edit the crontab for the user you need this script to run, and add a line as:
*/1 * * * * php ./ProcessCycleTimeData.php
This means
Every one minute
Note:
The PHP snippet you provide is trying to edit the crontab and add the above line. However it might be failing due lack of permission.

I managed to get it working. My solution was to check if the crontab was actually running by appending the crontab job with >>/tmp/auto-update.log 2>&1 which allowed me to further investigate the issue.
I found that the crontab was indeed running, but as a different user (hence why when I was manually calling crontab -e I could not see the job since I am calling it as my own username.
The crontab was also actually invoking my PHP script, where I could then find out the errors in the auto-update.log, which happened to be due to incorrectly stating the require paths.

Related

Setting up a Cron Job on CPanel to executes a PHP script

As implied in the title, the Cron Job is supposed to execute a php file (update.php, to be specific). The php file then writes to a csv file stored in the same directory.
I have the time set to * * * * * so that it executes every minute. The command is written as follows:
php -q /home//public_html/wallboard/update.php
I don't believe this is causing any errors, though it also doesn't seem to write to the CSV file. When I visit update.php in a browser, however, it executes and writes to the CSV file immediately. I'm not experienced with Cron Jobs and I'm sure there's an issue, but I don't know what exactly that issue is. Let me know if you have suggestions/questions. Any help is appreciated!
Current Command:
* * * * * usr/bin/php -q /home/<user>/public_html/wallboard/update.php
update.php:
<?php
include('lib/HelpDeskView.php');
include('lib/WallboardDisplay.php');
include('helpdesk.csv');
$helpdesk = new HelpDeskView();
$text="\r\ntest,test,test";
file_put_contents( "helpdesk.csv" , $text, FILE_APPEND);
Since your script resides in your public_html directory you can use wget for your Cron Job
wget -O - -q https://yoursite.com/wallboard/update.php
-O - output is written to the standard output in this case it will go to the email address you specify in CPanel
-q quiet mode
IMHO the best way is to contact support and ask them about command line syntax.
This is how I'm doing it at my linux server using cPanel.
This runs script.php which is stored in public root. Course, replace <username> in command line with your username.
At another server I'm using same command line with /usr/bin/php instead of php at the beginning of line, but I'm aware that not all servers use same command line. Some require php-cli in command line instead of php, some don't "like" -f argument, etc. So try various combinations.
To find more suggestions check out this SO topic too: Run a PHP file in a cron job using CPanel
Important thing: When trying different commands wait at least a minute (this case) to see if it works because Cron doesn't fire your script immediately.
Try to execute the same command in PHP CLI and check if it gives you any error, you might be missing some libraries or references required for CLI execution.
/usr/bin/php -d register_argc_argv=On /home/USERNAME/public_html/DOMAIN/artisan AMIR:HOME

Php Cron job not working, using crontab -e command

i want to set a cron job on a server but its not working. I know there are hundreds of links on web that shows how to setup a cron job but i cant seem to make it work. What im doing now is:
1) Running crontab -e.
Then it shows bunch of lines in the command line.
2) I go to the bottom and add */5 * * * * path/to/myfile.php
and then i exit the editor in command line. Please tell me whats wrong here. Do i need to put my file in a specific folder? or do i need to go to the desired folder and then use crontab -e, or something else. Please forgive me, this is my first cronjob, hoping to be better next time.
Here are the pictures of what im doing.
Did you restart the cron service after you updated the file?
Have you tried executing the php script from the command line first to verify that it's executing as expected? It might be that the cron task is executing but the script is failing. If the script is fine, you might want to try using php as a command followed by the path and filename of the php file and then quitting the execution after it's done with -q.
*/5 * * * * php path/to/myfile.php -q
The problem could well be that you are trying to execute a PHP file and your system is unaware of what to do with it.
Is your PHP file executable?
You can make it executable by running
$ chmod +x file.php
and if you add a shebang to it
#!/usr/bin/php
<?php
// ...
the PHP script can be executed by running
$ ./file.php
Alternatively, you need to run the PHP interpreter and pass it the path to the file as an argument.
$ php file.php
For reference, see:
http://php.net/manual/en/features.commandline.usage.php

Crontab not running

I've been having some issues with crontab recently. After switching servers, I realized none of my cronjobs are being run. After looking at PHP info, I realized php was run with CGI, so I realized I had to switch lynx -dump URL_HERE to php -q PATH_HERE.
In the actual PHP file, I stared it out like #!/usr/bin/php -q to define where php is located on my server. However, it's not getting run. I've even set up crontab to send me an email once anything runs. No email. I've checked my junk, trash, spam, and I've even tried switching emails. Nothing.
Here's what I have now: * * * * * php -q /home/USER/public_html/file.php.
If I copy & paste it into the command line, it works wonderfully. If I run it through crontab, it doesn't get run.
You are missing envrionment variables. Try a simple test like this
add this to your crontab
* * * * * set > /tmp/vars
wait 2 -3 minutes, go back and remove the crontab entry you just created.
Next,
From the shell command line you normally use
set > myvars
diff myvars /tmp/vars
This will show you the differEnce in envIrionment. Modify your cron job environment. Just add what is needed.
You can do a couple things in order to debug this.
1) In your crontab change your entry to:
* * * * * php -q /home/USER/public_html/file.php > /tmp/filecron 2>&1
Make sure you edit the entry by typing:
crontab -e
Then run:
tail -f /tmp/filecron
To debug the output as it runs.
2) As sudo user or root, tail the cron log to make sure your cron is executing properly:
sudo tail -f /var/log/cron
The first step will give you information related to the php file itself (syntax errors etc) if that is what is failing. The second step will help you out if the crontab itself is not configured properly.
You are intending this job to run every 5 minutes right ? This is what it will do with your stated line.

Run a php script with cron in mac

I am trying to run in mac a php script using cron. I want this php script to run every one minute. I read several sources online and from my understanding is better if I use launchd. In any case, I try to make it work with cron and then if it works fine I might try to use launchd.
So here is what I do:
I wrote this command in a txt file:
* * * * * /usr/bin/php /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/php_test/main_script.php
There I have the path to php (I found it with the "which php" command) and the path to my php script.
I named the txt file: crontasks.txt and I run it through terminal with this command:
crontab /Users/dkar/Desktop/crontasks.txt
When I list the crons (crontab -l) I see that this job is listed. But nothing comes as output every one minute. The output is supposed to be an image stored in a specified folder. What am I missing here?
Thanks in advance
D.
You might have a slight miscomprehension how crond processes the "crontab" files. It would suffice to run the command crontab -e, which would let you edit your personal crontab or you edit the system crontab.
If you use crontab -e it will open the default editor (vi/vim) and you can enter the line:
* * * * * /usr/bin/php /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/php_test/main_script.php
Then you simply save your file. If you want to use the system crontab you will have to edit it directly and enter the line. Additionally the system crontab has one more field for the username. Like this:
* * * * * /usr/bin/php root /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/php_test/main_script.php
On the next full minute your script will be executed by crond.

Crontab in Plesk

I'm trying to run a test script using crontab within Plesk. The php file simply emails me a message
mail('me#somewhere.com','Cron Test','Test');
My path to php is /user/bin/php
I have entered * in every field, to run the script every minute with the following command:
/usr/bin/php -q /usr/httpdocs/crontest.php
However, the script is not being run.
Can anyone help?
I'm probably missing something simple, I've never used cron before.
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks.
I would start by getting it to write to a log file. eg:
* * * * * /usr/bin/php -q /usr/httpdocs/crontest.php >> /a-location/crontest.log 2>&1
This will at least give you any obvious errors like not being able to find php etc.
I found that when using the user based cron in plesk, there are a number of issues:
first I found that you should reference the script from the virtual domain. If your script has an absolute address of /var/www/vhosts/domain.com/httpdocs/email-this.php, you should reference it as httpdocs/email-this.php in the crontab.
Second, the script has to have very particular permissions, but not sure what they "must be." apache:apache is all that ever worked for me. Even with the group write permission set, user still had to be apache... weird.
Third, the easiest way to do the testing was to edit the crontab directly instead of going back into plesk every time I needed to make a change... Edit your crontab like this:
crontab -u [filesystem-username] -e
Fourth, I could never get the crontab to write to a log file outside of httpdocs (I tried statistics/logs/cron_log every way I could think of... lol... no dice). I ended up just adding the MAILTO directive at the top of the crontab file during testing:
eg:
MAILTO=you#domain.com
## * * * * * php -q httpdocs/cron.php
Also see this if you have Plesk 10 or above: http://shaun.net/2011/09/solving-plesk-10-3-1-cron-issues/
I had to do this
/usr/local/psa/bin/server_pref -u -crontab-secure-shell "/bin/sh"
to get this (example) working: wget -O - http://www.yourdomain.com/cron.php

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