My host (blueangelhost.com) claims that I can't use the event scheduler because it takes up too many resources. I have access to cron jobs in cPanel, but I've tried and they don't seem to work.
So, my question: Is there any kind of efficient PHP code that will automatically truncate a MySQL table in a database?
Well, if it needs to be automatic, or at a specific time, not really. But you could have your website trigger the script when someone gets on it, here's the approach you could use:
On a script that is run on every page (header, menu,footer, layout):
Check in DB or file, the date of the last truncate;
If the date is yesterday, run the truncate;
Change DB or file and put current date;
This way, it will execute once a day. But never at the same time, and not if no one walks on your website for a whole day.
Related
I have to populate and update one of my MySql database table using a complex and expensive query, based on selection from other table's data. This table doesn't need to be always fully updated when i make a query on it, but i'd like to have a cyclic update every 5 minutes.
This automatic update should be infinite and i need to be sure that it never stops.
After some research, i've found some solution, but i don't know which is better for security and performance.
One of these could be my goal:
Don't create table and make complex query from php every time to get the desired result
Create a php script that repeats cyclically and update table db, maybe using Cron Job.
Update table using a sql event
I think that first solution could be to expensive since query is complex and there could be many request every second, but the result is always updated. I don't have experience about Cron Job, so i can't know if it could be a good idea or not. For the third solution, i still don't have database privileges to run events, but i'd like to know if it could be a valid solution.
All other solutions are welcome, thanks.
Do not use cron. Think about what will happen if one instance goes beyond 5 minutes and the next starts up. Eventually you will have hundreds of copies bogged down stumbling over each other.
Instead have a single job in a loop doing the update. (OK, you could have a cron job to perform a "keep-alive" task of restarting the query if it dies.)
The job would
CREATE TABLE new ...
INSERT INTO new SELECT complex-stuff...
RENAME TABLE real TO old, new TO real;
DROP TABLE old;
loop.
I would opt for Cron Job.
It doesn't clog any request, since it's executed from the operating system.
You can define which user executes the script (cron -u apache -e).
Easy to define interval. (i.e. every 5 minutes */5 * * * * php /path/to/script.php).
It's loggable.
Additional Notes
I had a cron job running under root and it worked just fine. My problem was that the project had a private logging mechanism that each log file would be created by apache user. By running it from root, sometimes the file would be created by root and after that, the scripts being executed by apache would not be able to APPEND to the log.
I also had an emailing script that would run once every 2 minutes that got stuck for 1h. Turns out, because of a bug in the application, an invalid email address (somethingwithoutatsign.com) was inserted into the database, which made the PHPMailer library throws errors. After that, I added a catch block that would send an email to me whenever an exception was thrown. Now, if the script stops running because of bad execution, I get to know right away.
Hello guys I need an advice with these situation :
For example I have a free classified posting website where in a user can post classified ads..
The ad would be listed on the website for a maximum of 30 days then on 31st day it will automatically be deleted on the database as well as the images on the server.. The question is :
$db_ad_tbl('id','user_id','title','description',timestamp);
What is the right approach for doing this?
Can anyone suggest tutorials/links that covers this the same situation?
Another approach that does not require cron is to use MySQL events. If you can come up with the correct query, you can set it as a recurring event. phpMyAdmin 4.0.x supports events handling from the interface.
See http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/events.html.
As Barmar has noted you should add a cronjob for this task. You can write a simple php script and then add it to your crontab with something like:
1 0 * * * php -f /path/to/file/clean.php
This means that the php file will be executed every day at midnight.
Just a few notes:
the file should not be in your web folder
you might want to do some tests and report errors by email(such as unable to connect to db)
If you build more of thees you should keep a list of them somewhere in case you switch servers(or the server dies)
if you use a config file(ex:to store your db connection details), you should make sure that it is accessible by the user that the cronjob works with.
Most hosting platforms allow for crontab editing and run them with the same user they run the web server so it should not be a problem.
There is really no other good solution to this then creating cron job. This is of course if you don't check the time stamp every time you get the data from the database.You can then delete it if it is bigger then the expiry data (DELETE FROM my_table WHERE timestamp>[Expiry Timestamp] ). This is of course risky, since you will have to include the timestamp every time you try a count, and risk storing everything forever if no expired resource is ever requested from the database.
I have no idea where to start with this one:
I have a database that stores postID and Date.
What I want to do is have my website auto delete all rows where Date is less than today. This script can't have any user input at all. No button clicks, nothing. The script must run every day at midnight.
I've been looking all over the place for something that does this and I've found absolutely nothing.
You can use PHP script and use cron job on your cpanel.
Example:
cronjobcommand.php
<?php
include 'your_db_connection';
mysql_query("DELETE FROM your_table_name WHERE Date < NOW()");
?>
I have attached a screenshot below for your more reference.
For those out there who are on a shared hosting, like 1and1's, and can't use cron, here are 2 alternatives :
mysql events enable you to place a time trigger on mysql, which will execute when you'll want, without having to be fired by any kind of user input
if you cannot create mysql events because you're on 1and1 :(, an alternative is to use webcron
You just need to tell webcron the url of the php script you'd like to be run, and they'll trigger it for you at the intervals you want
Why using cronjobs everyday?? Why not filter data on output. For example in your select check if post date equals today with adding a simple where:
SELECT * FROM `posts`
WHERE (DATE(`post_date`) = DATE(NOW()));
This way you're not required to do your database managements/cronjobs on any special time and it will be used just for database managements. Afterwards you can delete unnecessary data at any time using by mysql command like:
DELETE FROM `posts` WHERE (
DATE(`post_date`) < DATE(NOW())
)
Most hosts provide a cron(8) service that can execute commands at specific times. You use the crontab(1) program to manage the crontab(5) file the describes when to run which commands.
There's a lot of functionality available to you, but if you write a program (shell script, php script, C program, whatever) that runs the appropriate MySQL commands, you can call the program via cron(8) in an entirely hands-off fashion.
Run crontab -e to edit your current crontab(5) file. If none exists, hopefully you'll get one with a helpful header. If not, copy this:
# m h dom mon dow command
The columns indicate the minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week to execute commands. All the numbers in the columns are essentially ANDed together to decide when to run commands.
Thus, midnight every night would look like this:
0 0 * * * /path/to/executable
It's remarkably flexible, so put some time into the documentation, and you'll find many uses for it.
You should set cron job (scheduled tack.) for it.
A cron job is an automated program setup for Linux and Unix operating systems. It allows the user to execute several commands or functions at a specific time and date.
you have cron Job in your cpanel setup. first you need to make a php script with your logic for delete record after each date. take date from server and write script for delete.
then go to cron tab in your cpanel and do settings for time interval to run cron and give path of your php script file.
MySQL doesn't have a task scheduler. So you have to use the task scheduler of your Operating System (CRON under Linux), or to lunch a basic task checker sub-script during the script of the main page (on another page that is supposed to display the changing data).
is there any other option other than cron to schedule the running of a php backup script at a certain time?. I know you can use php itself to schedule things, but it will only fire if the site is getting traffic.
Are there any other options ?.
Thanks :-)
If you're talking about a database backup, then MySQL 5.1 and above has CREATE EVENT which can be used to trigger events (such as stored procedures that can dump table structure/data to file) at regular intervals or set times
Well, cron jobs is a solution. But not necessary in most cases.
If your script is doing something off the site (like sending an email or something), it must be a cron-job.
But...
I made a textbased rpg-game once where several actions were stored in the database waiting to get triggered at a specified time. I found out that it did not make any difference if the script fired at the time it should, or when the first person visiting the page after the time is beyond the timestamp. You could do these events before displaying the content of the page. (I used a file called monitor, to keep it simple).
Would you like to say more about your "event"?
Unless you feel like writing a daemon/service/etc., cron would be your best bet. If you need a job ran more often than minutely, use a lockfile solution and a looping script.
Well not really, Crons are your best bet.
Other than that call a script, and if certain parameters are met such as time elapsed then run the script.
How can I set up a program in which a certain piece of data for a user is updated every hour. One example I can give is Mafia Wars. When you obtain property, your money is incremented every set amount of time based on which property it is. I'm not asking to spit out code for me, but rather to guide me in the right direction for a solution. I tried looking into cron jobs, but that only runs a script on a set time. Different users are going to be using this, and they may have different times to update their information. So thus, cron jobs are not applicable here.
You could still have cron jobs, just lots of them (not one per user, but maybe one per minute).
Also, Mafia Wars strikes me as not very interactive, so it may be enough to just update the data (after the fact) when the user (or some other part of the system) next looks at it. So when you log in after 37 hours, you get all the updates for the last 37 hours retroactively applied. Cheap trick, but if there is no need for a consistent global view, that might work, too.
A solution that I came up with when wondering how to implement such a thing is that whenever the player saves the game, the game saves the current time. Then, when the player loads the game back up, it calculates how many minutes have passed and figures out how much money the game should give the player. Then, you could update the SQL database to reflect the changes.
Why do you dismiss cron jobs? Have a cron job that runs a script in short intervals. Within this script, include logic to check which specific updates on the database have to be done.
A cron job that runs something is your friend.
What that something is, is up to you. It could be a PHP script that runs some mysql queries or procedures, or it could straight mysql command from the command line.
Either way, Cron (and other similiar tools) are exactly the bill for these tasks. It's lightweight, on nearly every server in the land, lots of help avaliable for it, and it 99.9999% of the time, it just works!