I am working on a project where I need to run 12 different PHP files, every night. 11 of these files are pulling data, each from a different external site and reformatting it into an XML file, for my purposes. The 12th file, combines the 11 XML files into a master XML file.
I had originally had these combined into a single PHP file but, it was far too much and kept timing out. They work fine, separated as they are.
I'm on a GoDaddy shared hosting plan and started setting up cron jobs to run these files every night. However, GoDaddy limits you to 10 cron jobs total.
So, as an alternative, I placed a header redirect at the bottom of the first 10 files (obviously the last file doesn't need a redirect), to redirect to the next one and run it. This consolidates 11 cron jobs down to 1.
// On to the next
header('Location: http://www.domain.com/secondFile.php');
I did not realize, at the time, that header redirects only work in the browser, not in cron jobs. I'm getting a 302 Moved Temporarily message.
What other options do I have here? Are there redirects that will work in cron jobs?
Any info provided is appreciated.
Thanks to Barmar's help, I've got it working now. Posting the format here for anyone else having the same issue, on GoDaddy hosting.
generatexml.sh
#!/bin/sh
/web/cgi-bin/php5 /home/content/u/s/e/username/html/firstFile.php
/web/cgi-bin/php5 /home/content/u/s/e/username/html/secondFile.php
/web/cgi-bin/php5 /home/content/u/s/e/username/html/thirdFile.php
etc.
Run a single cron job containing a shell script to run each of the PHP scripts:
#!/bin/sh
php firstFile.php
php secondFile.php
...
run the script via your webserver and wget.
Related
To give a bit of background to my project first, I have a Wordpress website of which I have turned off the cron by tweaking the wp-config to:
define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true);
I then set up a cron to the wp-cron file on the server to call the file every minute and this has been working as expected and as I need it to.
I use a plugin called 'Wp-Crontrol' to set up my own cron calls on various functions within my functions file.
Memory Limit: 2048M
PHP max execution time: 2700
The Issue
I have one function in particular that takes a report from a remote source and loops through each line entering each line into the database using the $wpdb class. If i place the function on a php page and go to it the function works perfectly as expected and enters all 6900 rows into the database after some time.
The way I would like it to work is to run a cron on that function (like I do with so many other things with no problems) but the issue is that when I set it up via cron it only seems to insert around 3000 rows before it just stops with no errors logged?
I am struggling to work out why running it manually would work perfectly but a scheduled cron of the same function during the night would only do half the job and not finish, stopping half way through?
I have turned on all error logging I can think of but nothing shows?
WordPress "cron" jobs are not the same thing as a system cron job. For instance, unless you have a high traffic site, it's pretty much impossible to set a gaurenteed 60 second cron with WordPress. WordPress crons are activated when someone puts an HTTP request into the system. A system cron runs off a daemon that runs in system memory. They are just different concepts and work differently.
Issue was processing time but for some reason it would not flag at all in any error messages. After I thinned out long processes it started behaving as expected.
I faced very strange problem on my hosting.
I have script and it can be triggered using URL like this
https://mywebsite.com/script.php
I need this script to be executed one time in two days.
So I created Cron job just like my hosting provider advised me.
wget -O /dev/null -q 'https://mywebsite.com/script.php'
It uses wget because script requires some extra scripts - so my hosting provider said that I need to create task like this.
It worked fine for about a month but for few weeks I have a problem.
For some reason that I and my hosting provider can't understand when I run script by opening URI in browser - script executed fine (I know it because of emails that are sended in 4 different steps of execution). But when Cron execute this scripts it executes infinitely - so I continue to receive emails for numerous times until I rename script or delete it.
Script execution time is about 2-3 minutes. So when I run it from URL and wait till it finishes - I get error on the screen that time of request (60 sec) is over. But I know that scripts executes fine till the last step.
What is the problem?
Wget
I had the same problem at some point with a php based cronjob. The Problem was, that wget itself can have a timeout. If this timeout is reached, wget will try again and again.
Try to use some wget options to make sure it runs as you want it to run.
Example:
wget -O /dev/null --tries=1 --timeout=600 'https://mywebsite.com/script.php'
--tries tells how many times it will try to execute if a timeout appears.
--timeout specifies the max exec. time in seconds.
Those options can be specified at cronjob level as well.
PHP Cronjobs
If possible it will may be a betther choice to let PHP run your cronjob directly. If you know the servers php directory you could create a cronjob like
/usr/bin/php /srv/www/yousite/html/script.php
In this case you have no third party programm like wget to rely on. If this helps depends on how the cronjob is built. If your cronjobs uses $_SERVER variables for example, this would not work.
There are some settings you want to check, before you use any PHP file as cronjob.
Keep in mind that the php configuration set within the php.ini could also have an impact on unwanted errors on PHP Cronjobs in general. In the php.ini there is a value called "max_execution_time" where the max seconds to process a php request is defined.
An other setting you might want to get your eye on is the "memory_limit" wich is also defined within the php.ini configuration. This configuration defines the max. memory a php request can use. As your cronjob seems to run for 2-3 minutes, that could mean that maybe a lot of data is stored in memory while you use it.
Be aware, that any request uses those limits. If you set them to high it may will cause problems with CPU load on your server, or with too many spawned php processes.
If you have a shared hosting service or something similar, you may not be able to change any of those settings.
I have a windows pc with apache running, and I needed a php script to continuously run to listen to inputs coming from a UDP port, and take the required action and send it back.
The only way I know how to do this, is to install curl for cmd, and run the php script with a WHILE loop. What I am afraid is that this is the wrong way to do it.and may be unreliable and take up large amount of system resources.
Can people comment on the above method? I have heard of cron..but thats for unix only? What can I do?
Hey try this below solution.
Use a bat file and schedule to execute that bat file.
For example in the bat file executephp.bat, write this
c:\xampp\php\php.exe -f c:\xampp\htdocs\do_something.php
save that bat file that contains that line.
Go to windows scheduler and create a new task and in action tab, browse to point that executephp.bat and for start in -> direct to the directory u have that executephp.bat.
For example if u save the file under C:\xampp\htdocs put that C:\xampp\htdocs in the start in.
Remember to invoke the script even when the user is not logged on.
Everything is set and it will execute without problem.
A PHP script behind Apache will always have a maximum execution time, so the while-loop should always be stopped after the specific timeout.
You should better use cron or a batch script like Venkat recommended. There are some great services for cron out there, that will do a GET request to your server and run the script. Have a look at this related thread: Scheduled Request to my website from an external source
Doesn't that fit your needs?
I have a php file which pulls some data from external API's, and I want to schedule it to do so every few hours (or every few days). Some googleing led me to "scheduled tasks", but it seems I need to be running my own server to do it?
So far, all the PHP and MySQL I've done have been very simple form-filling, so I'm a little lost. Do I need to turn a computer into a server to do this, or should I look into hosts that allow you to run scripts? I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for.
Side-question: how would I be able to prevent someone else from running the PHP script (therefor making tons of API calls)?
How are you running the script now? Windows or Linux? Linux is a no-brainer with cron: on a PHP-enabled server simply drop the PHP script somewhere, edit the crontab and away you go!
Ex. for every 2 hours
0 */2 * * * /usr/local/bin/php /path/to/script.php
Edit Re: Mac
launchd is apparently the preferred method to run scheduled tasks but I understand that OS X has cron capabilities as well being a UNIX derivative.
If you have a reasonably busy web server, you can simply check every time how long it has been since the last time you ran the script. If more than two hours, run it.
Just make sure to update the time and run the script atomically so you don't launch several copies of the script. You can do this with a file that contains the last time the script was run that you lock while you check and update it.
cronjobs are made for it... You can check the Cron Jobs in cpanel..
I am assuming your website is launched in Linu environment
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-do-i-add-jobs-to-cron-under-linux-or-unix-oses/
http://man.cx/cron
You can find much more exlaination about the Background Process
http://www.fijiwebdesign.com/blog/create-a-background-process-on-the-server-with-php.html
I have some files on my server, how to open them programatically once a day?
Let them be
http://site.com/scripts/video.php
http://site.com/scripts/music.php
Without my hands, just like sheduling (automatically).
Even if I sleep and server is working, they should open on given time.
And additionally, how to open them once a 10 seconds (for tests)?
Thanks.
The Solution is very clear when you are using a Linux server;CRON JOBS.
One can easily run a cron job by configuring it through the terminal.I saw everyone has provided the Solution,but my answer will be for the people who are novice to Linux servers and don't know much about Cron Jobs.Go to Terminal and type the below commands..
root>which php
The above line will give you the path to where PHP is in your linux systems
Now,
root>crontab e
The above line will open the Cron file in edit mode.
Enter the number of times you want to run a particular php file and what time of the day,month,week,etc.
I am providing the syntex for running a particular file every 15 mins.
So here you go,
(write this in the cron file in edit mode)
*/15 * * * * path/to/your/php path/to/the/file/you/want/to/run
Now,path/to/your/php has to be replaced by the path what you got when you typed
root>which php
And you are done just save the file and close it.You will see a messege on you terminal that a new CronJob is installed.
That's it.
If you're on a Linux/Unix host using a cron job is generally the best approach, as you can simply call the command line version of PHP as a part of the cron job. (You may need to tweak your script if it relies on $_SERVER variables, that said.)
Administration middleware (such as Plesk) often offer the ability to add cron tasks as well, although you many need to check the user/group rights that such tasks are executed with.
Finally, if you use a cron task you can simply enter the required command via the command line during the testing phase. (i.e.: Rather than force a 10 second update (which would be tricky unless you had cron execute a shell script) you could execute the script as required.)
It's not possible with pure PHP. You'll need a cron job for this - ask your provider or administrator whether they are available.
Cron has a resolution of 1 minute, though: Calling a script once every 10 seconds would have to be done e.g. using a PHP script that gets called every minute, and makes six requests every ten seconds.
Running them once a day requires a seperate program running them.
For linux servers the usual choice is a Cron Job, for Windows the Task Sheduler works fine, too.