the last days I have researched about cron jobs. First I want to tell you abaout my problem.
I want to run a php script on my webserver every minute without loading the page. this php script inserts some data via yql. I read that cron is just working with unix/linux. my server runs on unix (wait for it). is it now possible for me to let my script run while sleeping in bed (computer off) just by the server side? do I got this all right? if yes, I also have to know how the path have to be look like in my command part in my schedule, because every example contents something like "* */1 * * * /usr/bin/wget http://www.example.com/cron.php", but why there is /usr/bin/wget in the path (that means, this cron is running just from my computer system not from the webserver) and how to put my schedule on the server and better where. my server have the root public_html where my index.php is inside. please give me an example of the schedule and how to fire my php data called "to_fire.php" that puts the data on my database via mysql.
I hope that some of you know what I exactly mean by own experience. im kinda confused by this command part and how to let it run from just the webserver and not my computer system.
thanks
wget is a unix command to visit a web URL. curl is another command working similarly. You could also use php path\to\script.php to run, as Gigawatt mentioned. There is no big difference from all of them
* */1 * * * is to set cron timing.
/usr/bin/wget is the location where wget on your server
Yes, once cron set, you can leave it alone. As long as server is living, the cron will run as scheduled. You can even set cron to send you an email, but that's no applicable to your case as running per min is to short.
Running cron per min seems not common. If you are doing something like realtime update, consider other solution.
Cron can be set on cPanel.
You need to config your cron script to accept request from same server only, to avoid others access this URL.
Some resource for cron
Configuring cron jobs in cPanel http://drupal.org/node/369267
Backup Databases using a cron http://wiki.lunarpages.com/Backup_Databases_using_a_cron
Configuring cron jobs using the cron command http://drupal.org/node/23714
Managing Cron Jobs with PHP http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/php/managing-cron-jobs-with-php-2/
Related
I'm new to PHP and web applications. I have PHP code which collects info, from 5 huge XML files provided by other websites into a private MySQL database.
These XML files are updated and changed over time, and I want my database to be refreshed every day at 3:00 AM.
Can I make the hosting server run the PHP code by itsself? How?
As Hobo Sapiens says:
Create a CRON Job
Put a shell script in one of these folders: /etc/cron.daily, /etc/cron.hourly, /etc/cron.monthly or /etc/cron.weekly based on how often you want the script to run.
The shell script should look something like this:
#!/bin/sh
php -q htdocs/file.php
For more specific timings take a look at How do I set up a Cron job?.
If you don't have SSH access to the server, you could also set up a cron job locally to ping the remote server using wget --spider or curl.
You can use CRON jobs. Cron will automate your commands on a specific time.
The software utility Cron is a time-based job scheduler in Unix-like computer operating systems.
Read more about CRON jobs
I was wondering how to make a php daemon script that runs one time at the day?
Do you know any good frameworks with benefits?
or is it just small code?
Thanks
I was wondering how to make a php deamon script that runs one time at
the day?
In order to do this, get familiar with cron jobs. A cron job is a function that gets executed by the server on a time interval. Usually you'd edit your "crontab" by executing crontab -e
Then, once inside, you'd write the interval you want, followed by the command.
Typically it looks like:
30 18 * * * rm /home/someuser/tmp/* > /home/someuser/cronlogs/clean_tmp_dir.log
Since its PHP, you can either a) run your php command as a php cli command, OR b) you can make the command get executed when a particular page is run... and just execute that in cron via a curl -X GET 'http://url/' (etc.)
Also, note that you can write all of your stuff in a shell script file and actually run that file as your cron command... that reduces line-item complexity
cron
Sorry I haven't closed this one.
I actually discovered that my host didn't allowed cron jobs running. So I found a relevant homepage that offer a free service to make a request for me when I needed. In my case, I have specified a url link that should be requested to my RESTful API each day.
The link is here and works like a charm :)
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.
is there a way to add a php script (file) in cron for running this script every ten minutes or at a scheduled time?
cause i want the user to be able to schedule when to send newsletter to a lot of emails he choses.
so i have to create a cron job from php to run a php file on that scheduled time.
is this possible if you have a shared web hosting environment (not vps)
If you script filename is news.php and in /home/user/news.php
crontab line seems like to be:
* * * * * php /home/user/news.php
If you want dont run this in every minute.
You can edit * with from left (m, h, dom, mon, dow)
But you cant do this if only you have same web hosting,
you must have access to shell or other way to configure
your crobtab file (maybe from your provider access panel)
But you can run crontab job on other server to run your news.php by the apache over http protocol. In this option your crontab job on remote server must run your script by the web. Eg. wget is a good option for it:
* * * * * wget http://www.yourdomain.com/dir/news.php
My advice is don't allow a PHP script invoked by Apache to alter the cron. That's got disaster written all over it. Normally cron is setup to require root permision. That can be changed but the point is that if your site does get hacked, giving an attacker the ability to modify your cron could be really really bad.
More to the point, it's not necesary. All you do is pick some granularity, say every minute or 5 minutes or 10 minutes. You say to the users that they can schedule it down to that level. Give them some options from every month to every 5 minutes. Whatever they choose, write it to the database.
Then run a different PHP script every 1, 5 or 10 minutes (whatever the minimum granularity is) and have it look at the database to see if there is anything to run, do or send out.
Yup It is possible but on shared hosting it will affect your as well as other websites on that host.
So if ur file is not called often by cron then it is ok to put cron on shared host, but if You have to call it often then it is not advisable, u can also be thrown out by your provider since nobody wants there site to under-perform because of other website.