Cron not running when not logged in. Ubuntu Server

[lumleymedia]

Hey.

I have cron jobs running to update client activity every ten minutes and a dashboard update each day at 11am.

When there is a SSH connection into the server the scripts and cron jobs run fine.

However when I am not logged into said server via SSH the cron jobs do not run.

I have checked to ensure that the scripts are not in an encrypted home directory. Which they are not.

As a workaround I have a machine logged in 24/7 to ensure data updates. But I need to solve the issue.

Any pointers and tips on how to start resolving this issue?

Thanks,

Alan.

[Irithori]

Hi and welcome

There is no obvious connection between cronjobs and a ssh session.
- Do you maybe enable <whatever> ressorce in e.g. ~/.profile, ~/.bash_profile etc?
- Can you explain or show these cron scripts in CODE tags?
- Do the crons work, if you are logged in locally via direct access to the machine or an out-of-band mechanism?

[lumleymedia]

Well sorry the SSH was just to explain I am remoted into the machine so it is accessed. However direct local logon is not possible this server is one of the clients on my ESXi server.

Cron set-up:

# m h  dom mon dow   command
0 5 * * * /bin/sh /home/ubuntu/alan/removesuccess.sh
0 11 * * * /bin/sh /home/ubuntu/alan/dash.sh > success.txt
*/10 * * * * /bin/sh /var/www/tracker/tracker.sh
*/5 * * * * /bin/sh /home/ubuntu/alan/test.sh
5 11 * * * /bin/sh /home/ubuntu/alan/success.sh

[lumleymedia]

tracker.sh is as follows:

echo "Client Activity Tracker"
echo ""
#Version1 Alan Lumley
ruby /var/www/tracker/callGordon.rb
echo ""
touch tracking.txt
echo "Script completed" > tracking.txt

[lumleymedia]

Hi and welcome

There is no obvious connection between cronjobs and a ssh session.
- Do you maybe enable <whatever> ressorce in e.g. ~/.profile, ~/.bash_profile etc?
- Can you explain or show these cron scripts in CODE tags?
- Do the crons work, if you are logged in locally via direct access to the machine or an out-of-band mechanism?

No such luck then

[msohail]

Well sorry the SSH was just to explain I am remoted into the machine so it is accessed. However direct local logon is not possible this server is one of the clients on my ESXi server.

Cron set-up:

# m h  dom mon dow   command
0 5 * * * /bin/sh /home/ubuntu/alan/removesuccess.sh
0 11 * * * /bin/sh /home/ubuntu/alan/dash.sh > success.txt
*/10 * * * * /bin/sh /var/www/tracker/tracker.sh
*/5 * * * * /bin/sh /home/ubuntu/alan/test.sh
5 11 * * * /bin/sh /home/ubuntu/alan/success.sh

Change the file permission of all the above .sh scripts to 755. Next, login as "ubuntu" user and edit the crontab in the following fashion (only after making scripts with 755 permission)

0 5 * * * /home/ubuntu/alan/removesuccess.sh
or
0 5 * * * /home/ubuntu/alan/./removesuccess.sh (yes, ./removesuccess.sh at the end)

This will execute the script even if u logoff as ubuntu

Of course the cron will fail when u execute the 3rd cron job in your list unless ubuntu has permission over /var/www/tracker directory.

Hope this helps.

Jazak Allah
Sohail

[lumleymedia]

Change the file permission of all the above .sh scripts to 755. Next, login as "ubuntu" user and edit the crontab in the following fashion (only after making scripts with 755 permission)

0 5 * * * /home/ubuntu/alan/removesuccess.sh
or
0 5 * * * /home/ubuntu/alan/./removesuccess.sh (yes, ./removesuccess.sh at the end)

This will execute the script even if u logoff as ubuntu

Of course the cron will fail when u execute the 3rd cron job in your list unless ubuntu has permission over /var/www/tracker directory.

Hope this helps.

Jazak Allah
Sohail

Thanks Jazak, This is the root user account cron list.
Therefore the permissions are already present. The scripts run fine unless I am logged out.

The cron list I gave you was output from

sudo crontab -l

or

sudo -i
crontab -l

[msohail]

Thanks Jazak, This is the root user account cron list.
Therefore the permissions are already present. The scripts run fine unless I am logged out.

The cron list I gave you was output from

sudo crontab -l

or

sudo -i
crontab -l

Thanks lumlevmedia and the name is Sohail, not Jazak

Even if the cron jobs are from root user, I would still recommend you to change the file permissions of scripts to 755 and follow the cron job format i mentioned in my previous post.

Things should work out great.

Jazak Allah,
Sohail

[lumleymedia]

Thanks lumlevmedia and the name is Sohail, not Jazak

Even if the cron jobs are from root user, I would still recommend you to change the file permissions of scripts to 755 and follow the cron job format i mentioned in my previous post.

Things should work out great.

Jazak Allah,
Sohail

Hmmm made the minor changes and still without being connected the client tracker does not update

Really scratching my head with this one.