Running a Shell Script as a Cronjob - shell

I have a written a shell script to automate a build process.
The script checksout some code from an SVN repo, compiles and builds the code before extracting the built binary files and storing these in a central location.
I can manually execute the script ./autobuild.sh and it runs perfectly. There are a few sudo commands executed throughout the script, but I echo the password through for the first sudo command and the password holds for the entire time:
echo mypassword! | sudo -S make clean
When I add executing the script as a crontab it fails to complete all the tasks. I've tried to add it as a cronjob for the normal and root users.
Running crontab -e on my normal user account, I want the script to run at ten past midnight every day:
10 0 * * * /home/username/autobuild.sh
Also running a 32-but Cent OS 7 install with all the latest updates installed.
Can anyone provide any suggestions as to why it might work manually but not when run through a cron?

Try this
10 0 * * * /bin/bash /home/username/autobuild.sh

Step 1. find bash path
:~# whereis bash
Output
bash: /usr/bin/bash
step 2. create sh file add the line on top replace with your bash path
#!/usr/bin/bash
step 3. Make the script executable with command chmod +x .
step 4. add cron like this in for every minute to test
crontab -e
*/1 * * * * /usr/bin/bash ~/backup.sh >>test.log

Related

Some commands not working in the script running from the crontab -e

I'm running a script from crontab in which I want to set the symbolic link for npx. It does some other things which are dependent on the npx command itself. Its running the script as expected on the giving time interval, but its giving me no result for command which npx or whereis npx. When I try to run the script from terminal directly these commands does generate the correct path.
Note that, crontab I'm using is under the root user privilege, i.e set with sudo crontab -e and verified with echoing whoami inside the script which generate 'root')
By default, crontab will run your cron jobs using sh which might be the reason you are getting no results.
Try to explicitly change the shell to your default shell by adjusting the crontab entry:
*/30 * * * * /bin/bash -c "/my_script.sh"
In this case I changed it to bash, you can change it to your desired shell.

How to configure crontab to run ec2-automate-backup.sh script

Hi guys am trying to automate the backup of snapshots for my ec2 volumes on Amazon. I am following the ec2-automate-backup script by Collin Johnson
If run the command on command line it is creating the snapshot (working):
ubuntu#linuxserver:/usr/local/ec2/scripts$ sudo ./ec2-automate-backup.sh -s tag -t "Backup,Values=true" -c ./cron-primer.sh -r "eu-west-1"
For testing purposes if i create a crontab its not working
0 10 * * * ubuntu /usr/local/ec2/scripts/ec2-automate-backup.sh -s tag -t "Backup,Values=true" -c /usr/local/ec2/scripts/cron-primer.sh -r "eu-west-1"
Where is my problem here am running the script on ubuntu 14.04 - Amazon?
In crontab file, to execute a shell script you can use one of the following approach:
1. Call the shell script direcly, i.e.
0 10 * * * /path/to/script.sh
where the script.sh should be made executable.
2. Execute the script by sh utility, i.e.
0 10 * * * sh /path/to/script.sh
here the script.sh need not be made executable.
Now, if in your case, you need to go to a specific path and then execute script, then :
Either provide the full path of the script in crontab file directly, or
Enclose the execution commands in other shell file, and execute the enclosing file from cron.
There are two possibilites:
You need root access to run the script. You can solve this by modifying root's crontab:
sudo crontab -e
See How to run a cron job using the sudo command
You need to be in the same directory as the script to execute it
0 10 * * * ubuntu cd /usr/local/ec2/scripts && ./ec2-automate-backup.sh -s tag -t "Backup,Values=true" -c ./cron-primer.sh -r "eu-west-1"
See What is the 'working directory' when cron executes a job

Crontab cannot execute openstack's commands

I'm using Crontab execute CLI in Openstack, I create a shell script for execute all command.
My shell work when using ./ to execute in root
./myfile.sh
But:
when I using crontab it not working
Command of Crontab: in root
crontab -e
*/1 * * * * ./myfile.sh
all commands in myfile.sh is working, BUT
Openstack CLI's Commands is not working
eg:in myfile.sh
1 echo "abc" > abc.txt
2 nova keypair-add --pub-key ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub key_1
3 echo "def" > def.txt
4 nova floating-ip-create ext_net
1 & 3 is work well, but
2 & 4 is not working
If you are using OpenStack you probably should have an openrc.sh file avilable that you can retrieve from your openstack dashboard. This script needs to be active to be able to use those commands, and that is an issue with crontab, it won't have this script active even if you run it in rc.local. If you have the rc file available in your shell do the following steps.
Open your shell script
paste the following command on top of the script: source /Path/nameOfRC.sh
Thats it
I have had the exact same issue with my script, and this solution worked for me.

Cron job does not start [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
CronJob not running
(19 answers)
Closed last month.
I have a cron job that I want to execute every 5 minutes:
0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55 * * * * /scr_temp/scheduleSpider.sh
In /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
The cron should execute a shell script:
#!/bin/sh
if [ ! -f "sync.txt" ]; then
touch "sync.txt"
chmod 777 /scr_temp
curl someLink
fi
That works fine from command line but not from cron. However the cron itself is startet but the script does not start.
I read about the path problem but I dont really understand it. I setup a cron that writes some env data to a file. This is the output:
HOME=/root
LOGNAME=root
PATH=/usr/bin:/bin
SHELL=/bin/sh
If I execute the env command in command line I get following output for PATH
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
What path do I have to set in my shell script?
Your $PATH is fine; leave it alone. On Ubuntu, all the commands you're invoking (touch, chmod, curl) are in /bin and/or /usr/bin.
How did you set up the cron job? Did you run crontab some-file as root?
It seems that /etc/crontab is the usual mechanism for running cron commands as root. On my Ubuntu system, sudo crontab -l says no crontab for root. Running crontab as root, as you would for any non-root account, should be ok, but you might consider using /etc/crontab instead. Note that it uses a different syntax than an ordinary crontab, as explained in the comments at the top of /etc/crontab:
$ head -5 /etc/crontab
# /etc/crontab: system-wide crontab
# Unlike any other crontab you don't have to run the `crontab'
# command to install the new version when you edit this file
# and files in /etc/cron.d. These files also have username fields,
# that none of the other crontabs do.
Run sudo crontab -l. Does it show your command?
Temporarily modify your script so it always produces some visible output. For example, add the following right after the #!/bin/sh:
echo "Running scheduleSpider.sh at \`date\`" >> /tmp/scheduleSpider.sh.log
and see what's in /tmp/scheduleSpider.sh.log after a few minutes. (You can set the command to run every minute so you don't have to wait as long for results.) If that works (it should), you can add more echo commands to your script to see in detail what it's doing.
It looks like your script is designed to run only once; it creates the sync.txt file to prevent it from running again. That could be the root (ahem) of your problem. What that your intent? Did you mean to delete sync.txt after running the command, and just forgot to do it?
root's home directory on Ubuntu is /root. The first time your script runs, it should create /root/sync.txt. Does that file exist? If so, how old is it?
Note that curl someLink (assuming someLink is a valid URL) will just dump the content from the specified link to standard output. Was that your intent (it will show up as e-mail to root? Or did you just not show us the entire command?
First: you can substitute the first field with */5 (see man 5 crontab)
Second: have cron mail the output to your email address by entering MAILTO=your#email.address in your crontab. If the script has any output, it'll be mailed. Instead of that, you may have a local mailbox in which you can find the cron output (usually $MAIL).
A better syntax for you CRON is
*/5 * * * * /scr_temp/scheduleSpider.sh
Also, check the authority of your scheduleSpider.sh file. Cron runs under a different user than the one you are likely executing your program interactively, so it may be that cron does not have authority. Try chmod 777 for now, just to check.
I suggest to:
check that /scr_temp/scheduleSpider.sh has executable bit
set PATH properly inside your script or use absolute path to command (/bin/touch instead of touch)
specify absolute path to sync.txt file (or calculate it relatively to script)
Have you added the comand via crontab -e or just by editing the crontab file? You should use crontab -e to get it correctly updated.
Set the working directory in the cron script, it probably doesn't execute the things where you think it should.
You should add /bin/sh before the absolute path of your script.
*/5 * * * * /bin/sh /scr_temp/scheduleSpider.sh

How do you run a crontab in Cygwin on Windows?

Some cygwin commands are .exe files, so you can run them with the standard Windows Scheduler, but others don't have an .exe extension so can't be run from DOS (it seems like).
For example I want updatedb to run nightly.
How do I make cron work?
You need to also install cygrunsrv so you can set cron up as a windows service, then run cron-config.
If you want the cron jobs to send email of any output you'll also need to install either exim or ssmtp (before running cron-config.)
See /usr/share/doc/Cygwin/cron-*.README for more details.
Regarding programs without a .exe extension, they are probably shell scripts of some type. If you look at the first line of the file you could see what program you need to use to run them (e.g., "#!/bin/sh"), so you could perhaps execute them from the windows scheduler by calling the shell program (e.g., "C:\cygwin\bin\sh.exe -l /my/cygwin/path/to/prog".)
You have two options:
Install cron as a windows service, using cygrunsrv:
cygrunsrv -I cron -p /usr/sbin/cron -a -n
net start cron
Note, in (very) old versions of cron you need to use -D instead of -n
The 'non .exe' files are probably bash scripts, so you can run them via the windows scheduler by invoking bash to run the script, e.g.:
C:\cygwin\bin\bash.exe -l -c "./full-path/to/script.sh"
hat tip http://linux.subogero.com/894/cron-on-cygwin/
Start the cygwin-setup and add the “cron” package from the “Admin” category.
We’ll run cron as a service by user SYSTEM. Poor SYSTEM therefore needs a home directory and a shell. The “/etc/passwd” file will define them.
$ mkdir /root
$ chown SYSTEM:root /root
$ mcedit /etc/passwd
SYSTEM:*:......:/root:/bin/bash
The start the service:
$ cron-config
Do you want to remove or reinstall it (yes/no) yes
Do you want to install the cron daemon as a service? (yes/no) yes
Enter the value of CYGWIN for the daemon: [ ] ntsec
Do you want the cron daemon to run as yourself? (yes/no) no
Do you want to start the cron daemon as a service now? (yes/no) yes
Local users can now define their scheduled tasks like this (crontab will start your favourite editor):
$ crontab -e # edit your user specific cron-table HOME=/home/foo
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:$PATH
# testing - one per line
* * * * * touch ~/cron
#reboot ~/foo.sh
45 11 * * * ~/lunch_message_to_mates.sh
Domain users: it does not work. Poor cron is unable to run scheduled tasks on behalf of domain users on the machine. But there is another way: cron also runs stuff found in the system level cron table in “/etc/crontab”. So insert your suff there, so that SYSTEM does it on its own behalf:
$ touch /etc/crontab
$ chown SYSTEM /etc/crontab
$ mcedit /etc/crontab
HOME=/root
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:$PATH
* * * * * SYSTEM touch ~/cron
#reboot SYSTEM rm -f /tmp/.ssh*
Finally a few words about crontab entries. They are either environment settings or scheduled commands. As seen above, on Cygwin it’s best to create a usable PATH. Home dir and shell are normally taken from “/etc/passwd”.
As to the columns of scheduled commands see the manual page.
If certain crontab entries do not run, the best diagnostic tool is this:
$ cronevents
Just wanted to add that the options to cron seem to have changed. Need to pass -n rather than -D.
cygrunsrv -I cron -p /usr/sbin/cron -a -n
Applied the instructions from this answer and it worked
Just to point out a more copy paste like answer ( because cygwin installation procedure is kind of anti-copy-paste wise implemented )
Click WinLogo button , type cmd.exe , right click it , choose "Start As Administrator". In cmd prompt:
cd <directory_where_i_forgot_the setup-x86_64.exe> cygwin installer:
set package_name=cygrunsrv cron
setup-x86_64.exe -n -q -s http://cygwin.mirror.constant.com -P %package_name%
Ensure the installer does not throw any errors in the prompt ... If it has - you probably have some cygwin binaries running or you are not an Windows admin, or some freaky bug ...
Now in cmd promt:
C:\cygwin64\bin\cygrunsrv.exe -I cron -p /usr/sbin/cron -a -D
or whatever full file path you might have to the cygrunsrv.exe and
start the cron as windows service in the cmd prompt
net start cron
Now in bash terminal run
crontab -e
set up you cron entry an example bellow:
#sync my gdrive each 10th minute
*/10 * * * * /home/Yordan/sync_gdrive.sh
# * * * * * command to be executed
# - - - - -
# | | | | |
# | | | | +- - - - day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday=0)
# | | | +- - - - - month (1 - 12)
# | | +- - - - - - day of month (1 - 31)
# | +- - - - - - - hour (0 - 23)
# +--------------- minute
I figured out how to get the Cygwin cron service running automatically when I logged on to Windows 7. Here's what worked for me:
Using Notepad, create file C:\cygwin\bin\Cygwin_launch_crontab_service_input.txt with content no on the first line and yes on the second line (without the quotes). These are your two responses to prompts for cron-config.
Create file C:\cygwin\Cygwin_launch_crontab_service.bat with content:
#echo off
C:
chdir C:\cygwin\bin
bash cron-config < Cygwin_launch_crontab_service_input.txt
Add a Shortcut to the following in the Windows Startup folder:
Cygwin_launch_crontab_service.bat
See http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1401-startup-programs-change.html if you need help on how to add to Startup. BTW, you can optionally add these in Startup if you would like:
Cygwin
XWin Server
The first one executes
C:\cygwin\Cygwin.bat
and the second one executes
C:\cygwin\bin\run.exe /usr/bin/bash.exe -l -c /usr/bin/startxwin.exe
The correct syntax to install cron in cygwin as Windows service is to pass -n as argument and not -D:
cygrunsrv --install cron --path /usr/sbin/cron --args -n
-D returns usage error when starting cron in cygwin:
$
$cygrunsrv --install cron --path /usr/sbin/cron --args -D
$cygrunsrv --start cron
cygrunsrv: Error starting a service: QueryServiceStatus: Win32 error 1062:
The service has not been started.
$cat /var/log/cron.log
cron: unknown option -- D
usage: /usr/sbin/cron [-n] [-x [ext,sch,proc,parc,load,misc,test,bit]]
$
Below page has a good explanation.
Installing & Configuring the Cygwin Cron Service in Windows:
https://www.davidjnice.com/cygwin_cron_service.html
P.S. I had to run Cygwin64 Terminal on my Windows 10 PC as administrator in order to install cron as Windows service.
Getting updatedb to work in cron on Cygwin -- debugging steps
1) Make sure cron is installed.
a) Type 'cron' tab tab and look for completion help.
You should see crontab.exe, cron-config, etc. If not install cron using setup.
2) Run cron-config. Be sure to read all the ways to diagnose cron.
3) Run crontab -e
a) Create a test entry of something simple, e.g.,
"* * * * * echo $HOME >> /tmp/mycron.log" and save it.
4) cat /tmp/mycron.log. Does it show cron environment variable HOME
every minute?
5) Is HOME correct? By default mine was /home/myusername; not what I wanted.
So, I added the entry
"HOME='/cygdrive/c/documents and settings/myusername'" to crontab.
6) Once assured the test entry works I moved on to 'updatedb' by
adding an entry in crontab.
7) Since updatedb is a script, errors of sed and find showed up in
my cron.log file. In the error line, the absolute path of sed referenced
an old version of sed.exe and not the one in /usr/bin. I tried changing my
cron PATH environment variable but because it was so long crontab
considered the (otherwise valid) change to be an error. I tried an
explicit much-shorter PATH command, including what I thought were the essential
WINDOWS paths but my cron.log file was empty. Eventually I left PATH alone and
replaced the old sed.exe in the other path with sed.exe from /usr/bin.
After that updatedb ran to completion. To reduce the number of
permission error lines I eventually ended up with this:
"# Run updatedb at 2:10am once per day skipping Sat and Sun'
"10 2 * * 1-5 /usr/bin/updatedb --localpaths='/cygdrive/c' --prunepaths='/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS'"
Notes: I ran cron-config several times throughout this process
to restart the cygwin cron daemon.

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