Cron Jobs

[vrepublik]

Hi, I'd like to run a PHP cron script: http://www.virtualrepublik.net/pages/cron.php, every day at 00:00 GMT but I have been having some problems with the commands to run the file.

Would you be able to give me a command example or set it up for me?

Regards

[callumacrae]

cPanel has a cron job manager. I would recommend running it at 23:59 or something slightly before then, because usually on a shared hosting company everyone runs their cron job at 00:00, so it can lag a bit. Not sure what it like on x10hosting, though.

[cybrax]

Regular Cron problems

1. the command string is wrong, there must be space between php and /home (/php /home/ = good , /php/home/ = wrong)

/usr/bin/php /home/your_username/public_html/some_folder/cron_job_script.php

2. the cron account has limited permissions, so not all functions are avaialable to a script such as mail()

3. you cannot run cron jobs every minute on the free accounts, I believe the lower limit is 15 minute intervals

Running cron jobs at minutes past the hour is also good practice as callummacrae suggested to avoid slowing the server up.

[callumacrae]

It doesn't really slow the server up - as a cron job runs, it is added to a big list of cron jobs which are then ran in order (as opposed to being ran all at the same time, which could take out the server). As 00:00 is so popular, your cron job could be added quite far down a huge list and so there will be a delay. I don't know how they're ordered (or collected, w/e), but my first guess would be by username - in which case "vrepublik" isn't a great username to have ;-)

Again though, I'm not sure, and I don't even know whether it applies on x10hosting.

[descalzo]

/usr/bin/php -q  /home/igor/public_html/pages/cron.php >>/home/igor/public_html/pages/cron_log.txt 2>&1

1. Replace 'igor' with your cPanel username

2. This logs any errors or output to cron_log.txt which helps with debugging, etc. By adding an echo command outputting the time/date will keep a record of the file running.

3. Depends on where you got the cron file, if you did not write it yourself. Some scripts require a special variable to be added to the URL when run from the web and these cron jobs need to be run using wget.