Cron Job in Root Directory

I am running OS 10.4.6 on a Mac G4 450MHz machine. Recently when I opened Activity Monitor I noticed a cron job showed up in the root directory that hadn't been there before. I know I can select the cron job and then click on the Inspect icon but the dialogue boxes that show up do not tell me anything about the cron job except statistics having to do with CPU or memory usage. How do I find out what the cron job is and what it does? Is having a cron job in the root directory normal for 10.4.6? If it's not supposed to be there, how do I get rid of it?
Thanks for your help.
G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6) 450MHz with 768MB of RAM

David,
I think you are seeing the cron daemon. Not a "cron job". The cron daemon is started during the boot process. Cron then reads /etc/crontab. Crontab list "jobs" to be run and at what time. As of Tiger cron has been demoted and launchd handles running "jobs". Cron is still started at boot time but does nothing. It runs for backwards compatibility. There's nothing to get rid of- just leave it alone.

Similar Messages

Use of JOBS folder under root directory

Hi,
We have Backup, Binn, DATA, Install, JOBS, Log, repldata directories under the instance root directory, as of now I heard the JOBS directory is used for jobs information, but I never see any jobs related information is captured under JOBS, Can someone please
explain the purpose of this directory and what kind of jobs information stored here if any.
Thanks & Regards,
Kasi

It is just a default directory that SQL installation creates. It is not being used in the latest SQL versions (you can rename it and restart SQLAgent without any problems). However, in SQL 2000, it used to maintain a registry key called working directory
for this path and SQLAgent was dependent on this folder even though it is just a default directory (I haven't seen any usage of it though)
Satish Kartan http://www.sqlfood.com/

User cron jobs won't run without home directory

I have a situation where the users are defined through ldap without home directories, but our application creates cron jobs for these users. If a home directory is defined, the cron jobs run. If no home directory is defined, the cron jobs will not run. Is there a way to configure cron to use a global home directory, instead of the user's home directory?
Kevin

The crontab man page says that cron changes to the users home
directory and then sets up some simple environment and run sh.
it also talks about /etc/cron.d/cron.allow
So it looks like those users need to be given a home directory
like /tmp , but you need to think about the implication, are the accounts locked to stop logins
truss -fpl $(pgrep cron)
might show you what it is doing.
it also talks about /etc/cron.d/cron.allow do you have such a file?
tim

Are all Cron Jobs run by Root?

OS : Sun OS 5.10
I have scheduled an RMAN backup script which had only one line like
rman target .............I logged in as os user oracle and ran this script without any issue. But when i scheduled this job to run, it didn't work.
I got the error
/u05/bkp_scripts/rman-level0_WM.sh: rman: not foundThe shell couldn't find rman binary in PATH. Everything worked when i explicitly set ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_SID, PATH in the shell script.
Does this mean a cron jobs scheduled by OS User oracle will still won't work unless you set set ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_SID, PATH in the shell script?
Are cron jobs handled by root user regardless of who scheduled it?

ExpansiveMind wrote:
OS : Sun OS 5.10
I have scheduled an RMAN backup script which had only one line like
rman target .............I logged in as os user oracle and ran this script without any issue. But when i scheduled this job to run, it didn't work.
I got the error
/u05/bkp_scripts/rman-level0_WM.sh: rman: not foundThe shell couldn't find rman binary in PATH. Everything worked when i explicitly set ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_SID, PATH in the shell script.
Does this mean a cron jobs scheduled by OS User oracle will still won't work unless you set set ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_SID, PATH in the shell script?
cron does not execute the user's .profile. You must guarantee your environment by setting it inside the script.
Are cron jobs handled by root user regardless of who scheduled it?NO! root should NEVER be used for Oracle tasks. root should never be used for anything that can be done by another account.

Should I use the built in log rolling function on iWS 6 or roll my own using a cron job using stop and start scripts in the web server instance root?

Hi,
You can use either OS cron job based log rotation
OR
Internal daemon log rotation.
It is recommeded to use OS cron job log rotation.
OS=Operating System
Regards,
Dakshin.
Developer Technical Support
Sun Microsystems
http://www.sun.com/developers/support.

How to take the cron job log in HP UX?

Hi,
How to take the cron job log in HP UX
I need to run a backup and other stuff everyday. How do I check and start cron service under HP-UX UNIX operating system? How do I write cron jobs?
A. Cron service is required to run jobs and tasks such as backup.
You must login as the root to run following commands. Each user that is using the cron service must have a cron configuration file in the /var/spool/cron/crontab directory. Also users are permitted if their name appeared in /var/adm/cron/cron.allow file
Task: Find out if cron is running under HP-UX
Type the following command at a shell prompt
# ps -ef | grep cron
Open /etc/rc.config.d/cron file
vi /etc/rc.config.d/cron
Set control variable to 1 to enable cron: CRON=1
Set control variable to 0 to disable: CRON=0
Close and save the file. To start or stop cron you can type the following command:
# /sbin/init.d/cron start <-- start cron
# /sbin/init.d/cron stop <-- stop cron
Task: HP-UX Start cron service
If cron is not running, simply type:
# cron
Task: Edit / create cron jobs
Type the following command to submit a cron job:
# crontab -e
List your cron file:
# crontab -l
Backup all your cron jobs:
# crontab -l > ~/backup.cron.jobs
Remove ALL cron job:
# crontab -r
Task: Crontab file format
Cron file format is as follows:
MIN HOUR DATE MONTH DAY /PATH/TO/COMMAND
0-59 0-23 1-31 1-12 0-6 /root/scripts/backup2tape.shEasy to remember crontab file format:
* * * * * command to be executed
| | | | |
| | | | ----- Day of week (0 - 7) (Sunday=0 or 7)
| | | ------- Month (1 - 12)
| | --------- Day of month (1 - 31)
| ----------- Hour (0 - 23)
------------- Minute (0 - 59)To run /root/script/backup at 23:00, every day, enter:
# crontab -e
Append following
0 23 * * * /root/script/backupRun foo job very weekday (MON-Fri) at 6am, enter:
0 6 * * 1-5 /root/script/backupFor more information refer to cron and crontab man pages.
Subscribe to our free e-mail newsletter or RSS feed to get all updates. You can Email this page to a friend.
Related Other Helpful FAQs:
What is Cron?
Linux Start and stop the cron or crond service
Run crontab Every 10 Minutes
Linux / UNIX Setup and run php script as a cron job
Stop Ubuntu / Debian Linux From Deleting /tmp Files on Boot
Discussion on This FAQDavid Says:
January 15th, 2008 at 12:21 am
You might note that all files normally found in /etc/init.d, /etc/rc*.d, and others are all in /sbin in HP-UX 10.20 and up.
Note too that your formatting is off in the description of the /etc/rc.config.d/cron file. Also, if you run /usr/bin/cron instead of /sbin/init.d/cron start, the /etc/rc.config.d/cron file is not used.
Regards,
Satya

I guess it would :)
btw, how did this piece miss from the contents pasted by the OP ?
The doc has given all details of CRON and missed where to see the logfiles. :)
****Added****
I tried man crontab in windows, i dont see it.i overlook most of the things, i would have done the same ;)
Edited by: Bobcatalog on Oct 23, 2008 9:40 AM

Cron jobs on Sun Solaris 5.10

Hi,
Following are the details of my Sun box:
SunOS ocmdf2 5.10 Generic_118833-33 sun4u sparc SUNW,Sun-Fire-V490
I am trying to set up cron job entries using the crontab file. I have copied over my crontab file from the HP-UX machine over to this Sun machine.
I have registered the file with the cron system by running the "crontab crontab.txt" command where contab.txt contains all my cron job entries. After doing so, I noticed that non of the cron jobs are getting executed. One of the cron job is given below for reference:
0 6 * * 2,3,4,5,6 . /usr/local/bin/all_roots > /dev/null 2>&1 ; ksh $TF_FEED_SRC/generate_feed_contents.com standard_feed > $TF_FEED_LOG/standard_feed.cron.log 2>&1
The above cron job entry runs fine on the HP-UX machine, but not on the Sun machine.
Following is the modified version of the above job for the Sun machine.
0 6 * * 2,3,4,5,6 (/usr/bin/ksh ". .profile ; cd /tapes/gen_scripts ; generate_feed_contents.com standard_feed > /tapes/logs/standard_feed.cron.log 2>&1")
Note that in the above modified job, the env variables like TF_FEED_SRC and TF_FEED_LOG are replaced with the actual paths and quotes and parenthesis are used.
Can somebody please advise on:
1) Why the original cron job does not run?
2) What should I do to make the original cron job run?
3) What makes the modified cron job runs?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Regards,
Shiv

ShivkumarSoni wrote:
From the above shown email, it is clear that the shell used by cron is sh and not ksh. May be this is the reason why the /usr/local/bin/all_roots script is not able to run properly and due to this the
environment variables are not getting set.That's exactly correct. From the crontab man page:
     The shell is invoked from your $HOME directory with an arg0
     of sh. Users who desire to have their .profile executed must
     explicitly do so in the crontab file. cron supplies a
     default environment for every shell, defining HOME, LOGNAME,
     SHELL(=/bin/sh), TZ, and PATH. The default PATH for user
     cron jobs is /usr/bin; while root cron jobs default to
     /usr/sbin:/usr/bin. The default PATH can   be   set   in
     /etc/default/cron; see cron(1M).
Can anyone help to understand what is going on here and how to fix it?Set the variables before running the program
Method 1) set in the crontab
* * * * * VAR=value /path/to/script --option=$VAR
Method 2) use a wrapper script
* * * * * /path/to/wrapper
While cron will use /bin/sh to run the line, there's nothing that keeps the wrapper script from being anything in particular (such as a ksh script).
Darren

Cron job not running - script uses rsync, ssh (with id_rsa)

Does anyone know how to get cron to run a rsync/ssh script which uses id_rsa for passwordless logins?
I have a backup script I have slaved for months over that works wonderfully when running it from the command line.
It uses rsync and connects with SSH (passwordless using ssh keys). I have setup id_rsa and id_rsa.pub for passwordless logins (this is my user account, and connects using root@ to the server)
As stated all works find when run from the command line. But when I setup a cron job to run this file (exact same line I run from the command line) it does not execute. Actually, it does run, as I have an email notifiction which sends to me. It is just the rsync/ssh part that does not run.
I have spent days and days trying to figure it out. No error messages occur, nothing. Took me a while to find out cron is emailing the user account on Lion the messages (not to a proper email address).
The error shows a permission denied, which I believe to be the cron user cannot use the id_rsa/ssh connection.
Cron is running the script as my user, the same I use on the command line. I even tried copying the id_rsa to the root user .ssh folder in case cron is running as root but that does not work either.
So does anyone know how to get cron to run this rsync/ssh script which used id_rsa for passwordless logins?
Thanks a lot

YES! Got it working, finally!
So the issue is indeed cron/launchd not being able to access the ssh-agent which holds the key.
So this is the solution...
Download keychain for Mac:
http://www.funtoo.org/wiki/Keychain
Then once its installed and configured, the script to run needs this added to the top:
eval `keychain --noask --eval id_rsa` || exit 1
Note I am using id_rsa whereas keychains instructions refer to id_dsa so I just changed it and it works OK.
When the script runs the first time it asks for the key password. Then it works from then on.
What I do not know yet is will I need to re-enter the password when I logoff/logon again. That will cause an issue as I auto restart the Mac every day which means if I am off for a few days backup will stop (can you see the madness in this issue!).

Cron job help- Need to run the Autobuddy command every night...

I have not written anything in the form of a Unix script for YEARS and YEARS. Our XServe was built in Advanced mode, currently running 10.5.4 Server. On this box, we are running Wiki and iChat. Since we built this box as an Advanced box the "Autobuddy" option was not available.
I have since enabled it at the command line, but I am told by Apple that there still needs to be a command run after every time a user logs in if you want others to Autobuddy. That command is this:
"sudo /usr/bin/jabber_autobuddy -m"
Now I think this would be pretty easy to setup as an automatic cron script, but like I said, I have not written something like this in forever. Not to mention, I am not 100% sure what needs to happen since running the script with an sudo command will prompt for the root password.
I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me write the script up, and give me some instructions on how to install it. I just want it run everyday, midnight is fine, I don't really care. All I know is that we have a dept of 150 people, and it grows and shrinks all the time. They can deal with a new user not being seen for 24-48 hours, I just want to get this automated.
Any helps would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks
Tom

If you want to keep it simple try [CronniX|http://www.abstracture.de/projects-en/cronnix] a graphical tool for setting up CRON jobs on OSX. Whilst I have not actually done an autobuuddy in this way, I cannot see any reason why it will not run as a Cron Job.
The proper way ideally would be to use the launchd service.
Something like this should work:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>org.jabber.dailyautobuddy</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/usr/bin/jabber_autobuddy</string>
<string>-m</string>
</array>
<key>LowPriorityIO</key>
<true/>
<key><UserName></key>
<string>admin</string>
<key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
<dict>
<key>Hour</key>
<integer>0</integer>
<key>Minute</key>
<integer>05</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
</plist>
(not sure why, but tabs are not showing up, making this hard to read)
Message was edited by: Tim Harris

Cron jobs not running

Hi
I am using linux 5.x
uname -r
2.6.18-348.16.1.0.1.el5PAE
I have 2 crontab jobs set up as following .
cat backup_confluence.sh
#!/bin/bash
# bash shell script to backup confluence backups to bccpfr
# Schedule this script after the backups are performed that day
# Setup the environment for the bourne-again shell
. ./.bash_profile
# Copy the daily backups for confluence
find /usr/share/confluence/data/backups -mtime -1 \! -type d -exec ls {} \; -exec scp {} bccpfr:/usr/backup/confluence \;
second
cat backup_jira.sh
#!/bin/bash
# bash shell script to backup jira backups to bccpfr
# Schedule this script after the backups are performed that day
# Setup the environment for the bourne-again shell
. ./.bash_profile
# Copy the daily backups for jira
find /usr/share/jira/backups -mtime -1 \! -type d -exec ls {} \; -exec scp {} bccpfr:/usr/backup/jira \;
cron as following
$ crontab -l
13 06 * * * /home/lsg/backup_jira.sh
18 06 * * * /home/lsg/backup_confluence.sh
Issue
Both the above .sh are running properly when executed manually but they are not running automatically at the given time crontab job.
Kindly help me on this issue.
many thanks
J

Is your crontask not running at all or is the scheduled task failing?
Hey Tommy I sent you some replies yesterday; don't know what happened to them. Yes I can see that crond runs every ten minutes. Also when I created the crontab file using the command you sent here I could see that it was running every minute by looking at root mail in /var/log.
Do you have execute permission set on the scripts?
Yes
Any info in /var/log/messages or e-mail?
Output from mail-
From root@razorback Tue Feb 11 08:19:01 2014
Return-Path: <root@razorback>
Received: from razorback (localhost [127.0.0.1])
    by razorback (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id s1BEJ154018231
    for <root@razorback>; Tue, 11 Feb 2014 08:19:01 -0600
Received: (from root@localhost)
    by razorback (8.13.8/8.13.8/Submit) id s1BEJ1rh018198;
    Tue, 11 Feb 2014 08:19:01 -0600
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 08:19:01 -0600
Message-Id: <201402111419.s1BEJ1rh018198@razorback>
From: root@razorback (Cron Daemon)
To: root@razorback
Subject: Cron <root@razorback> $(date) >> /tmp/cronout
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Auto-Submitted: auto-generated
X-Cron-Env: <SHELL=/bin/sh>
X-Cron-Env: <HOME=/root>
X-Cron-Env: <PATH=/usr/bin:/bin>
X-Cron-Env: <LOGNAME=root>
X-Cron-Env: <USER=root>
/bin/sh: Tue: command not found
From root@razorback Tue Feb 11 08:20:02 2014
Return-Path: <root@razorback>
Received: from razorback (localhost [127.0.0.1])
    by razorback (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id s1BEK2BD018267
    for <root@razorback>; Tue, 11 Feb 2014 08:20:02 -0600
Received: (from root@localhost)
    by razorback (8.13.8/8.13.8/Submit) id s1BEK1mT018238;
    Tue, 11 Feb 2014 08:20:01 -0600
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 08:20:01 -0600
Message-Id: <201402111420.s1BEK1mT018238@razorback>
From: root@razorback (Cron Daemon)
To: root@razorback
Subject: Cron <root@razorback> $(date) >> /tmp/cronout
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Auto-Submitted: auto-generated
X-Cron-Env: <SHELL=/bin/sh>
X-Cron-Env: <HOME=/root>
X-Cron-Env: <PATH=/usr/bin:/bin>
X-Cron-Env: <LOGNAME=root>
X-Cron-Env: <USER=root>
/bin/sh: Tue: command not found

Fail to save a Cron job (SOLVED)

I can't save a new cron job in my system. I use
crontab -e
or
export VISUAL=gedit && crontab -e
to add a new job. These commands open a /tmp/crontab.XXXX file that after saving, cron jobs are NOT updated!
It's too strange to me* !
I run
nano -w /var/spool/cron/root
and the cron job is listed now by
crontab -l
Why I can't save cron jobs directly from crontab -e?
( I have read the vi man pages :-) )
* I am newbie, just one month Linux user with 3 distro succesfully installed

osigen wrote:Ooops! VI is complicated editor.
Thanks anyway!
Its a great editor once you learn to use it
here's some usesfull documentation on the commands:
http://www.fprintf.net/vimCheatSheet.html

Integrating a Applescript in to a CRON job, possible? How to?

Is it possible to set up a cron so a script runs every day (if the machine is on) triggered by the cron.
If so I like some instructions as to what to write in the cron to trigger the script. and should I safe the script as run only for it to work?
thanks

Sorry for the delay but found myself unexpectedly on a operation table with 2 people cutting in to my hand. all is well and learning for now to type with 5 + 1 fingers till all recovers and we return to 5+5 .
It does not work, I use CroniX to set up the job.
When I schedule it it does not run. I have (scheduled to run every 30 minutes past the hour like this - 30 * * * *) with this command:
usr/bin/osascript "/Users/861user/Desktop/Alarm-Mail-Ical scripts/System/ Shut Down Failure make 3 pics and send.scpt"
alternative is:
usr/bin/osascript /"/Users/861user/Desktop/Alarm-Mail-Ical scripts/System/ Shut Down Failure make 3 pics and send.scpt"
Result ditto. I tried it as a user cron and a root cron, same result.
when I use the 'Run Now' button in CroniX it works (both variations. Without the " before and after the path as suggested it does not run. So me puzzled, any ideas?

Help Please : Cron Job to automate load process

Hi
I am trying to automate data load process. I am loading data into a number of tables from flat files.
Currently I have a UNIX (SunOS) file with a bunch of SQLLDR commands and I changed permission on this file to executable. Every morning I execute this file to load data.
Now I want to automate this process by writing a cron job and scheduling it. I am running into a number of problems. I exported ORACLE_SID, ORACLE_HOME and PATH still cron is unable to find SQLLDR.
Whatelse am I missing. Here is my command file and cron file.
Please help!?!?!?
ORAENV VARiables
export ORACLE_HOME=/export/opt/oracle/product/8.1.6
export ORACLE_SID=fid1
export PATH=$PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/bin
.profile
. $HOME/oraenv
daily_full.sql file
export ORACLE_SID ORACLE_HOME PATH
sqlldr userid=user/pwd control=acct.ctl log=acct.log
sqlldr .......
Cron Job
16 11 * * 1-5 /apps/fire/data/loadscripts/daily_full.sql >> /apps/fire/data/loadscripts/fulllog.log 2>&1
Output fulllog.log file
/apps/fire/data/loadscripts/daily_full.sql: sqlldr: not found
/apps/fire/data/loadscripts/daily_full.sql: sqlldr: not found
Thanks
Shanthi

Hi Ramayanapu,
first; you have written a shell-script not an sql-script. Please rename your file from daily_full.sql to daily_full.sh
I suggest that you use the cronjob from a user who has the enviroment with the variables ORACLE_SID and ORACLE_HOME.
In this case cron will operate from the $HOME variable of this user.
Perhaps your export will destroy the .kshrc setting. The statement has no effect in your script, please remove it.
Rename your sqlldr-Statement as follows;
$ORACLE_HOME/bin/sqlldr userid=user/pwd control=<path>acct.ctl log=acct.log
<path> will placed with the path of your controlfile.
Your user/pwd will correspond with a ORACLE user who has the right to insert in the destination table.
Your logfile will be place in the %HOME directory.
Hope that i could help to solve your problems
with kind regards
Hans-Peter

Cron job error

I get this message in my local mail:
Subject: fcron <systab@morgana> /usr/sbin/run-cron /etc/cron.daily
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:02:47 +0200 (EET)
From: [email protected] (fcron)
Status: R
col: Invalid or incomplete multibyte or wide character
it's an error in one of cron.daily scripts. the only cron jobs were installed by packages:
[root@morgana ~]# ls -l /etc/cron.daily/
total 20
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 51 Sep 28 08:52 logrotate
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 807 Jun 4 2011 man-db
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 115 Sep 10 03:42 pkgfile
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 96 Dec 4 03:13 shadow
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 654 Apr 9 2011 updatedb
I'm quite sure that man-db is having troubles. Also, I replaced default cron with fcron, same thing happens (I like fcron more anyway). Maybe it's locale related? I use en_US.UTF-8 in rc.conf and uk keymap. locale.gen only has the defaults, en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 & en_US ISO-8859-1.
I have no idea what's wrong. Any ideas please? Thanks

It appears one of your scripts is corrupt. Try running it through iconv to see if there is a bad byte sequence.
$ iconv < /etc/cron.daily/man-db > /dev/null

Cron job status

Hi All
I had configured 1 cron job (in Unix and script is also in unix ) long back. But presently I dont know this job is running or not? Please suggest how to look this cron job is running or not?
Please help me out..
Thanks,
Siva

Hello Siva
ps -ef|grep cron
If it won't work - try to look for your cron
# crontab -l
or the other solution :
configure a mail for the scripts in the cron tab. hope this will solve your problem.
# Purpose : To email to India, Hyderabad Backup Adminl
if [ "$fbackup_status" = "0" ]
then
mail_file="/tmp/root/online.results"
echo "Backup Completed Successfully, Return Code: $fbackup_status" >> $mail_file
mt -f /dev/rmt/0m offline
else
     if [ "$fbackup_status" = "4" ]
     then
          mail_file="/tmp/root/online.results"
          echo "Backup Completed with Warnings, Return Code: $fbackup_status" >> $mail_file
          mt -t /dev/rmt/0m offline
     else
          mail_file="/tmp/root/online.results"
          echo "\n Backup [ FAIL ], Return Code: $fbackup_status" >> $mail_file
     fi
fi
for mail in [email protected]
do
mailx -s "aperp1 Backup Report" $mail < $mail_file
done
# remember to include this in your script
Cheers
Ravi
http://ravidba-oracle.blogspot.com/

Cron Job in Root Directory

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for