03-23-2006
If your UNIX maintains a PPID variable in the environment then this will point to cron:
# echo $PPID
86838
# ps -fp 23266
UID PID PPID C STIME TTY TIME CMD
root 23266 1 0 03 Jan - 1:37 /usr/sbin/cron
If not then (a lot looser), you could look at the TERM variable. THis is usually 'dumb' for cron whereas users will have a real terminal type; like vt220, wy50 etc.
cheers
10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting
1. Shell Programming and Scripting
I'm puzzled by this one. I hope you can explain it to me.
I have a ksh shell script that gzips a file among other things. This works perfectly fine when the script is manually run through a shell. However, when the same script is run through cron, it does everything correctly, but it will... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: hbau419
2 Replies
2. Shell Programming and Scripting
Hello expert,
What I want is to determine whether the script is called from CRON or it is executed interactively?
I tried the following but no luck:
#!/bin/ksh
cronID=`pgrep -x cron`
GPID=`ps -ef -o ppid,pid | grep " $PPID$" | awk '{print $1}'`
if ; then
echo I am being run... (15 Replies)
Discussion started by: wes_brooks
15 Replies
3. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users
Although there are many threads on this forum regarding cron, none have specifically answered my question. So hopefully someone can shed some light on what I'm doing wrong..
I have a perl script that I want to run in a cron job. Since I've read that cron doesn't have any environments set, I... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: man
3 Replies
4. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers
Hello evreyone,
this is my first post, and to say i'm new to this is an understatement.
I know very little about perl scripts and hope some one can help me.
i'm looking to get a script that a cron job can execute.
what the script needs to to is
1) connect to a mysql database
2) go to a... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: Exader
2 Replies
5. Shell Programming and Scripting
Hi,
i have an autosys job 'AUTJOBA' that calls a script script1.sh
Now, inside the script i would like to know the autosys job that kicked off this script.
When AUTJOBA runs script1.sh, will it set an environmental variable for this shell session that can be accessed within this script?
... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: ysrinu
1 Replies
6. Shell Programming and Scripting
Hello,
I have the following script which works fine when ran from the command line:
#!/apps/python/2.3.4/bin/python
import os
import sys
import time
user = os.getenv("USER")
string = time.strftime("%m%d%y0000 " + user, time.gmtime())
However, when I have this run by crontab, I... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: cooldude
4 Replies
7. Shell Programming and Scripting
I am trying to get the string containing date - in a specfic format actually, although I think that part is inconsequencial - 1110226^1110226^1110226^1110226^1110226 - through echo or printf or in some other way - created within a cront job and passed as a parameter to a perl script.
Now, I know... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: v8625
3 Replies
8. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers
Hi All,
I am calling a series of shell scripts via CRON so everything is running as root. However, in my error log file I am seeing the following errors. Please can anyone offer any advise as to the possible causes and solution to prevent the errors from appearing.
The Error 1227 seems to... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: daveu7
2 Replies
9. Shell Programming and Scripting
Hi,
My shell script not getting called through cron job.
The same works fine when executed manually.
I tried to generate logs to find if the scripts has some errors related to path using following command- trying to execute .sh file every 5 mins:
*/5 * * * * /home/myfolder/abc.sh... (17 Replies)
Discussion started by: Dejavu20
17 Replies
10. Shell Programming and Scripting
Hello all,
I have a question regarding the difference betwen cron and command line.
What I would like to do is to print a statement into a logfile if a script has been executed from cron or from command line.
It should be as:
#!/bin/bash
if <Check if this script has been... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: API
3 Replies
LEARN ABOUT OPENDARWIN
cron
cron(1M) System Administration Commands cron(1M)
NAME
cron - clock daemon
SYNOPSIS
/usr/sbin/cron
DESCRIPTION
cron starts a process that executes commands at specified dates and times.
You can specify regularly scheduled commands to cron according to instructions found in crontab files in the directory
/var/spool/cron/crontabs. Users can submit their own crontab file using the crontab(1) command. Commands which are to be executed only once
can be submitted using the at(1) command.
cron only examines crontab or at command files during its own process initialization phase and when the crontab or at command is run. This
reduces the overhead of checking for new or changed files at regularly scheduled intervals.
As cron never exits, it should be executed only once. This is done routinely by way of the svc:/system/cron:default service. The file
/etc/cron.d/FIFO file is used as a lock file to prevent the execution of more than one instance of cron.
cron captures the output of the job's stdout and stderr streams, and, if it is not empty, mails the output to the user. If the job does not
produce output, no mail is sent to the user. An exception is if the job is an at(1) job and the -m option was specified when the job was
submitted.
cron and at jobs are not executed if your account is locked. Jobs and processses execute. The shadow(4) file defines which accounts are not
locked and will have their jobs and processes executed.
Setting cron Jobs Across Timezones
The timezone of the cron daemon sets the system-wide timezone for cron entries. This, in turn, is by set by default system-wide using
/etc/default/init.
If some form of daylight savings or summer/winter time is in effect, then jobs scheduled during the switchover period could be executed
once, twice, or not at all.
Setting cron Defaults
To keep a log of all actions taken by cron, you must specify CRONLOG=YES in the /etc/default/cron file. If you specify CRONLOG=NO, no log-
ging is done. Keeping the log is a user configurable option since cron usually creates huge log files.
You can specify the PATH for user cron jobs by using PATH= in /etc/default/cron. You can set the PATH for root cron jobs using SUPATH= in
/etc/default/cron. Carefully consider the security implications of setting PATH and SUPATH.
Example /etc/default/cron file:
CRONLOG=YES
PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/ucb:
This example enables logging and sets the default PATH used by non-root jobs to /usr/bin:/usr/ucb:. Root jobs continue to use
/usr/sbin:/usr/bin.
The cron log file is periodically rotated by logadm(1M).
FILES
/etc/cron.d Main cron directory
/etc/cron.d/FIFO Lock file
/etc/default/cron cron default settings file
/var/cron/log cron history information
/var/spool/cron Spool area
/etc/cron.d/queuedefs Queue description file for at, batch, and cron
/etc/logadm.conf Configuration file for logadm
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Availability |SUNWcsu |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO
svcs(1), at(1), crontab(1), sh(1), logadm(1M), svcadm(1M), queuedefs(4), shadow(4), attributes(5), smf(5)
NOTES
The cron service is managed by the service management facility, smf(5), under the service identifier:
svc:/system/cron:default
Administrative actions on this service, such as enabling, disabling, or requesting restart, can be performed using svcadm(1M). The ser-
vice's status can be queried using the svcs(1) command.
DIAGNOSTICS
A history of all actions taken by cron is stored in /var/cron/log and possibly in /var/cron/olog.
SunOS 5.10 5 Aug 2004 cron(1M)