Howdy,

I am nearly tearing my hair out as Cron isn't running a script that should work.

I am interning for a company. Their rsyslog keeps track of traffic that gets past a firewall. It creates two files called pix.log and pix2.log. Every time something happens with the firewall, it adds to these files.

The files are getting a bit big after a while, so my employer wants a script to move the files everyday to another location, rename them with the date, restart rsyslog, and start anew.

I have never scripted anything in my life. So, after a few days of researching, I created this shell script.

This is the script currently

Code:

#!/bin/script

#stop rsyslog
sudo service rsyslog stop

#copy and move pix.log
cp /var/log/pix.log /run/media/root/2.1/2.1/"`date +%m-%d-%Y'_pix.log
mv /var/log/pix.log /run/media/root/2.253/2.1/"`date +%m-%d-%Y'_pix.log

#copy and move pix2.log
cp /var/log/pix2.log /run/media/root/2.1/2.253/"`date +%m-%d-%Y'_pix2.log
mv /var/log/pix2.log /run/media/root/2.253/2.253/"`date +%m-%d-%Y'_pix2.log

#start rsyslog
sudo service rsyslog start

If I run the script myself (as root user), it works great. It moves the files to where they need to be, renames them with the date, and rsyslog restarts. However, when I tell cron to do it, its wonky.

I set up cronttab as this (also as root user):

Code:

59 23 * * * /usr/sbin/pixmove.sh

I know cron is running the file because it says so in the cron.log. It moves and renames the files with the correct date, but pix.log and pix2.log is not created. I have to manually put in "service rsyslog restart" into terminal for them to be created again. When Cron runs the script, the script does not stop or start rsyslog. I tried deleting the first and last command and ending the script with "sudo service rsyslog restart". It works when I run the script, but not when Cron runs it.

I also tried creating a script just to run "service rsyslog restart" and have Cron run it one minute after the first script ran. When I execute it, it works. When Cron runs it, it does not.

I am the root user when doing all this. I tried moving the script to where the rsyslog file is located (maybe cron cant find it?) but no luck.

So my question is, how do I get cron to stop/start/restart rsyslog by itself? To my understanding, Cron is used to autoexecute programs, so I don't know why the script would run any differently (unless cron is not acting as the root user)

Moderator's Comments:

Please use code tags next time for your code and data.

Edit: Sorry about that mod. Its pretty much pasted everywhere to do so. Won't happen again