Script fails to run properly when run from CRONTAB


 
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# 1  
Old 01-04-2014
Wrench Script fails to run properly when run from CRONTAB

Hello all,

I'm trying to write a script to gather and send data and it works just fine at the bash command line, but when executing from CRON, it does not run properly.

My scripting skills are pretty limited and there's probably a better way, but as I said it works at the command line, but not from cron. Through troubleshooting I have found that this line
#Execute the 'report' portion of nbdeployutil and send output to a file.
/bin/echo `$mail_report` > /tmp/nbdeployutil_temp_rpt.out


isn't actually executing the $mail_report variable (which is just a string of text) and updating a temp file, so the rest of the script doesn't work. Any thoughts on why this isn't working through cron? I've checked the environment and it seems ok. I even tried to have cron run it with bash -c "scriptname.sh" and behavior did not change.

This is on a solaris 10 system, but I am also running the same script on SuSe 11 and it is behaving in exactly the same way.

Thanks for the help.
# 2  
Old 01-04-2014
CRON runs scripts in a minimal environment, where most variables etc. are not set. Either set them in your script, or source your and/or the system's .profiles.
# 3  
Old 01-04-2014
Here is cron env:
Code:
HOME=/
LOGNAME=root
PATH=/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
SHELL=/usr/bin/sh
TZ=UTC


Here is my env when I run the script successfully:
Code:
SHELL=/bin/sh
TERM=vt100
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/etc/emc/rsa/cst/lib
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin::/opt/sfw:/opt/sfw/bin:/usr/openv/netbackup/bin:/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/goodies:/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd:/usr/openv/volmgr/bin:/opt/EMCpower/bin:/etc/emc/bin:/etc
PWD=/
EDITOR=vi
HOME=/
SHLVL=2
LOGNAME=root
_=/bin/env


Last edited by bartus11; 01-04-2014 at 02:11 PM.. Reason: Please use code tags.
# 4  
Old 01-04-2014
Look at the PATH variables. What be the contents of mail_report, and where is it set?
# 5  
Old 01-04-2014
Path doesn't matter as I am using full path anyway. This is a script for NetBackup (enterprise backup application) to run a command to gather data. The command (nbdeployutil) is a two step command. You run it first for it to gather the data and then again to generate a report. I wish I could just run it once, but it doesn't have that feature. Here is my whole script.

Code:
#!/bin/bash

#This script runs the NBU NBDEPLOYUTIL command
#to generate capacity based output in the
#form of Front End (or Protected Data) Terrabytes per site.
#This script works with NBU version 6.5.x


usermail=(users email address goes here)
hostname=`hostname`
date=`date +%m%d%Y`

#Execute the NBU nbdeployutil command and send output to a file as this command
#is a two-part command. 
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/nbdeployutil --gather | /bin/grep nbdeployutil > /tmp/nbdeployutil_temp.out

#Set the mail_report variable by grepping out the command to run from the temp file
mail_report=`/bin/grep report /tmp/nbdeployutil_temp.out | /bin/cut -d':' -f2`

#Execute the 'report' portion of nbdeployutil and send output to a file.
/bin/echo `$mail_report` > /tmp/nbdeployutil_temp_rpt.out

#Pull the proper information out of the temp file.
mail_report=$(/bin/cat /tmp/nbdeployutil_temp_rpt.out | /bin/awk '{print $15}')

#Mail the file to the specified users.
(/bin/uuencode "$mail_report" "$mail_report") | /bin/mailx -s "$hostname NBDEPLOY $date" $usermail
exit 0

Again, it seems to fail to execute this line properly when run from cron.
Code:
/bin/echo `$mail_report` > /tmp/nbdeployutil_temp_rpt.out

The only thing special about this is that it is executing a variable. I'm open to better ways to do this if it works. If i knew perl that would probably be that better way ;(.
# 6  
Old 01-04-2014
The evaluated string in backticks is run as a command.
Instead put it in quotes
Code:
echo "$mail_report"

This User Gave Thanks to MadeInGermany For This Post:
# 7  
Old 01-04-2014
Are you sure the script posted does run correctly when invoked interactively? The backticks will try to execute the contents of mail_report, whatever it contains, and will probably fail, printing an error msg. Again: what is the contents of mail_report?
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