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anyone for cron?

 
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Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers anyone for cron?
# 8  
Old 12-11-2009
It'd probably be better to create just 1 script that downloads the data (take a look at wget or curl for that), and, afterwards if successful, uploads it to the other server (plain FTP or SCP are good for that). That way you only have to create 1 script, and can be sure that the second task (uploading) only runs if the first has been successful.

My suggestion on how to start this:
  1. Find out how to down- and upload the file(s) from the command line. No script, no automation, just get to know the commands
  2. Find out how to create a script that does that, as a first step of automation. Nothing fancy, just get to know the possible return codes in case something goes wrong (Hint: $? is very useful for that)
  3. Outline a program flow for a script that could handle most situations without outside help. That will be the start for your real script
  4. If you've got your script ready and tested, write the crontab entry
If you need help anywhere along the way, just come back and ask, we don't bite. And I don't think you'll have problems with either shell scripting or Perl, as PHP was "inspired" heavily by both.
# 9  
Old 12-11-2009
cheers for your explanation. i think i get it now. a cronjob is used to initiate a perl script. said perl script will be able to download a file from a server. another cronjob will initiate a second perl script that will upload the file i downloaded to the area of the remote server i want.

is that the crux of it?

cheers again for your help
# 10  
Old 12-11-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by buzzby

is that the crux of it?

cheers again for your help
You are always welcome..

Do scripting as per the explanations, and get back to us with the results. Cheers.
# 11  
Old 12-11-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by pludi
It'd probably be better to create just 1 script that downloads the data (take a look at wget or curl for that), and, afterwards if successful, uploads it to the other server (plain FTP or SCP are good for that). That way you only have to create 1 script, and can be sure that the second task (uploading) only runs if the first has been successful.

My suggestion on how to start this:
  1. Find out how to down- and upload the file(s) from the command line. No script, no automation, just get to know the commands
  2. Find out how to create a script that does that, as a first step of automation. Nothing fancy, just get to know the possible return codes in case something goes wrong (Hint: $? is very useful for that)
  3. Outline a program flow for a script that could handle most situations without outside help. That will be the start for your real script
  4. If you've got your script ready and tested, write the crontab entry
If you need help anywhere along the way, just come back and ask, we don't bite. And I don't think you'll have problems with either shell scripting or Perl, as PHP was "inspired" heavily by both.
ahhh....so u r saying that 1 script will download and upload? so a perl or shell script will handle the upload and download. a cronjob will initiate the perl script? there has to be sufficient time passed for the download to have happened. i was thinking 2 scripts and 2 cronjobs. hmmm...interesting for sure. it has to be automated tho right from the get go. thats y i thought cronjobs needed to be set for both. isnt that right?
# 12  
Old 12-11-2009
My main reasons for suggesting creating just 1 script for both up- and download:
  • Only 1 cronjob to set up and maintain
  • If the download didn't work, or the downloaded data didn't change you can exit the script, avoiding an unnecessary upload
  • With 2 scripts you'll have to allow enough time between the 2 jobs for the first to complete, and the uploading script has to have extra error handling in case there's no data to upload
# 13  
Old 12-12-2009
the next thing i am concerned about is where i store the 2 cronjob files. are they both stored in the same place? on our remote server there is the /etc dir where i have seen various cron dirs. i dont have a server on my local machine. how do i test to see if the download works? i take it a perl or cgi script will handle the actual download activation.
# 14  
Old 12-14-2009
i am a bit dubious about downloading files from one server and uploading them to another server without knowing where i am going to store the files. t he cronjob just schedules so i need to write a script that will connect with my ftp then upload various files to various destinations. i am not sure where i would store the files written to do this. the same thing needs to be done for downloading. through more research i have found a software called ScriptFTP. this allows me to create a sheduler for anything i want to download. i then creat an upload script and schedule that to upload what i want wherever i want. the user interface is something that really helps. unfortunately as i have stated before i am not an indepth out and out programmer so this sort of thing really helps. has anyone seen or used this before? (i am not selling scriptFTP, just looking for the best method.) i also need to be able to automate an extraction of a zip file. can perl also do this? once the file has been downloaded i need to extract it then upload it to a different server. whats the best way to go about that?
Last edited by buzzby; 12-14-2009 at 01:16 PM..
 
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