CRON configuration

Bigbug

Hi, I'm a little new to all this, "I know but I don't know scenario…"

here is how i set up my IT flow installation:

I bought an Ubuntu 22.04 VPS in OVHcloud
logged in with SSH
ran the installation scripts

Now, I went and set up email smtp settings but couldn't get it to work. then I saw something about "CRON" I assume it's some kind of manual file creating/editing work.

But how do I get to do this? the only thing I got from OVH is a BLACK BOX WITH A BLINKING CURSOR :-)

PLEASE HELP🙏.

wrongecho

Hey @Bigbug

Yes, you need to manually setup a few Cron jobs for things to take place in the background.

ITFlow docs: https://docs.itflow.org/cron

Background info on Cron:

https://www.adminschoice.com/crontab-quick-reference

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-cron-to-automate-tasks-ubuntu-1804

Bigbug

So, it's basically like task scheduler in windows, yea?

wrongecho

Bigbug

Yeah it's essentially the Linux equivalent

Bigbug

Is it possible to push this into an ITFlow update, so I won't have to do it manually?

wrongecho

It may be possible to add it to the install script at some point in the future.

We don't currently have a functionality to allow ITFlow to run commands that alter the system state, especially as root. This probably isn't something we'd add.

ITFlow is intended for System Administrators. It's assumed that you are comfortable with basic command line work 🙂. The links provided should cover what you need.

Bigbug

Thank you, I got the concept of CRON after reading the content of your links

I'm not new to CLI, but when it comes to Linux I'm new.

Thanks again🙏

johnny

@Bigbug Actually the cron scripts are already setup be default if you installed via script. This quite new and was added sometime in late august.

Just make sure Cron is enabled in setting > Alerts in ITFlow

Bigbug

johnny what do you mean with "the cron scripts are already setup be default"?
did it actually put in those values in the crontab?
for example:
0 2 * * * php /var/www/itflow.example.com/cron.php examplekeyexamplekeyexamplekey

* * * * * php /var/www/itflow.example.com/cron_ticket_email_parser.php examplekeyexamplekeyexamplekey

* * * * * php /var/www/itflow.example.com/cron_mail_queue.php examplekeyexamplekeyexamplekey

because when I ran crontab -l, I got no crontab setup for this user yet.

johnny

@wrongecho This is the initial commit to the script

https://github.com/itflow-org/itflow-install-script/commit/c92101702564a9a2e46afd12e590554e67696e8c

Deff saves an extra step for sysadmins not comfortable with the command ;-)

johnny

We added this feature to the install script a month ago, When did you install with the script?

Bigbug

Just, on this sunday.

johnny

try sudo crontab -l

Bigbug

Hi johnny
as I didn't first run crontab -l with sudo and I set it up manually, is it a problem that these values are in there twice?

(i ran sudo crontab -l on a local test installation that i've installed before my cloud installation and i saw that in fact it was actually there)

johnny

yes you will deff want to remove the duplicate entries, it may cause some adverse affects

Bigbug

thanks! did it.

but now when I run sudo crontab -l I see a different cron key appearing (probably because I regenerated) do I need to replace it in the cron job?

johnny

yes that Cron key needs to match the cron key in ITFLow or else it will fail to run.

We use the Key for security purposes.

Bigbug

is it possile to run the cron job like every 5 seconds?

i saw this https://crontab.cronhub.io/ if you put in */5 * * * * * (6x*) it'll run every 5 seconds

i'm confused because some said that cron cant run under a minute

which is true?

johnny

Hi @Bigbug The truth is cron can only run as fast as every minute. 5 seconds is not an option.

Bigbug

check this out https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30295868/how-to-setup-cron-job-to-run-every-10-seconds-in-linux