Cron job works from command line but not in cron

Hello,

The following works for me from the command line:

/usr/local/bin/php /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php

However, I've tried the following cron jobs and none of them have produced any results:

* * * * * tetra /usr/local/bin/php /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php
* * * * * nobody /usr/local/bin/php /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php
* * * * * /usr/local/bin/php /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php
* * * * * /opt/alt/php-fpm70/usr/bin/php /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php

The permissions for that file are 755. I've checked my cron logs, and I'm not 100% sure it is being run at all, but honestly I do not know how to identify for sure. This is for the past hour and I've had 1 minute crons in this queue for over an hour and this is the only output from tail (I wasn't able to do this as the user, I had to do it as root):

Code: [Select]

Jul 22 14:10:01 server3 CROND[24716]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 14:20:01 server3 CROND[25605]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 14:30:01 server3 CROND[28042]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 14:40:01 server3 CROND[21551]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 14:50:01 server3 CROND[7167]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 15:00:01 server3 CROND[4888]: (root) CMD (/usr/share/clamav/freshclam-sleep)
Jul 22 15:00:01 server3 CROND[4889]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 15:01:01 server3 CROND[4969]: (root) CMD (run-parts /etc/cron.hourly)
Jul 22 15:01:01 server3 run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[4969]: starting 0anacron
Jul 22 15:01:01 server3 run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[4978]: finished 0anacron
Jul 22 15:10:01 server3 CROND[6247]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 15:20:01 server3 CROND[6985]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 15:30:01 server3 CROND[7756]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 15:40:01 server3 CROND[10443]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 15:50:02 server3 CROND[14263]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 16:00:01 server3 CROND[15617]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 16:01:01 server3 CROND[15689]: (root) CMD (run-parts /etc/cron.hourly)
Jul 22 16:01:01 server3 run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[15689]: starting 0anacron
Jul 22 16:01:01 server3 run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[15698]: finished 0anacron
Jul 22 16:10:01 server3 CROND[16183]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)


I have a similar problem, but my var/log/cron has different output

Code: [Select]

Jan 12 14:00:01 forseti CROND[23025]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 12 14:00:52 forseti crond[77]: (CRON) INFO (RANDOM_DELAY will be scaled with factor 68% if used.)
Jan 12 14:00:52 forseti crond[77]: (CRON) INFO (running with inotify support)
Jan 12 14:01:01 forseti CROND[992]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 12 14:01:01 forseti CROND[993]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 12 14:02:01 forseti CROND[1091]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 12 14:02:01 forseti CROND[1092]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 12 14:03:01 forseti CROND[1431]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 12 14:03:01 forseti CROND[1430]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 12 14:04:02 forseti CROND[1540]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 12 14:04:02 forseti CROND[1541]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 12 14:05:01 forseti CROND[1640]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 12 14:05:01 forseti CROND[1639]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 12 14:06:01 forseti CROND[1751]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 12 14:06:01 forseti CROND[1750]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 12 14:07:01 forseti CROND[1857]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable
Jan 12 14:07:01 forseti CROND[1856]: (CRON) CAN'T FORK (child_process): Resource temporarily unavailable

If I run the scripts from shell work perfectly (is not a problem with the script itself) but cron can't run. Checking more carefully only the root crons are running 

One minute crons! 
Ask your trained sysadmin to help.

One minute crons! 
Ask your trained sysadmin to help.

What is the relation about 1-minute crons and cron does not work? I believe that you are a trained sysadmin that does not have any problem to share acknowledgment, right? 

Cron is available to run periodic jobs; cron daemon reads the contents of crontabs every minute and passes appropriate commands to the task queue. The intention is not to run jobs at one minute intervals: you run scripts/processes to do that. Anacron is a variation of cron.

Syntax error:

Code: [Select]

* * * * * tetra /usr/local/bin/php /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php
* * * * * nobody /usr/local/bin/php /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php

Code: [Select]

crontab -u tetra -e

Code: [Select]

*/5 * * * * /usr/local/bin/php -f /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php(5min interval & -f may be optional with CentOS)

755

- appropriate for directories, not files - try 600 or 644 (less secure)

This is basic *nix stuff.
(UNIX System V R4.2 NCR trained circa 1992 - numerous *nix flavours since.)

Hello,

The following works for me from the command line:

/usr/local/bin/php /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php

However, I've tried the following cron jobs and none of them have produced any results:

* * * * * tetra /usr/local/bin/php /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php
* * * * * nobody /usr/local/bin/php /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php
* * * * * /usr/local/bin/php /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php
* * * * * /opt/alt/php-fpm70/usr/bin/php /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php

The permissions for that file are 755. I've checked my cron logs, and I'm not 100% sure it is being run at all, but honestly I do not know how to identify for sure. This is for the past hour and I've had 1 minute crons in this queue for over an hour and this is the only output from tail (I wasn't able to do this as the user, I had to do it as root):

Code: [Select]

Jul 22 14:10:01 server3 CROND[24716]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 14:20:01 server3 CROND[25605]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 14:30:01 server3 CROND[28042]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 14:40:01 server3 CROND[21551]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 14:50:01 server3 CROND[7167]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 15:00:01 server3 CROND[4888]: (root) CMD (/usr/share/clamav/freshclam-sleep)
Jul 22 15:00:01 server3 CROND[4889]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 15:01:01 server3 CROND[4969]: (root) CMD (run-parts /etc/cron.hourly)
Jul 22 15:01:01 server3 run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[4969]: starting 0anacron
Jul 22 15:01:01 server3 run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[4978]: finished 0anacron
Jul 22 15:10:01 server3 CROND[6247]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 15:20:01 server3 CROND[6985]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 15:30:01 server3 CROND[7756]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 15:40:01 server3 CROND[10443]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 15:50:02 server3 CROND[14263]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 16:00:01 server3 CROND[15617]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Jul 22 16:01:01 server3 CROND[15689]: (root) CMD (run-parts /etc/cron.hourly)
Jul 22 16:01:01 server3 run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[15689]: starting 0anacron
Jul 22 16:01:01 server3 run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[15698]: finished 0anacron
Jul 22 16:10:01 server3 CROND[16183]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)


@bentsea I made several tests and figure out that accounts that I have migrated from cPanel (using the restore cP account available on CWP GUI) for some reason cron not work at all. if I create an account in CWP cron works perfectly.

Maybe this looks stupid but works for me 

is the cron issue occurring on a migrated cpanel account?

Cron is available to run periodic jobs; cron daemon reads the contents of crontabs every minute and passes appropriate commands to the task queue. The intention is not to run jobs at one minute intervals: you run scripts/processes to do that. Anacron is a variation of cron.

Syntax error:

Code: [Select]

* * * * * tetra /usr/local/bin/php /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php
* * * * * nobody /usr/local/bin/php /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php

Code: [Select]

crontab -u tetra -e

Code: [Select]

*/5 * * * * /usr/local/bin/php -f /home/tetra/help/public_html/api/cron.php(5min interval & -f may be optional with CentOS)

755

- appropriate for directories, not files - try 600 or 644 (less secure)

This is basic *nix stuff.
(UNIX System V R4.2 NCR trained circa 1992 - numerous *nix flavours since.)

Thanks ejsolutions for the great explanation! 

Finally I resolved my issue recreating the accounts, cron works fine before that.