add cron-type "fetch url"

hello

I would like a better Cron Job management because actually is quite difficult for add a simple Cron.

I wanted simply make an hourly task by calling a url and this was just a nightmare for find the correct code. With the help of my provider, I can now use my Cron but I waited almost 2 weeks for get the solution because my provider is not supposed to support this kind of request and I understand his point.

The solution was:

wget -O - 'http://www.myurl.com'

I like Virtualmin but I think you need to enhance some points especially in the Cron area. Is just impossible to know its was required to write down the Cron in this manner. I spend a lot time to look in your forum and docs but nothing talk about that...

Before I used Cpanel and it was so simple to set a Cron of any kind (url, script, program,).

Hope you will consider make something about..

thank

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Even though it is relatively simple to do this (by creating a cron job that runs "wget -O /dev/null -q http://yousite.com/url.txt") , this isn't a bad idea. I'll look into it.

"relatively simple" for who know what to do of course :-) Personally I'm just a webmaster who need to host its sites and not a Linux server manager guru.

I tried also few month ago to setup a Cron for fire a PHP script and here also I spend a lot time to figure out how to do. The forum was not helpful but finally my provider helped me...

If you can add something who can take care to everything and let us just add a path or url it will be more simple...

thank

No offense, but if you're "just a webmaster", why do you operate your own rootserver, with the requirements and responsibilities that come with it, instead of using managed hosting or hoster-based webhosting? :) That's what these are for.

@Locutus

The server is not my own server. I rent only a part of it (multi-domain) and my provider make a little support about Virtualmin. So I manage my host as a user and not as root.

Alright, my apologies then! I can see how giving one's users Virtualmin as control panel, and then not giving support for it, could be problematic. ;)

Jamie, how's this long-overdue GUI overhaul coming? ;)

My provider give a great support but only for common task (where generally I don't need) and for other task a bit more specific they answer without problem but only after some days because is not considered a priority. Sometime their solution are not correct (sometime they are also in the dark too) and is required to proceed step by step and wait again until the right solution is found. I have some server management knowledges, but I'm not a guru..

However now I know how to setup a Cron Url but the next time I need a cron for another more specific job, I will be stuck again. Virtualmin is a great tools and I like it but is not always intuitive like Cpanel.

Adding a more easy setup about Cron would be great.. All users can take benefits of this enhancement..

Well, as an additional suggestion, I could imagine that you get answers and help quicker on the forum here, when you have specific things to ask. IF there are people here who know the answer, you should be getting it generally much faster than a few weeks. :)

As for adding "extended features to create Cron jobs": I'm wondering what exactly you're referring to here. Webmin can create Cron jobs in a quite detailed way, but if you need specific jobs (in addition to fetching web URLs), what would that be?

Be aware that it is nearly impossible to cover all imaginable things users might want to do with a control panel. :) At some point, manual work will always be necessary.

I looked in the forum and I seen some people who asking more less the same thing I needed and I tried the solution proposed but none of them was helpful for me. Before asking help I try always to do by myself because I like also to learn and to test.

What I mean is for example if I need to setup a cron for fire an Url, I would like simply set the url such "http://www.site.com" and no more. How I'm supposed to know is required to insert before "wget -O /dev/null -q" with or without quote ??

If I need to fire a php script, how I'm supposed to know I must insert "/usr/bin/php -q" before the path of my script ??

At my side, when I build website I try always to make simple UI admin management because people who are supposed to use the site have not the same knowledges than me. They are not webmaster and they must be focused on their own business and loose the less possible time for make their task. Of course I can tell to them to read the docs, send a mail, make a call, search on google...but if the system is simple and intuitive is no need to do that because they will just understand by themselves what to do.

Now if you tell me for use Virtualmin is required to have good server, linux, command line knowledges otherwise I must use Cpanel or Plesk is another story... Like my customers, I don't care too much how a system work, I ask just to be able to use it without hassle. Before I was hosted with some provider who use Cpanel or Plesk and now I changed for another who use Virtualmin...no problem for me. I notice only some difference between these hosting control panel and even if Virtualmin have some great advantages, the easiness of use is not his main one.

This is just my personal opinion regardless of my user profile..

I think this discussion here goes in two directions, of which only one is actually the topic of a feature request. :)

For one, "how are you supposed to know these things". Well, short answer is, you aren't. If you do know them, you can do such stuff yourself. If not, you can either Google and learn, ask on forums, or ask experts for (possibly paid) help. That's the case with all these things. If you can repair your car yourself, that's great! Otherwise you need to have a friend or pay a garage to do it for you.

Webmin can help you with these things to a certain degree, by automating processes and giving you a template to work on. But no, I repeat no, control panel liberates you from the responsibility to know the basics of the underlying system to a certain degree, or have or pay someone to do so for you. That's because no panel can have recipies for each and every case and event and thing that you might want to do, or might go wrong and need fixing.

Webmin and especially Virtualmin could be improved in terms of being intuitive. Adding stanzas to create fetch url or execute php tasks is a good idea, but as you said yourself, soon you will run into the next thing you don't know, and Webmin cannot do everything for you. :)

I totally agree with you... However about Cron (who was finally the reason of this topic) it seem to me create some "fetch url" or "run script" such php or cgi is really a common task probably the most used when setting a Cron. So why not make this more simple to set ??

Depend also on what kind of customer Virtualmin developer target. Pure web/server guru or also people with less knowledge but able to use his stuff ?

Yes, I certainly agree! For common tasks like the ones you mentioned it would be quite appreciated if they had ready-made "do this" buttons. :) Especially "run PHP script" I could indeed use myself. I of course use the comfort that Virtualmin/Webmin provides myself, intensively.

My opinion is, as long as you know (roughly) what's being done under the hood, and you can if necessary fix broken things yourself, there is nothing to say against using the comfort of a control panel. On the contrary, that's what they are for. :)

Yes in fact my idea was to have for example a kind of mode "Standard" and "Advanced" where the standard allow to choose between some pre-set option (fetch url, php, cgi, ...) and where advanced allow to better customize the job for people who know what to do.

On other hand if some example as been present in the tutorial ( http://www.virtualmin.com/documentation/tutorial/how-to-setup-a-cron-job ) it would have helped me.

Nice to have made some exchange of opinion :-)

All the best

cheers