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The setup

I have a script /etc/cron.hourly/msm-hourly that contains this: 

#!/bin/sh
LOGPATH='/opt/msm/servers/cronscripts'
LOGFILE="$LOGPATH/msm-start.log"

# Make restart dead servers
echo "" >> $LOGFILE && /bin/date >> $LOGFILE && /etc/init.d/msm start >> $LOGFILE

Every hour:

  1. Create a new line in the log file
  2. Add the date
  3. Then the output of the msm start command

It works running from the command line as well as within /etc/cron.daily/

The issue

The output, when run from the command line looks like this:

[ msm-hourly.log ]

Thu Sep 12 20:56:51 UTC 2013
[ACTIVE] Server already started.

However, after leaving it run for a while the output on each iteration looks like this:

[ msm-hourly.log ]

Thu Sep 12 20:56:51 UTC 2013
[ACTIVE] Server already started.


Thu Sep 12 21:01:02 UTC 2013
Thu Sep 12 21:01:02 UTC 2013

Thu Sep 12 21:01:02 UTC 2013

Thu Sep 12 21:01:02 UTC 2013

Thu Sep 12 21:01:02 UTC 2013

Thu Sep 12 21:01:02 UTC 2013
[ACTIVE] Server already started.
[ACTIVE] Server already started.
[ACTIVE] Server already started.
[ACTIVE] Server already started.
[ACTIVE] Server already started.
[ACTIVE] Server already started.

Here's the output from /var/logs/cron :

Sep 12 21:01:02 server run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[19497]: starting msm-hourly
Sep 12 21:01:02 server run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[19498]: starting msm-hourly
Sep 12 21:01:02 server run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[19522]: starting msm-hourly
Sep 12 21:01:02 server run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[19541]: starting msm-hourly
Sep 12 21:01:02 server run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[19549]: starting msm-hourly
Sep 12 21:01:02 server run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[19565]: starting msm-hourly
Sep 12 21:01:03 server run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[20166]: finished msm-hourly
Sep 12 21:01:03 server run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[20182]: finished msm-hourly
Sep 12 21:01:03 server run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[20243]: finished msm-hourly
Sep 12 21:01:03 server run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[20288]: finished msm-hourly
Sep 12 21:01:04 server run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[20310]: finished msm-hourly
Sep 12 21:01:04 server run-parts(/etc/cron.hourly)[20315]: finished msm-hourly

Question

I've attempted to replace and rework the script followed by /etc/init.d/crond reload and/or /etc/init.d/crond restart.

Things restart without errors and the script fires every hour as it should.. just with all the extra lines.

How do I track this down to better understand what's going on and fixing it so that the msm-hourly only runs once per hour?

user2773880
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  • Ignoring the cron issue, is restarting the server hourly really the best way? Are you sure you can't setup something like monit, to verify that the service is functional, and restart as needed with appropriate notifications? – Zoredache Sep 12 '13 at 22:02
  • BTW, what Linux/nix is this? What version/release of the distro? What cron daemon is being used? – Zoredache Sep 12 '13 at 22:05
  • (Guessing OS is Ubuntu Precise.) Does `/etc/crontab` have multiple `run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly`? Does the same happen with any script in `/etc/cron.hourly`? Have you kept backup versions in `/etc/cron.hourly`? Try manually running `run-parts --verbose /etc/cron.hourly` – Mark Wagner Sep 13 '13 at 00:37

1 Answers1

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Check /etc/crontab to make sure the line for cron.hourly is similar to the one below (paying particular attention that only the minutes field has a number and the rest are asterisks) and appears only once.

17 *    * * *   root    cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly

Also, make sure your script (or /etc/cron.hourly) is not entered in any other crontabs, including a user's (or root's) and that multiple copies (backups) don't appear in /etc/cron.hourly.

Note that the last line in your script can be simplified to:

{ echo && /bin/date && /etc/init.d/msm start; } >> $LOGFILE

Please also see Process Management.

Dennis Williamson
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