script will execute in bash, but not with cron

[Guest eksit]

hello.

 

i am having a problem with my testing of cron.

i have a ftp script called "backupscript" located in /home/eksit/test/backupscript. the file is executable.

 

this is the file:

 

#!/bin/bash

wall A system backup is currently being performed...

ftp -in <<EOF

open 127.0.0.1

user eksit ***

bin

hash

prompt

cd /home/eksit/test2

put testtext

bye

wall A system backup has completed... Files FTP'ed to Backup Server

 

 

 

from su, i do:

 

#crontab -u eksit /home/eksit/eksit

 

so the output of :

 

#contab -l

 

is:

 

# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - edit the master and reinstall.

# (/home/eksit/eksit installed on Thu May 4 23:17:48 2006)

# (Cron version -- $Id: crontab.c,v 2.13 1994/01/17 03:20:37 vixie Exp $)

 

19 23 * * * /home/eksit/test/backupscript

 

this script executes nicely manually from a bash prompt. however, it hangs indefinitly when run by cron.

 

any ideas on what i am doing worng?

 

thank you in advance.

[ianw1974]

I've found with some jobs that I've had to use the full path to the program command in the script. Eg: /usr/bin/ftp instead of just ftp on it's own. I found my jobs weren't working, and this was why. Although I normally just drop the scripts in /etc/cron.daily instead of setting up crontab.

[Guest eksit]

Thank you for your reply.

 

I tried to change the path to /usr/bin/ftp with no result.

 

I see a message that states "You have new mail in /var/spool/mail/eksit".

 

Am I correct in assuming that error output will be mailed here? Please excuse my ignorance, but how do I check this account? I am not familiar at all with sendmail.

 

Also, you stated that you drop your scripts in /cron.daily. Are you able to control when the scripts are executed, if so how?

 

Thanks again for the assistance.

[tyme]

Am I correct in assuming that error output will be mailed here? Please excuse my ignorance, but how do I check this account? I am not familiar at all with sendmail.

open a terminal and run the command:

mail

for more information on the mail command, as always:

man mail

[Guest eksit]

Thank you. I wasn't sure which program to man.

 

I solved my problem. My guess is that cron was not able to ftp to 127.0.0.1. When using a remote ftp site, the scheduled script works perfectly.

 

Here is the script in case anybody wants it:

 

 

 

 

 

#!/bin/bash

#backup script for simple ftp transaction scheduled with cron

#works with iis installation. substitute username as "anonymous" with an email for the pasword for anonymous connections.

#please note that for this example to work, it assumes that the script is located in the same directory as the files to be transferred.

#

#

#

#Broadcast Start of Backup

wall A system backup is currently being performed...

#Mail the Administrator

#mail anybody@anywhere.com -s "FTP Backup Done" -v < system.txt

#FTP the file to the backup directory on the backup server

/usr/bin/ftp -in <<EOF

#ip adress of remote host goes here

open 192.xxx.xxx.xxx

#username and pass go here. i.e., a user named "eksit" with the pass "nobody" would modify the next

#line to read "user eksit nobody"

user username pass

#leave the next three lines alone

bin

hash

prompt

#to switch remote directorys: if you had a directory on the remote machine called #"happy", the line would read "cd happy"

cd happy

#upload file, i.e. for a file called "testtext", the line would read "put testtext"

put testtext

bye

 

 

 

There's alot of comments i put in there for anybody who is learning like i am!

 

Thanks for your time to everyone who replied.

Edited May 7, 2006 by eksit

[Guest eksit]

ok.

 

so i've been working on this job again, and i realized that standard ftp will not upload directories.

 

so after 10 hours, much google and about 64 oz of beer, i present to you a new script!

 

-you must have ncftp installed. standard ftp alone will not allow you to do this properly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

#!/bin/bash

 

ncftp -R -u (username) -p (pass) (hostname/ip) / /home/eksit/backup/(directory name)

 

 

 

 

 

add this to cron , and you are a pimp!

 

im not gonna comment this one becuase im too tired.

 

if you need help, email eksit@adelphia.net.