what are cron's for?

Since Im just a newbie , I totally disregarded the cron upon installation, I didnt copy and save it, now upon forum browsing I have read that from should be copied and install to mySQL? here are my questions<

whats the use of cron?

Will I have problems later on without the cron? (my site is running perfectly to date)

How can I get another copy of cron?

forgive me for the untechnical terms or missed terms, Im not much of a techy.

thanks

 

Quote · 30 Aug 2008

crons  ..... 

0 0 * * * /usr/local/bin/php -q /home/account/public_html/dolphin/periodic/cmd.php
*/10 * * * * /usr/local/bin/php -q /home/account/public_html/dolphin/periodic/notifies.php
* */1 * * * /usr/local/bin/php -q /home/account/public_html/dolphin/periodic/cupid.php

The above are only example paths  .....  check and verify your paths for your server  .....


Reference for crons  .....  detailed installation instructions

Quote · 30 Aug 2008

Laughing Yup, thats the install - here is the answers to your questions.

Can you run dolphin without cron jobs?  Yes, and no.

The thing that cron jobs do is run specified commands at the times you give.  Very similar to windows 'tasks'.

In dolphin, these cron jobs are responsible for the upkeep of your site.  Some are important, others not so much.  Database cleaning, etc.

The mass mailer will not work either without the cron job set to do so.

If you are on shared hosting and some do not allow for cron job use, I have devised a way for another client of mine to have them run when the site is accessed (this stops you from having to do it manually).

If you need the help, contact me.

Chris

www.convictionscommunity.com

Quote · 30 Aug 2008

simply put my site will still Run perfectlly even without a cron job? not havng mass emailer wont matter much to me.

Quote · 30 Aug 2008

The following will not happen without cmd.php being run nightly:

Database prune (old users, old profile views, old inbox/outbox messages, etc)

cache and temp directories will not be cleaned of old files

If you use membership levels, expiration letters will not be sent and the level will not expire.

Other than that - I guess not.

Quote · 30 Aug 2008

Ok,how do I check or get the right paths?

Quote · 31 Aug 2008

Ask your hosting admin is easiest  .....

Quote · 31 Aug 2008

I don't think thats the easiest - lol... goto /inc directory and open header.inc.php - look for

$dir['root']

That will be your root ex:

/home/userwhatever/public_html/

You just add the periodic/cmd.php or whatever to the end.

Understand?  Laughing

Quote · 31 Aug 2008

sammie,
you are correct. i think the cron jobs are very important, otherwise in the event your site does get a decent number of visitors, you face some serious heartache trying to keep it maintained. Crons are written to most scripts for clean ups and automation of notifications, among several other behind the seen operations. next time i get one of my cron notifications, that shows what it has done, i will post it back to here. even on a site with no traffic, i get notifications from admin regarding cleaning of tmp files. if you can imagine, not having the cron's run, you are going to do a few things that will prove detrimental to your sites fluid operation. 


later,
DosDawg

When a GIG is not enough --> Terabyte Dolphin Technical Support - Server Management and Support
Quote · 31 Aug 2008

some people just need to give up and walk away.

you still wont get the cron to work, the installer writes a periodic file when it installs dolphin, now you wont have that file. and the other files in the periodic folder are also written to. so they need to be checked

if you do not know the basics, you shouldn't be using dolphin. did you chmod all files and folder or did you skip some of them to?

sammie, i think the file is written regardless if the user invokes the cron commands or not. since there is nothing that prevents the files from being written, i think what he said was that he ignored the setting up of the cron jobs on the final steps of the install just before it has you remove the install directory. it is my belief that he can still take those commands and set them in his cron module from cpanel, and all will run. i have always setup the crons after the install and after i had deleted or renamed the install dir. but i will run through a couple of installs and see if my theory is correct.

well after reading the instructions, that to my amazement have been updated, i suppose i was wrong, i will have to look at how i have been doing my installations. since the periodic is chmod 777 for the install and then 755 on the reversal, i see what you are saying sammie, so i will have to reconsider my installs when it comes to doing the crons.


alas, shouldnt be a problem any longer, since we are working on the auto installer for Dolphin. wont have to worry about all those tedious steps in trying to get the script to run correctly from an install. 


ok i just wasted 15 mins screwing around on this post, but it was at minimum educational to me and glad to see the install instructions have been upgraded. i was happy to see they had even posted about needing to compile the language files for orca upon installation. which i presume is still goin to be the case.





regards,
DosDawg

When a GIG is not enough --> Terabyte Dolphin Technical Support - Server Management and Support
Quote · 31 Aug 2008

some people just need to give up and walk away.

you still wont get the cron to work, the installer writes a periodic file when it installs dolphin, now you wont have that file. and the other files in the periodic folder are also written to. so they need to be checked

if you do not know the basics, you shouldn't be using dolphin. did you chmod all files and folder or did you skip some of them to?

I really think you are full of yourself.  People are new, they need help.  But as human beings we can do whatever we want, including messing with dolphin.  This has been bothering me about dolphin and boonex for a long time... unite people?  With comments like that.

If you still need help, message me, we'll get it right.

Chris

www.convictionscommunity.com

Quote · 31 Aug 2008

Sammie

Not my business but I thnk i should say something.

Everybody starts something from somewhere. Someone installs dolphin and has a problem doesnt mean he/she should be talked down to. How would someone get to know to use dolphin if he doesnt tinker with it? For all you might know, he/she might even get better than you someday or have an answer to something you need help on. If not on this forum, on another site.

Being polite while teaching goes a long way in the learning process. Damn few would 'leave in a huff' and proclaim to the world that it doesnt work if they are guided well and fail to learn.

A forum is the nerve centre of a community. Thats where people learn to either love or hate a project.

Like I said though, not my business but ...

Quote · 1 Sep 2008
Sammie. I understand. It could actually be frustrating. I just started out with dolphin a couple of days myself and I am loving it already. I have this communtiy site I built with joomla thats been running for close to two years now and I think I will have to jettison the joomla and go with dolphin. Joomla is great but for communities, I think Dolphin is better.
Quote · 2 Sep 2008

Can't we all just get along.....

Quote · 8 Sep 2008
 
 
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