Cron jobs
2 min read
Some web applications use cron jobs or other scheduled tasks to perform recurring background work automatically. Not every DotwebApps product requires a scheduled task, so always check the documentation for the specific product you are installing.
Scheduled work may be used for functions such as:
- notifications
- queued processing
- cleanup tasks
- synchronization
- recurring processing
- scheduled maintenance
How to configure a scheduled task safely #
If your DotwebApps product requires a cron job or another scheduler, use this general process:
- Confirm from the product documentation that a scheduled task is required.
- Obtain the exact command, URL, scheduler method, and frequency from that product’s documentation.
- Configure the task using the scheduler provided by your hosting control panel or server environment.
- Use the exact schedule required by the product rather than choosing an arbitrary frequency.
- Verify that the task executes successfully.
- Review relevant application or server logs where available if the task does not run as expected.
DotwebApps does not use one universal cron command, URL, PHP path, queue command, scheduler syntax, or execution frequency for every product.
Hosting support for scheduled tasks #
Hosting environments expose scheduled-task features differently. Shared hosting may provide a control-panel scheduler, while a VPS, cloud server, or managed server may use a different scheduling interface.
Before choosing hosting for a product that requires scheduled jobs, confirm that the hosting environment supports the scheduling method required by that product.
If the required scheduler is not available, contact the hosting provider to see whether the capability can be enabled or use a hosting environment that supports the documented product requirement.
Security precautions #
Scheduled tasks can contain sensitive application information, so keep their configuration private.
Do not:
- publish authentication tokens contained in scheduled-task URLs
- post commands that contain secrets or credentials
- expose private scheduler configuration in screenshots or public support messages
- send server passwords, private keys, API secrets, or other credentials to support
If a scheduled task is failing, provide the product name, the non-secret task type, the sanitized error message, and any relevant non-sensitive log output. Product-specific cron values should come only from the documentation for that product.
