Cron.hourly doesn't seem to be working

Unknown · May 2011

I'm on a dynamic IP address and therefore, running an SSH server can be a bit of a problem. I've got an account at dyndns, and I'm trying to use a python script to update my IP address every hour using the cron.hourly directory. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be running the script at all :facepalm:

Is there anything I need to know about cron.hourly before using it? And do I need to change the permissions on the python script before it will run?

Dfg · May 2011

Changing permission might help, I thought dyndns had a software that kept your dynamic IP updated or something.

BaconPie · May 2011

Is cron hourly being run as root? Also, do you have mail set up? Whenever a command outputs something when cron calls it I get a local email (not gmail, my user gets on from my computer), at least, that's how it working with my set up and uni.

Unknown · May 2011

How do I check to see if cron is running as root? And no, I don't have mail set up.

Amie · May 2011

Check if cron is running, check if cron is actually calling everything in cron.hourly every hour and check if your script is properly named to be called by run-parts ("Filenames should consist entirely of upper and lower case letters, digits, underscores, and hyphens. Subdirectories of directory and files with other names will be silently ignored.")

More info here.

Unknown · May 2011

Thanks for the reading material. I already took a look at that but I guess it can't hurt for a second time around. I've made a few checks and changes here and there... Hopefully it should work.

Slartibartfast · May 2011

Is the cron daemon running?
How are you launching the python script? You should do it with a shell file.

Another easier route is to use another, more streamlined updater.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/ddclient

Depending on the age of your router, it may have dyndns support.

Unknown · May 2011

I managed to get it working after tinkering with the settings file, although I can't remember exactly what I did though as it was a few days ago when I actually fixed it. Thanks for the help though, I made sure that the daemon was running etc and learned some new stuff :thumbsup:

Cron.hourly doesn't seem to be working

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