Run PHP through Cron job

Question

I'm on Ubuntu and have a small backup script I've been trying to run. Unfortunately, it's not executing the backup. I've included the two PHP scripts here in case there's something I'm missing.

First, here's how how my crontab looks like

*/30 * * * * /usr/bin/php /var/www/mybackup.php

The cron above supposed to call this script: mybackup.php

 <?php
include('myfunctions.php');

   theBackup();

?>

The main script is this. Although it works perfectly when I manually run it, but it does not run with cron.

<?php
/*
 * Script to back up the database
 * 
 *
*/

function getAllFiles($directory, $recursive = false) {
     $result = array();
     $handle =  opendir($directory);
     while ($datei = readdir($handle))
     {
          if (($datei != '.') && ($datei != '..'))
          {
               $file = $directory.$datei;
               if (is_dir($file)) {
                    if ($recursive) {
                         $result = array_merge($result, getAllFiles($file.'/'));
                    }
               } else {
                    $result[] = $file;
               }
          }
     }
     closedir($handle);
     return $result;
}

function getOldestTimestamp($directory, $recursive = true, $display ='file') {
     $allFiles = getAllFiles($directory, $recursive);
     $highestKnown = time();
     $highestFile = '';
     foreach ($allFiles as $val) {
          $currentValue = filemtime($val);
          $currentFile = $val;
          if ($currentValue < $highestKnown){
                $highestKnown = $currentValue;
                $highestFile = $currentFile;
          }
     }
    if($display=='file'){
        return $highestFile;
    } else {
        return $highestKnown;
    }
}


function theBackup(){

$sendfrom = "System Backup <admin@domain.com>";

$headers = 'Admin <admin@domain.com>' . "\n";
$headers .= 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\n";
$headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\n";

$filename = getOldestTimestamp('./app/db/',true,'file');
$filename = str_replace("./app/db/", "", $filename );

$backupfile = '/var/www/app/db/'.$filename;
$handle  = fopen($backupfile, 'w') or die('Cannot open file:  '.$backupfile); 

$dbhost  = "localhost";  
$dbuser  = "user";
$dbpass  = "password";
$dbname  = "db";

if(system("mysqldump -h $dbhost -u $dbuser  -p$dbpass  $dbname  > $backupfile") == false){
    mail('email@yahoo.com','My Backup','Back Up successfully completed',$headers );

  }else {
    mail('email@yahoo.com','My Backup','Back Up did NOT complete successfully please check the file/folder 

permission',$headers );

   }   
 }
?>

Is there anything I'm missing from the code above? Like I said, when I run mybackup.php from the browser, it works perfectly, but not through cron.

Any help would be highly appreciated.

I'm pretty sure that it has something to do with including files inside your cron's PHP. Have you tried copying and pasting the included code into your file just to see if that is, indeed, the issue? — jeffjenx, Jun 18 '12 at 20:55
I haven't checked the phpcli log. Will check and report back later. — Helen Neely, Jun 18 '12 at 21:10

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 18 '12 at 20:59

1

You're using absolute path to run the php in the cron job

*/30 * * * * /usr/bin/php /var/www/mybackup.php

And the include URL is relative

include('myfunctions.php');

Try using absolute URL to the include too.

answered Jun 18 '12 at 20:59

orloxx

153
11

Thanks. I just tried making it absolute, but it didn't make any difference :( – Helen Neely Jun 18 '12 at 21:09
I think the URL in line: `$filename = getOldestTimestamp('./app/db/',true,'file');` on your function `theBackup()` should be absolute too – orloxx Jun 18 '12 at 21:14
Thanks again. I will try that and see if it makes any difference. – Helen Neely Jun 18 '12 at 21:18

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 18 '12 at 21:00

1

I think you'll need the full path to your include, where you say:

include('myfunctions.php');

should be like

include('/var/www/myfunctions.php');

or wherever that is. Also check you logs to see what error messages you are getting

answered Jun 18 '12 at 21:00

sdjuan

709
6
15

Run PHP through Cron job

2 Answers2

Linked