Do you monitor your crontabs (sounds medical)

[alan]

Ask a non-techie if they want to see how you monitor your crontabs and I'm guessing you'll get the same reaction to asking them if they want to know more about the invitation to "fork me on github".

They both sound scary.

But I finally 'got' why this service https://deadmanssnitch.com/faq exists after setting up a crontab.

Anyway, I've no affiliation with these guys but they seem very friendly and if you're into proactive monitoring then it might be something you want now or later, so I thought I'd post.

Enjoy

[horst]

@alan: thanks for sharing, - but to be fair I don't really get for what this should be good?

1) I can send _me_ an email at the end of a cronjob (or a windows schedule task). Why should I notify unknown people?

2) What is if my cron has run perfectly until its end, but the snicth-service is unavailable? Do I need a snatch-service too, (what monitors the snitch-service)?

[alan]

Horst, first, and not connected, THANK YOU for your SMTP module. I am loving the much improved way mail is delivered over SMTP versus PHP Mail function.

1. I think the idea is that you see no email, all is silent—unless your cron fails. Only if it fails will you get an email (what you want).

2. Hehe Though serious point is just that without Snitch if cron works then all good, no emails, if it fails then you don't know. With Snitch if cron works then all good, no emails, if it fails then, unless Snitch has also failed, you get an email

I am sure clever people can add their own scripts for monitoring, but DMS seems great for lots of cases, not least of which people like me who are not very clever at server scripts