Cronjobs on the Unix workstations          MD, 24 Apr 2002

File: kdata:[smt.doc]cronjobs.doc (VMS)
      /home/smtsys/html/intra/doc/cronjobs.txt (Unix)

We have several so-called cronjobs running under various accounts and
various machines, in order to perform some tasks automatically at a
given time/date.

If you ever want to change these, it is important to do this under the
correct account AND on the correct machine. E.g. the cronjobs running
under smtsys on steffens are different from those running under smtsys
on maisel.

Log in under the account and on the machine where you want to change
something. Review the currently running cronjobs by "crontab -l". To
change something, submit an edited so-called crontabfile (see below)
with "crontab <filename>". Type "man crontab" to learn more, especially
about the syntax of the crontabfiles.

As a rule of thumb, cronjobs running under the smtop or smtobs account
should run on jever or hannen, not on any of the machines on campus.
Similarly, cronjobs under smtsys, smtv? (?=1,2,3), or your personal
account should run on gilden, maisel or steffens, not on any of the
machines on Mt. Graham.


Currently we have the following cronjobs running:

Account: smtobs    Machine: jever
File: /home/smtobs/cronjobs/crontabfile
---------------------------------------
31 * * * * /home/smtobs/bin/startTone > /dev/null 2>&1
   - checks every hour if the sound daemon for the sounds which indicate
     the start and end of an observation etc. is running

Account: smtop     Machine: jever
File: /home/smtop/cronjobs/crontabfile
--------------------------------------
10 0-23 * * * /home/smtop/html/update_macros/tipwea_get.mt-graham >> /home/smtop/html/tipsuck.log
   - reads the wind, weather, and tau data once per hour, runs taucalc,
     und updates the web pages (on Mt. Graham) accordingly
0,15,30,45 * * * * /home/smtop/bin/ButtonMultiServer > /dev/null 2>&1
   - checks 4x per hour if the Button Server (for the OBST buttons on
     Frankenheim) is running

Account: smtsys    Machine: steffens
File: /home/smtsys/cronjobs/crontabfile
---------------------------------------
25 0-23 * * * /home/smtsys/html/update_macros/tipwea_get>>/home/smtsys/html/tipsuck.log
   - reads the wind, weather, and tau data once per hour, runs taucalc,
     und updates the web pages (in Tucson) accordingly
0 2 * * * /home/smtsys/bin/rdist -f /home/smtsys/cronjobs/distfile.mtgraham > /dev/null 2>&1
   - synchronizes every night (2am) the Mt. Graham website with the one
     in Tucson
10 2 * * * /home/smtsys/bin/update-stats > /dev/null 2>&1
   - oops, don't know ... ask Dirk Muders about it ...
10 0 * * 0 /home/smtsys/html/update_macros/make_obslog>>/home/smtsys/html/obslog/obslog.err
   - reads the general observer.log file on the Vax and creates a table
     of performed observations for the Intranet web pages
     [I will disable this in the summer, since there will be no more
     observer.log file on the Vax next season.]
50 23 * * * /home/smtsys/html/update_macros/make_fot>>/home/smtsys/html/intra/fot/fotupdate.err
   - checks at 11:50pm if an FoT report of the current date exists in
     the directory /home/smtobs/REPORTS. If yes: copies it to the
     /home/smtsys/html/intra/fot/reports directory and update the
     FoT-report page in the Intranet
     [I will disable this in the summer as well, since I don't know
     about the SMT operation mode next season with only 2 FoTs left.]
55 23 * * * csh /home/smtsys/html/intra/smtlog/reports/rotate_log.csh
   - checks once per day the SMT log to be filled out by the Site
     Supervisor. Ask Bob Stupak about details.

Account: smtsys    Machine: maisel
File: /home/smtsys/cronjobs/crontabfile-maisel
----------------------------------------------
10 0-23 * * * /home/smtsys/bin/check-httpd
   - checks once per hour if our web server is running and restarts it,
     if necessary


In addition to this, there is a cronjob running under the dmuders
account which synchronizes the web page mirror at the MPIfR with the
local one in Tucson every night.