Cron Job Once/Day
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Hard to tell without knowing the settings you have on the various lists.
Typically you want to have this set for "Every Hour", the default, and then control how often the various lists process (update) with the "Frequency" setting on them.
I actually have my Cron Settings set for 2 hours, because that is the shortest frequency I need cron to run to load the list with "Every 2 hours" on the Frequency. running it every hour won't hurt anything if you have a list set for a frequency of "once per day"
What version of pfBlockerNG are you running?
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@NollipfSense is it still running or running numerous times?
It may help to install the cron package which is an easy way to see the system cron jobs.
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@SteveITS said in Cron Job Once/Day:
@NollipfSense is it still running or running numerous times?
It may help to install the cron package which is an easy way to see the system cron jobs.
Yes, after a reboot it schedules to run in an hour and six minutes, then it becomes constantly running...
It's difficult to tell if it's actually running or the interface is just stuck in the running mode. Hoping to not have to install another package just to see. -
@jrey said in Cron Job Once/Day:
Typically you want to have this set for "Every Hour", the default, and then control how often the various lists process (update) with the "Frequency" setting on them.
Not for the typical home/lab user...it's unnecessary to run every hour...I have had it configured that way for years without issue.
On pfBlockerNG-devel net 3.2.0_6 under pfSense + 23.05.1 -
@NollipfSense said in Cron Job Once/Day:
Not for the typical home/lab user...it's unnecessary to run every hour
Perhaps, However running this particular cron job, one the only checks a couple of lists to see if they "should" has almost zero impact on the system.
The proper place to set the "Once a day" if that is what you want is on the list itself under frequency.I can tell you that there was an issue previously regarding cron and it not triggering as expected. I happen to be "the guy" that provided the code change to the package maintainer. This would be a specific case, that would not have been considered or checked, as again the impact of the cron job itself running every hour has minimal impact at best. 1 hour is fine, then set the frequency of the specific list to "Once a day"
@NollipfSense said in Cron Job Once/Day:
I have had it configured that way for years without issue.
Sounds like you have it sorted out then, because if it worked for years without issue, then it should work now.
Good luck
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@jrey said in Cron Job Once/Day:
This would be a specific case, that would not have been considered or checked, as again the impact of the cron job itself running every hour has minimal impact at best. 1 hour is fine, then set the frequency of the specific list to "Once a day"
That however, would just be running for nothing if most feeds are set for once per day and a few once per week. On a firewall, I believe, in the sake of efficiency, not to have anything running for no reason; so, unless the maintainer says otherwise, I believe I am operating the package in the scope it was intended. Appreciate your response, thank you.
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So, after a reboot, there is no cron jog running and a schedule is presented. Once that time has elapsed, it seems that the cron job get stuck looping
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Not worth discussing further,
the maintainers recommendation is pretty obvious, when it says "Default: Every hour" in bold letters even.
You seem unwilling to try the change and report back the observation, simply because "it has always worked"
You seem unwilling "to install another package just to see." (not even something I'm recommending)
No it is not "difficult to tell if it's actually running" but again you are at a road block of "it has always worked"Again if you are unwilling to try the suggestions just because "I have had it configured that way for years without issue." then it will be very difficult for people who are just trying to help you..
I'm not the one experiencing the issue, you are.
Good luck -
@jrey said in Cron Job Once/Day:
the maintainers recommendation is pretty obvious, when it says "Default: Every hour" in bold letters even.
Can you share a link to that? I will comply upon seeing...in the meanwhile I look through the doc.
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you have already shared it with us in your screen capture with the big red arrow, pointing at your current setting.
"Default: Every Hour" by implication the provided default is the recommendation. The developer didn't just picked it out of the sky. (you are certainly welcome to change it, as you have) but that doesn't imply what you are setting it too isn't broken for some yet unknown reason.
As I stated I use 2 hours so I don't use the "default" recommended value either.
have you looked in the log file? I don't see anything to suggest you have. The cron starts should be recorded in there.
As mentioned I have my cron set to start on the 30 minute mark rather than the top of the hour, and the frequency of each list set per my screen shot above. The lowest interval being 2 hours. this means that based on my schedule it would check for something to do at 00:30, 2:30...6:30, 8:30, 10:30 .. etc
so I temporarily changed it to 1 hour and by doing so 9:30 then becomes possible time things could run (if their frequency says so). I have nothing on my system that says so. However it took no time to tell me it had nothing to do at 9:30 in the log file.
CRON PROCESS START [ v3.2.0_6 ] [ 10/30/23 09:30:00 ] No Updates required. CRON PROCESS ENDED UPDATE PROCESS ENDEDagain what frequency do you have set on your individual lists ?
It's not a case of you being forced to "comply", just basic troubleshooting.
Again, you are firm on "Once a day" it's always worked. You have a suggestion to try something, you don't answer the questions, please propose then how we can help? -
@jrey So, after your last response, I went checking the doc on Netgate and could not find anything specific to cron job yet, then went back to look at the interface without making any changes and now it's say as below despite it should be about 23h and a few minutes...
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@NollipfSense said in Cron Job Once/Day:
then went back to look at the interface without making any changes and now it's say as below despite it should be about 23h and a few minutes
and that implies that
a) it is not running now,
b) that it is going to run again at midnight, and that is 14:49:54 away from that time. Is that correct based on your timezone? are your 14:49 away from midnight (00:00)why are you thinking 23h be the correct display here?
will run at 00:00 with 14:49:54 time remaining
your system clock isn't fluctuating wildly is it ?
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@jrey said in Cron Job Once/Day:
why are you thinking 23h be the correct display here?
will run at 00:00 with 14:49:54 time remaining
Okay, I messed up on the 23hr...thinking it's from the time I rebooted; so, now the crob job is showing the correct time to the next run, since it's 9:40am approximately. Thank you for pointing that out.
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So looks like the problem is resolved and "time" will tell at this point.
Let us know tomorrow if the run is successful overnight and the time remaining until next run when you view in the morning appears correct.
(did you happen save or re-save any of the configuration screens along the way?)
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@jrey said in Cron Job Once/Day:
So looks like the problem is resolved and "time" will tell at this point.
Let us know tomorrow if the run is successful overnight and the time remaining until next run when you view in the morning appears correct.
(did you happen save or re-save any of the configuration screens along the way?)
No change other than reboot and yes will follow up as you're correct that only time will tell.
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Well, this morning Cron job was stuck again and it seems that it occurs when list constantly fail to download , such as [ DNSBL_Malicious - MDL ] Download Fail [ 09/3/23 00:00:32 ]. It had failed every day and was removed this morning. Also removed/disabled was the shellalist...I had advertising and tracking only and those failed.
[ DNSBL_Shallalist - Shallalist_adv ] Download Fail [ 10/31/23 00:00:33 ]
[ DNSBL_Shallalist - Shallalist_tracker ] Download Fail [ 10/31/23 00:00:33 ]The same was enabled in the UT-list. I'll continue to monitor
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@jrey said in Cron Job Once/Day:
I'm not really surprised by that.
That's because the bug is still present...see here: https://forum.netgate.com/topic/178357/active-pfblockerng-cron-job-never-ends/4
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@BBcan177 It appears that the cron job bug or a bug that causes cron job to constantly run which was supposedly fixed in v3.2.0_3 is still present in v3.2.0_6. Yes, I have wildcard blocking TLD enabled; however, that's one of the main features to run pfBlockerNG. Is there another work around other than disabling that feature? My feeds and cron job are set to update/run once per day.
