Cron ... what and how

Cron ... what and how

by Martin . -
Number of replies: 3

hi.

I have multiple errors within Moodle such as the server not being found by Macs (but fine With Windows) and [Deletion in Progress] all over the place.

For the latter ... something called 'cron' has been mentioned .. https://docs.moodle.org/36/en/Cron

Is there a guide in plain English for this? I am using a Synology server with Moodle installed as part of their package. I have no idea about paths, command lines or any of the rest of it .... and I cannot see any settings within the Moodle UI that references it. 

Is there a guide to what this all means that I can work through? ... or anybody using a Synology server that can explain what I need to do to get Moodle working?


Thanks.

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In reply to Martin .

Re: Cron ... what and how

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

It would be good if you edited your profile to use your real name. We like to know who we are talking to ;)

If you are going to run Moodle on a server then you have to factor in a bit of time/effort to learn administration of your chosen platform. It's unavoidable. Google is your friend - for example, http://www.multigesture.net/articles/how-to-use-cron-on-a-synology-nas/

If you really don't want to, go and have a look at https://moodlecloud.com/

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In reply to Howard Miller

Re: Cron ... what and how

by Martin . -

Thanks you for your response.

http://www.multigesture.net/articles/how-to-use-cron-on-a-synology-nas/ is a new site to me ... but typifies what I am seeing ...

Modifying crontab and enabling the deamon

    1. Become root
  2. sudo -i
    1. Edit /etc/crontab
  3. nano /etc/crontab
    1. Restart the cron deamon by typing:
  4. synoservice -restart crond
    Note: After a shutdown or reboot, you’ll need to restart the cron deamon to enable it again.

I am not asking for a breakdown of each and every part ... but most sites seem to assume that you have CLI access to the server, and know what to modify in your particular system ... none of which is mentioned in these sites ... you have to go to other sites ... and then fight with the non-standard file structure of Synology etc. etc.

I was wondering off there was anybody out there that have come across the inability of Synology and or Moodle to run cron tasks ... I have been unable to find anything that is remotely comprehensive enough. 

Does anybody in this community host Moodle on a Synology server?


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In reply to Martin .

Re: Cron ... what and how

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

There have been quite a few people asking questions about running Moodle on Synology, relatively recently. 

I've never seen one of these boxes but it appears to be some form of Linux. I assume that you (now) realise that you're making life hard for yourself by not running one of the more mainstream Linux distros. 

Having said that, if I Google stuff about Synology stuff comes up. I get it that it's hard to know what questions to ask if you're completely lost. 

However.... https://stackoverflow.com/questions/35694525/how-can-i-work-with-command-line-on-synology and https://www.synology.com/en-global/knowledgebase/DSM/help/DSM/AdminCenter/system_terminal

It's worth learning some basic Linux command line stuff - https://maker.pro/linux/tutorial/basic-linux-commands-for-beginners

...although bear in mind Sinology is "non standard" (probably). 

We can't fully support each and every system that might host Moodle. We rely on people writing up their experiences in the Wiki. Of course, as soon as they do it becomes out of date. 

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