Hmmm ... not a developer ... normally don't post nor respond to postings here, but developers are busy bunch - and seldom give out free advice ... after all they 'develop' and that might be their way of making a living.
You did say 'thoughts' but didn't say who ... so ... my 2 cents.
It is possible to offload cron jobs to another server.
Have seen this done in a load balancing setup.
Node 1 runs the cron and does not allow any participants to connect
Node 2,3,4,5 handle the sudents and teachers.
What you could do ...
Minimally clone the code you have to the DB server.
That means the code directory and a minimal moodledata directory.
Best if you have installed the same version of PHP on the DB server.
In the config.php file of the clone site on the DB server, should be localhost
and one could use super user credntials,me thinks.
One would run that cron job from command line in clonedcode/admin/cli/
No apache is involved ... just your PHP and the DB server ... no issues with
networking cause you are on DB server.
Your web server, then, wouldn't be needing to run it ... could remove the cron job from the crontab on the web server.
You would need to check the DB server setup for hosts/user permissions
to assure superuser from localhost on the DB server had all priv's.
Like I said ... my 2 cents.
BTW what was briefly described was done on a larger site(s) than your own ... that site - a 5 node load balanced system(s) for one of the largest Regional Educatlon Service Center's (10) in the State of Texas providing professional development for any Teacher in the state that wanted to take any of their online trainings. Never had any issues with cron job.
'spirit of sharing', Ken
