hi all,
i have been trying to put together a cron job to automatically backup my vm's using ghettovcb.sh
i have follow every instruction as per http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-8760
the backup ran successfully if i initiate it manually. but the cronjob is not.
here is a copy of my root file
/var/spool/cron/crontabs # cat root
#syntax : minute hour day month dayofweek command
01 01 * * * /sbin/tmpwatch.sh
01 * * * * /sbin/auto-backup.sh #first minute of every hour (run every hour)
0 0 * * 0 /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/vms_to_backup
/etc # cat /var/run/crond.pid
17196470
/etc # ps | grep busybox
4446 4446 busybox syslogd
4940 4940 busybox inetd
17196470 17196470 busybox busybox
I thought i suppose to see 17196470 busybox crond
just wondering has anyone got crond working? if do, please point out my mistakes. Thank you.
This will not work on ESX4.1 as VMware have "tinkered" to break ghettoVCB scripts from running. That doesn't necessarily meant that you cant get it to work through other means though if you know what you are doing
some pointers please
thank you.
There are lots of references in the ghettoVCB DOC that you posted. Any further questions should be directed there.
I'm running esxi 4.1 , I had to monkey around to get cronjobs working.
I see "busybox crond" when i do a "ps | grep cron"
odd that yours doesn't but /var/run/crond.pid should be correct , try killing that pid , ( process at your own risks here )
in my case , after I edit the root crontab and I kill cron, I can't start it back buy calling "busybox crond". I had to:
ln -s /bin/busybox /bin/crond
/bin/crond
In order for this to survive a reboot , I just added in my rc.local ( example job )
/bin/kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
echo '* * * * * touch /tmp/aa' >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
ln -s /bin/busybox /bin/crond
/bin/crond
Then I ran the /sbin/auto-backup.sh
Hope this helps !
-Dan
Louis00,
It would appear that /busybox crond no longer works. However. just executing crond does. So, to survive a reboot - in your rc.local script, instead of entering /bin/busybox crond just enter crond and reboot. Works for me....
Looks like Dan's process might also work.
Hi,
I ran into a issue with many crond running and messing up with my backup. (failed to acquire lock, another instance of script may be running, giving up on /tmp/ghettoVCB.lock)
see here.
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/329134
starting via
busybox crond gets me a
busybox busybox
process
Startig via
/bin/busybox crond
got me a
busybox /bin/busybox
so best is probable to use the crond as you get the desired:
busybox crond
so ps | grep busy | grep -v grep should only show the following three busybox processes
~ # ps | grep busy | grep -v grep
4398 4398 busybox syslogd
4875 4875 busybox inetd
5440 5440 busybox crond
~ #
Thanks