# salt.states.cron

## Management of cron, the Unix command scheduler

Cron declarations require a number of parameters. The following are the parameters used by Salt to define the various timing values for a cron job:

- `minute`

- `hour`

- `daymonth`

- `month`

- `dayweek` (0 to 6 are Sunday through Saturday, 7 can also be used for Sunday)

Warning

Any timing arguments not specified take a value of `*`. This means that setting `hour` to `5`, while not defining the `minute` param, will result in Salt adding a job that will execute every minute between 5 and 6 A.M.!

Additionally, the default user for these states is `root`. Therefore, if the cron job is for another user, it is necessary to specify that user with the `user` parameter.

A long time ago (before 2014.2), when making changes to an existing cron job, the name declaration is the parameter used to uniquely identify the job, so if an existing cron that looks like this:

    date > /tmp/crontest:
      cron.present:
        - user: root
        - minute: 5

Is changed to this:

    date > /tmp/crontest:
      cron.present:
        - user: root
        - minute: 7
        - hour: 2

Then the existing cron will be updated, but if the cron command is changed, then a new cron job will be added to the user's crontab.

The current behavior is still relying on that mechanism, but you can also specify an identifier to identify your crontabs:

    date > /tmp/crontest:
      cron.present:
        - identifier: SUPERCRON
        - user: root
        - minute: 7
        - hour: 2

Added in version 2014.1.2.

And, some months later, you modify it:

    superscript > /tmp/crontest:
      cron.present:
        - identifier: SUPERCRON
        - user: root
        - minute: 3
        - hour: 4

Added in version 2014.1.2.

The old date > /tmp/crontest will be replaced by superscript > /tmp/crontest.

Additionally, Salt also supports running a cron every `x minutes` very similarly to the Unix convention of using `*/5` to have a job run every five minutes. In Salt, this looks like:

    date > /tmp/crontest:
      cron.present:
        - user: root
        - minute: '*/5'

The job will now run every 5 minutes.

Additionally, the temporal parameters (minute, hour, etc.) can be randomized by using `random` instead of using a specific value. For example, by using the `random` keyword in the `minute` parameter of a cron state, the same cron job can be pushed to hundreds or thousands of hosts, and they would each use a randomly-generated minute. This can be helpful when the cron job accesses a network resource, and it is not desirable for all hosts to run the job concurrently.

    /path/to/cron/script:
      cron.present:
        - user: root
        - minute: random
        - hour: 2

Added in version 0.16.0.

Since Salt assumes a value of `*` for unspecified temporal parameters, adding a parameter to the state and setting it to `random` will change that value from `*` to a randomized numeric value. However, if that field in the cron entry on the minion already contains a numeric value, then using the `random` keyword will not modify it.

Added the opportunity to set a job with a special keyword like '@reboot' or '@hourly'. Quotes must be used, otherwise PyYAML will strip the '@' sign.

    /path/to/cron/script:
      cron.present:
        - user: root
        - special: '@hourly'

The script will be executed every reboot if cron daemon support this option.

    /path/to/cron/otherscript:
      cron.absent:
        - user: root
        - special: '@daily'

This counter part definition will ensure than a job with a special keyword is not set.

salt.states.cron.absent(name, user='root', identifier=False, special=None, **kwargs)

  Verifies that the specified cron job is absent for the specified user.

  If an `identifier` is not passed then the `name` is used to identify the cron job for removal.

  name

    The command that should be absent in the user crontab.

  user

    The name of the user whose crontab needs to be modified, defaults to the root user

  identifier

    Custom-defined identifier for tracking the cron line for future crontab edits. This defaults to the state name

  special

    The special keyword used in the job (eg. @reboot, @hourly...). Quotes must be used, otherwise PyYAML will strip the '@' sign.

salt.states.cron.env_absent(name, user='root')

  Verifies that the specified environment variable is absent from the crontab for the specified user

  name

    The name of the environment variable to remove from the user crontab

  user

    The name of the user whose crontab needs to be modified, defaults to the root user

salt.states.cron.env_present(name, value=None, user='root')

  Verifies that the specified environment variable is present in the crontab for the specified user.

  name

    The name of the environment variable to set in the user crontab

  user

    The name of the user whose crontab needs to be modified, defaults to the root user

  value

    The value to set for the given environment variable

salt.states.cron.file(name, source_hash='', source_hash_name=None, user='root', template=None, context=None, replace=True, defaults=None, backup='', **kwargs)

  Provides file.managed-like functionality (templating, etc.) for a pre-made crontab file, to be assigned to a given user.

  name

    The source file to be used as the crontab. This source file can be hosted on either the salt master server, or on an HTTP or FTP server. For files hosted on the salt file server, if the file is located on the master in the directory named spam, and is called eggs, the source string is `salt://spam/eggs`

    If the file is hosted on a HTTP or FTP server then the source_hash argument is also required

  source_hash

    This can be either a file which contains a source hash string for the source, or a source hash string. The source hash string is the hash algorithm followed by the hash of the file: `md5=e138491e9d5b97023cea823fe17bac22`

  source_hash_name

    When `source_hash` refers to a hash file, Salt will try to find the correct hash by matching the filename/URI associated with that hash. By default, Salt will look for the filename being managed. When managing a file at path `/tmp/foo.txt`, then the following line in a hash file would match:

        acbd18db4cc2f85cedef654fccc4a4d8    foo.txt

    However, sometimes a hash file will include multiple similar paths:

        37b51d194a7513e45b56f6524f2d51f2    ./dir1/foo.txt
        acbd18db4cc2f85cedef654fccc4a4d8    ./dir2/foo.txt
        73feffa4b7f6bb68e44cf984c85f6e88    ./dir3/foo.txt

    In cases like this, Salt may match the incorrect hash. This argument can be used to tell Salt which filename to match, to ensure that the correct hash is identified. For example:

        foo_crontab:
          cron.file:
            - name: https://mydomain.tld/dir2/foo.txt
            - source_hash: https://mydomain.tld/hashes
            - source_hash_name: ./dir2/foo.txt

    Note

    This argument must contain the full filename entry from the checksum file, as this argument is meant to disambiguate matches for multiple files that have the same basename. So, in the example above, simply using `foo.txt` would not match.

    Added in version 2016.3.5.

  user

    The user to whom the crontab should be assigned. This defaults to root.

  template

    If this setting is applied then the named templating engine will be used to render the downloaded file. Currently, jinja and mako are supported.

  context

    Overrides default context variables passed to the template.

  replace

    If the crontab should be replaced, if False then this command will be ignored if a crontab exists for the specified user. Default is True.

  defaults

    Default context passed to the template.

  backup

    Overrides the default backup mode for the user's crontab.

salt.states.cron.present(name, user='root', minute='*', hour='*', daymonth='*', month='*', dayweek='*', comment=None, commented=False, identifier=False, special=None)

  Verifies that the specified cron job is present for the specified user. It is recommended to use identifier. Otherwise the cron job is installed twice if you change the name. For more advanced information about what exactly can be set in the cron timing parameters, check your cron system's documentation. Most Unix-like systems' cron documentation can be found via the crontab man page: `man 5 crontab`.

  name

    The command that should be executed by the cron job.

  user

    The name of the user whose crontab needs to be modified, defaults to the root user

  minute

    The information to be set into the minute section, this can be any string supported by your cron system's the minute field. Default is `*`

  hour

    The information to be set in the hour section. Default is `*`

  daymonth

    The information to be set in the day of month section. Default is `*`

  month

    The information to be set in the month section. Default is `*`

  dayweek

    The information to be set in the day of week section. Default is `*`

  comment

    User comment to be added on line previous the cron job

  commented

    The cron job is set commented (prefixed with `#DISABLED#`). Defaults to False.

    Added in version 2016.3.0.

  identifier

    Custom-defined identifier for tracking the cron line for future crontab edits. This defaults to the state name

  special

    A special keyword to specify periodicity (eg. @reboot, @hourly...). Quotes must be used, otherwise PyYAML will strip the '@' sign.

    Added in version 2016.3.0.