Deployed a backup script on a new server, tested it manually — worked fine. Set up crontab, came back next morning, no backup. Turns out /usr/local/bin wasn’t in cron’s PATH so pg_dump just silently didn’t exist.

Switched to absolute path and it worked immediately. Fifteen minutes of debugging for a one-character fix. I keep making this mistake every time I set up a new box. At this point I should just have a checklist taped to my monitor.

  • marcos
    3·
    16 days ago

    Looks like you need to collect your crontab logs somewhere you can read.

    • folekaule
      61·
      16 days ago

      Or maybe even set up a valid MAILTO in the crontab so that failures are emailed to them.

      My “pro” tips:

      • set up an email alias from root to an email you actually read
      • always use absolute paths
      • anything complex, put it in a shell script
    • pelya
      3·
      16 days ago

      You can append

      2>&1 | logger -t my-cronjob

      to any command, and it will write logs to system journal which you can view withjournalctl