Monitoring Cron Jobs with Notifery

Cron jobs fail silently. Your backup script could be broken for weeks before you notice—usually when you actually need that backup.

The fix is simple: wrap your cron commands so they report success or failure. Notifery does this by capturing command output, exit codes, and execution time, then sending you a notification when something goes wrong.

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Create a Notifery Zone

• Sign in to Notifery.
• Create a new Zone (e.g., my-server). Zones organize your events logically.

2. Obtain an API Key

• From your Zone settings, generate an API key.
• Copy this key-you’ll need it shortly.

3. Download the Notifery CLI

Use curl to download:

curl -O https://docs.notifery.com/scripts/notifery-event.sh
chmod +x notifery-event.sh

Place this script somewhere accessible, such as /usr/local/bin.

4. Configure the API Key

Edit notifery-event.sh and add your API key:

DEFAULT_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

5. Testing the Setup

Run a simple test:

./notifery-event.sh "Test Event" my-server "echo 'Hello, Notifery!'"

Check Notifery’s dashboard to confirm receipt.

Monitoring Cron Jobs

Wrap your existing cron jobs with Notifery’s CLI:

Original cron job:

0 2 * * * /usr/bin/mysqldump -u root mydb > /backups/mydb.sql

Wrapped with Notifery:

0 2 * * * /path/to/notifery-event.sh "Daily Backup" my-server#backups "/usr/bin/mysqldump -u root mydb > /backups/mydb.sql" > /dev/null 2>&1

• This sends notifications to Notifery with job output and exit codes.
• >/dev/null 2>&1 prevents cron email noise; Notifery handles alerting.

Leveraging Exit Codes and Error Alerts

Notifery tracks exit codes automatically:

• 0: Success
• Non-zero: Failure (sends immediate alerts)

Configure your Notifery Zone to notify on errors only, reducing noise.

Advanced Features

Organize Events with Zones and Groups

Use zone#group format to categorize events (e.g., my-server#database). Easily filter and manage alerts.

Structured Logs and Performance Tracking

Notifery captures command output and duration. Structured output (e.g., JSON) is parsed automatically, aiding debugging.

Key Benefits

• Real-time notifications: Instantly detect failures.
• Centralized logs: View cron outputs without accessing servers directly.
• Simple integration: Minimal changes to existing cron jobs.

Conclusion

Once you’ve wrapped your cron jobs with Notifery, you’ll know immediately when something fails instead of discovering it weeks later.