Re: Scheduling Events?

Achilleus Mantzios <achill(at)matrix(dot)gatewaynet(dot)com> writes:
> On Fri, 24 Jan 2003, David Durst wrote:
>> Here is the basic problem w/ using CRON in an accounting situation.
>>
>> I can't be sure that cron will always be up when the DB is up,
>> so lets say crond goes down for some random reason (User, System error,
>> Etc..)

> I you cannot depend on your system to run crond
> then you should not depend on it to run postgresql either.

Indeed. Cron is one of the oldest and most basic Unix daemons.
I find it really, really, really hard to believe that any substitute
code that anyone might come up with is going to be more reliable than
cron.

If it makes you feel better, you could institute some cross-checking.
For example, have the cron-launched task update a timestamp in some
database table whenever it finishes. Then make your user applications
check that timestamp when they start up (or every so often) and complain
if it's not within the range (now - expected cron frequency, now).
That doesn't fix the problem, but at least makes some humans aware of it.

regards, tom lane