Question

I have a problem with Magento cron expression. It works fine with minutes:

    <crontab>
    <jobs>
        <namespace_module_cron>
            <schedule>
                <cron_expr>*/15 * * * *</cron_expr>
            </schedule>
            <run>
                <model>namespace_module/observer::myMethod</model>
            </run>
        </namespace_module_cron>
    </jobs>
</crontab>

But it doesn’t work when I set hours:

<cron_expr>0 1 * * *</cron_expr>

or

<cron_expr>0 */1 * * *</cron_expr>

I tried different time settings in admin panel. For now there are:

• 15
• 1
• 60
• 120
• 120
• 3000

P.S. Magento ver. 1.7.0.1

Update

I left every hour job (0 */1 * * *) for a day and it actually runs:

• 14:15
• 16:15
• 21:15
• 22:15
• 03:15
• 04:15

Answer 1

I’ve figured out what was wrong. It were settings (System/Configuration/System/Cron).
When I set up “Schedule Ahead for” to 60 it started to work properly (every hour and every day schedules).
For now schedule in database is appearing at 15:20 when I need to execute it 16:00.

Settings:

• Generate Schedules Every: 15
• Schedule Ahead for: 60
• Missed if Not Run Within: 60
• History Cleanup Every: 120
• Success History Lifetime: 120
• Failure History Lifetime: 3000

If you have the same problem, you should pay attention to first two settings: “Generate Schedules Every” and “Schedule Ahead for”