Magento 2: How to Check Cron Job is Working?

In e-commerce, Cron Job functionality is an important factor in guaranteeing seamless functioning.

What is The Role of Crons in Magento 2?

Cron jobs are automatic operations that run at regular intervals and are essential for many Magento 2 processes, including indexing, cache flushing, and sending transactional emails. However, ensuring that these cron jobs perform as intended is critical for the health of your Magento 2 store.

In this post, we’ll look at the complexities of verifying & troubleshooting cron jobs running properly or not in Magento 2.

Understanding Cron Jobs in Magento 2:

Before diving into the process of checking cron jobs, it’s crucial to understand how they function within the Magento 2 ecosystem. Cron jobs in Magento 2 are scheduled tasks managed by the system’s cron scheduler. These tasks are essential for performing routine maintenance and updating various aspects of the Magento 2 store.

To ensure, Magento 2 Crons are installed in your server. You can check crontab entries via SSH using the below command.

crontab -l

This will output cron the result of Magento 2 crons like below.

If you don’t find these entries in your server, It means crons are not yet configured properly on your instance.

You can simply configure and re-verify using the below command

php bin/magento cron:install

This will install and configure cron in your server’s crontab.

Now to can see Magento 2 crons status in Magento 2’s default cron monitoring & management table.

Verifying Cron Job Execution:

Magento 2 provides several methods to verify if cron jobs are running correctly. One of the most straightforward approaches is to check the cron_schedule table in the Magento database.

This table records the execution status of cron jobs, including their schedule and completion time. By querying this table, administrators can identify any issues with cron job execution and take appropriate actions to rectify them.

You can see the above table contains information on each cron execution-related information.

Here,

Cronjob Status codes in Magento 2

schedule_id: This is an automatically generated ID for each entry

job_code: Each cron has it’s own unique code in Magento for it’s identity which is defined in crontab.xml

status: Indicates current status (success, error, running, missed & error) of the cron.

messages: Error message if any

created_at: Store the time when the entry is added to the table

scheduled_at: Store time when the cron will run/be executed

executed_at: Stores the time when cron execution is started

finished_at: Store the time when the execution of cron is finished

Using the above parameters you can search, monitor, debug & troubleshoot crons in Magento 2.

If you don’t have access to the database, You can also monitor/schedule/manage crons from the admin panel using the below third-party extensions.

Third-Party Monitoring Solutions:

https://github.com/Ethan3600/magento2-CronjobManager

https://www.wyomind.com/magento2/cron-scheduler-pro-magento.html

https://amasty.com/cron-scheduler-for-magento-2.html

You can install any of the above third-party extensions for managing crons in your Magento 2 store.

By understanding the fundamentals of cron job execution and employing effective monitoring techniques, we can ensure the smooth operation of cron jobs and mitigate potential issues before they impact the user experience.

That’s it for today’s tutorial, See you in the next one!

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