Can't reboot ubuntu 18.04 using cron job

Question

I'm trying to reboot my server with cron job. I added below line

35 14 * * * root shutdown -r now

But nothing happens. I shared journalctl log at below

>Feb 15 14:35:01 example CRON[2840]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
>Feb 15 14:35:01 example CRON[2848]: (root) CMD (root /sbin/shutdown -r now)
>Feb 15 14:35:01 example CRON[2840]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root

Note: I tried both shutdown and /sbin/shutdown. But still same.

How do I fix this ?

"added below line" where? it looks like you are mixing up the system-wide /etc/crontab and regular user-crontab formats — steeldriver, Feb 15 '19 at 15:03
I opened crontab with crontab -e then added above line, then I restart the service with systemctl restart cron @steeldriver — Hasan Tıngır, Feb 15 '19 at 15:08

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 17 '19 at 22:56

1

You need to edit a cronjob of the root user.

sudo -i
crontab -e
Edit cronjob as needed:
```
35 14 * * * root shutdown -r now
```

Work!

edited Oct 17 '19 at 22:56

Eliah Kagan

117,780

answered Oct 17 '19 at 18:17

Knn

11

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 15 '19 at 16:53

0

Go to the directory /etc/cron.d, Take a copy of one of the existing files and change the job to:

35 14 * * * root systemctl isolate reboot.target

answered Feb 15 '19 at 16:53

Sander Descamps

351

Can't reboot ubuntu 18.04 using cron job

2 Answers2