Cron Job Monitoring Features
Flexible Schedules
Monitor jobs running every minute, hour, day, week, or custom intervals. Support for irregular schedules.
Missing Run Detection
Get alerted if your job fails to check in within expected time window. No pings = problem.
Dead Man's Switch
Perfect for backup jobs, data syncs, and critical automation. Ensure jobs run on schedule, every time.
Grace Periods
Configure grace period for jobs that might run slightly late. Avoid false alarms for variable-time tasks.
Execution History
View complete history of job executions. Track timing, failures, and patterns over time.
Instant Alerts
Email, Slack, webhooks. Get notified immediately when jobs miss their schedule or fail.
How Cron Job Monitoring Works
Create Heartbeat Monitor
Get a unique ping URL for your cron job (e.g., https://atomping.com/ping/abc123).
Add to Your Cron Job
Add curl or wget to your cron job script. Ping our URL when job completes successfully.
Set Expected Schedule
Tell us how often job runs (e.g., every 6 hours). We'll alert if we don't receive pings on schedule.
Who Uses Cron Job Monitoring?
Backup Jobs
Ensure database backups run nightly. Get alerted if backup scripts fail or hang.
Data Sync Jobs
Monitor ETL pipelines, data imports, and sync jobs. Know instantly when data stops flowing.
Email Campaigns
Ensure scheduled newsletter sends run on time. Track transactional email queue processors.
Server Maintenance
Monitor cleanup scripts, log rotations, and automated maintenance tasks.
Cron Job Monitoring FAQ
How does heartbeat monitoring work?
You get a unique URL. Your cron job pings this URL when it runs successfully. If we don't receive a ping within the expected time window, we alert you.
What if my job runs at irregular intervals?
Set a maximum expected interval (e.g., 'at least once every 24 hours'). As long as we receive one ping within that window, you're good.
Can I monitor jobs behind firewalls?
Yes! Your job makes outbound HTTP requests to our public endpoint. No inbound connections required—works behind any firewall.
What's a grace period?
Time buffer for jobs that might run slightly late (e.g., 'every 6 hours ± 15 minutes'). Prevents false alarms for variable-duration tasks.
How do I add heartbeat pings to my cron job?
Add this to the end of your cron job script: `curl -m 10 --retry 3 https://atomping.com/ping/YOUR_ID` or `wget -T 10 -t 3 https://atomping.com/ping/YOUR_ID`
Can I monitor Windows Task Scheduler jobs?
Yes! Use PowerShell Invoke-WebRequest or curl.exe to ping our endpoint. Works with any scheduled task system.
What happens if my job runs but fails after pinging?
Only ping after successful completion. Structure your script: do_work() && curl ping_url. This way, failures don't ping and you get alerted.