Cron Setup

Cron Setup

Automate your security monitoring with scheduled cron jobs.

How It Works

The module provides secure, token-protected URLs that can be called by your server's cron scheduler. When triggered:

1. The cron initiates the configured task (scan or comparison)
2. Self-chaining technology automatically breaks large jobs into batches
3. Each batch triggers the next one until the job completes
4. An email report is sent when the job finishes

Self-chaining means even a Full Scan of 100,000+ files completes reliably on shared hosting where individual requests are limited to 30 seconds.

Setting Up Cron for Malware Scans

1. Go to Settings > Cron Configuration
2. Enable Automatic Malware Scan
3. Copy the generated secure cron URL
4. Add it to your server's crontab or hosting panel cron scheduler

Example crontab entry for a daily scan at 3:00 AM:

0 3 * * * curl -s "https://yourstore.com/module/himalwarescanner/cron?action=scan&token=YOUR_TOKEN" > /dev/null 2>&1

Setting Up Cron for Snapshot Comparisons

1. Enable Automatic Snapshot Comparison
2. Copy the comparison cron URL
3. Add to your cron scheduler

Example for running a comparison every 6 hours:

0 */6 * * * curl -s "https://yourstore.com/module/himalwarescanner/cron?action=compare&token=YOUR_TOKEN" > /dev/null 2>&1

Security

• Each cron URL contains a unique security token generated per installation
• Tokens can be regenerated at any time (you'll need to update your cron entries)
• Cron endpoints only accept requests with valid tokens

Email Reports

After every cron run, a detailed email report is sent to configured addresses. Reports include:

• Scan type and duration
• Number of files scanned
• Threats found (with details) or clean confirmation
• Comparison changes found (modified, new, deleted files)