cron job to create snapshots not working

spoovy · 11-14-2011, 06:58 AM

When I run the following from the command line -

Code:

zfs snapshot zones/lake/LOCAL/logictrap@$(date "+%Y%m%d")

i get a lovely snapshot of my filesystem. When I run the same command from cron -

Code:

3 3 1,7,14,28 * * 'zfs snapshot zones/lake/LOCAL/logictrap@$(date "+%Y%m%d")'

i get an error -

Code:

sh: line 1: zfs snapshot zones/lake/LOCAL/logictrap@$(date "+: not found

Why is this? I have tried different ways of quoting the command but always the same error. Also i've not had these kinds of syntax errors before with cron (though I have used Linux cron previously).

Thanks in advance

spoov

catkin · 11-14-2011, 07:03 AM

Have you tried it without the quotes:

Code:

3 3 1,7,14,28 * * zfs snapshot zones/lake/LOCAL/logictrap@$(date "+%Y%m%d")

colucix · 11-14-2011, 07:04 AM

You need to escape the % signs, because they have a special meaning in crontab:

Quote:

Percent-signs (%) in the command, unless escaped with backslash (\),
will be changed into newline characters, and all data after the first % will
be sent to the command as standard input.

Your job should be:

Code:

1,7,14,28 * * zfs snapshot zones/lake/LOCAL/logictrap@$(date +\%Y\%m\%d)

catkin · 11-14-2011, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colucix

You need to escape the % signs, because they have a special meaning in crontab

Thanks colucix

I missed that

spoovy · 11-15-2011, 04:24 AM

Thanks I thought it would be something needed escaping but didn't know what!

Thanks again