Cron Job Monitoring
Detect missed scheduled jobs, background workers, and recurring task failures.
Alertum cron job monitoring gives every scheduled task a unique heartbeat endpoint. Your job pings Alertum after each run. If no ping arrives within the expected interval plus a grace window, an incident is created immediately.
How it works
Cron job monitoring assigns a unique heartbeat URL to each scheduled job. After every successful run, the job sends one HTTP request to its Alertum endpoint. If the signal doesn't arrive within the expected interval plus grace window, an incident opens.
Core capabilities
- ·Expected interval and grace window configuration
- ·Unique heartbeat endpoint per job
- ·Missed-run incident creation and alerting
- ·Async and background job visibility
Assertions and thresholds
- ·Expected heartbeat signal interval
- ·Grace window before declaring a missed run
- ·Recovery detection when job resumes reporting
Typical use cases
- ·Nightly backup and ETL job supervision
- ·Scheduled email and notification job monitoring
- ·Database cleanup and maintenance task validation
Frequently asked questions
How does cron job monitoring work?
Add a single HTTP call to your cron job script. After each run, the job pings a unique Alertum heartbeat URL. If the ping doesn't arrive within your expected interval, Alertum creates an incident.
Do I need to install anything?
No — just a simple curl or HTTP request at the end of your cron job. No agent, no SDK, and no changes to your job's core logic.
What if a job runs longer than expected?
Configure a grace window to give the job extra time. Alertum only creates an incident if the ping hasn't arrived by the end of the grace window.
Can I monitor jobs in different time zones?
Yes — Alertum heartbeat intervals are based on duration rather than time-of-day, so they work correctly for jobs in any timezone.
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