So confused!

[jsgypsy]

I am using version 2 pro. What is the difference between what we set up in the Admin panel for the Cronjob configuration, and then setting up Cronjobs? Is it something that is necessary?

All I want to do is for the pagerank to work correctly(seems to work when adding a link userside, but not when added manually though AdminCP).... and, I want it to check for reciprocal and broken links.

BTW, my PHP version came out with no bugs at all. Am I making more work for myself?

[Bryan Ex]

What is the difference between what we set up in the Admin panel for the Cronjob configuration, and then setting up Cronjobs?
The settings in the admin panel determine how much the cron does each time it runs so that you can balance between server load and having your links as current as possible.
Is it something that is necessary?
Technically... no, but it would mean either doing without site status updates or running cron manually by hitting it with your browser on a regular basis. You are far better to stick it out and get it set up properly if you don't need another hobby at this time. :wink: The good news is that it's not a difficult procedure and once it's done, it's done. It sounds like you've already found the how to article and there are many folks on the forums that can help explain things if need be.
All I want to do is for the pagerank to work correctly(seems to work when adding a link userside, but not when added manually though AdminCP).... and, I want it to check for reciprocal and broken links.
There seem to be several functions that aren't checked when admin adds a link but cron will get them all once it gets around to checking the specific link.
Am I making more work for myself?
Just the opposite... you will be saving yourself a ton of hassles as your directory grows.

[jsgypsy]

Thanks so much for the reply.... at least now I know that it IS something I want to do.

However, the site I host with doesn't have this Crontab, so I've had to use something called Putty. So now I can't really follow along with the instructions in the Knowledge Base. I feel like I'm in way over my head now as I will have to learn a new 'language' to set this up. I am waiting to hear back from support - maybe this is something they will do for me? *pretty please?!* lol

[Bryan Ex]

Here's a solution for you that I used for almost two years way back when I was on shared hosting - http://www.webcron.org/

What these guys do is offer free web based cron tasks. All you need to do is register, set up a task using the full URL to your check.php file (something like http://www.mydomain.com/dir/cron/check.php ), and then set it to run every hour.

Advantages...
- gives you understandable access to your own cron job
- it's free and easy to set up
- logs every cron task
- works very well

Disadvantages...
- minimum cron time is every hour (15 minutes is in the works I understand)
- you can only set up three crons for free (you only need 1 for eSyndiCat)
- you eventually have to log in to their site to clear your log files.

If you go this route I would set cron to run every hour and then in Admin set cron for 10 links at a time with a complete cycle in 1 day (240 links), 2 days for 480 links, etc. Just adjust it as your directory grows.

[jsgypsy]

Thankyou very much for that useful link! I'll have to look into that some more. Unfortunately I only know a few French words :huh: . I guess I should have taken more than just Spanish in school. I'm sure I'll work my way through it though. Thanks again!

[Bryan Ex]

Whoops... forgot to mention that part. Bottom left corner of the main page allows you to switch to English. The translation is a little rough but certainly good enough to understand the instructions. I had the English page bookmarked and forgot that it was French by default.