If you’re looking for a simple and cheap solution to set up cron for your drupal website and you have access to a linux router like Linksys WRT54GL or ASUS WL500P with tomato firmware - then this is the right guide for you!

Drupal and cron

It is a crucial task to set up cron for every drupal website setup. Drupal modules like search module, sitemap generator, feed aggregator, notification on updates and various other depend on configured cron. They come with a wide range of tasks which have to be periodically executet. Cron is a tool which uses ‘cron jobs’ to trigger the execution of such tasks and therefore ensure continous maintanance of the website.

Web hosting allowing cron jobs

Unfortunatelly this is not a common situation. As a customer of multiple hosting companies in Germany and Poland, I noticed one day than none of them allow cron jobs to be configured. At least for with my subscription it is not possible. Which bring us to the point why I decided to write this tutorial. Why I even ask myself how to get it done. I had to find a way to get cron set up for my drupal website without addicional cost.

How to set up cron for drupal website with tomato firmware

1. Login to your router
2. Go to Administration->Scheduler
3. Enable ‘Custom 1’ script
4. Set time and days as required (i choose to run cron every 12h)
5. Enter the script wget http://<your website>/cron.php -O /dev/null
6. Click ‘Save’ and you’re ready

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