Verify Cron Job Completed: Confirm Successful Completion
Your cron job is scheduled, but did it actually complete? Learn how to verify job completion and detect when jobs don't finish.
Why Completion Verification Matters
Jobs can start but not complete:
- Job hangs indefinitely
- Job crashes mid-execution
- Job times out
- Job exits early without completing work
Without explicit completion confirmation, you can't tell if the job finished successfully.
How to Verify Completion
Send an explicit completion ping at the end of your script. If the ping doesn't arrive, you know the job didn't complete. The ping must be inside your script.
Bash Example: Ping on Completion
#!/bin/bashset -e# Your work./backup.sh./sync.sh# Single ping at end - if job fails, ping won't arrive and DeadManPing will alertcurl -X POST "https://deadmanping.com/api/ping/backup-daily"Python Example: Completion Confirmation
import requests# Your workperform_backup()sync_data()# Single ping at end - if job fails, ping won't arrive and DeadManPing will alertrequests.post("https://deadmanping.com/api/ping/backup-daily")Verifying Completion with Dead Man Switch
A dead man switch verifies completion by monitoring whether your explicit completion ping arrives. If the ping doesn't arrive within the expected interval, you know the job didn't complete.
Working Examples
See complete, working code examples in our GitHub repository:
View Examples on GitHub →Start Verifying Job Completion
DeadManPing monitors whether your completion pings arrive. Set up monitoring in 2 minutes, get alerts when jobs don't complete.
Start Monitoring FreeRelated Articles
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