Scheduling Tasks on a Shared Server (cron disallowed)

[gomzi]

Hi,
I would like to execute some vb code at regular intervals.
But according to my hosting provider, I wouldn't be able to do it in a shared hosting environment.
So, I would like to know, as to what my options are in that case.
Thanks,
Gomzi.

[pbmods]

Changed thread title to better match contents.

[Motoma]

What can you do on your server?
You might be able to get away with writing your own 'cron' program.

[gomzi]

What can you do on your server?
You might be able to get away with writing your own 'cron' program.

Well, quite many things I guess.
Can you tell me as to what might be required for scheduling tasks?
Because since its a shared one, I clearly don't have access to either cron or windows scheduler.

Thanks,
Gomzi.

[Motoma]

Well, quite many things I guess.
Can you tell me as to what might be required for scheduling tasks?
Because since its a shared one, I clearly don't have access to either cron or windows scheduler.

Thanks,
Gomzi.

Well, first off, what kind of hosting is it? Is it a web hosting project or a shell host or some other type of host?
Do you have shell access? VNC/RDP access?

[gomzi]

Well, first off, what kind of hosting is it? Is it a web hosting project or a shell host or some other type of host?
Do you have shell access? VNC/RDP access?

Am using the shared hosting account for hosting my website.(Hope you asked me that only!).
No. I don't have a shell access. Not sure of what VNC OR RDP are. But haven't come across anything of that sort on the control panel of my hosting account.

[Motoma]

Am using the shared hosting account for hosting my website.(Hope you asked me that only!).
No. I don't have a shell access. Not sure of what VNC OR RDP are. But haven't come across anything of that sort on the control panel of my hosting account.

What web-hosting technologies does your host support? ASP, JSP, PHP, MSSQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL? What is your site programmed in? Is this a Windows or Unix host?

[gomzi]

What web-hosting technologies does your host support? ASP, JSP, PHP, MSSQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL? What is your site programmed in? Is this a Windows or Unix host?

Well, my website has been developed using .net 2.0
the site is hosted on a shared windows hosting account.
i am using mysql as the database.

I had also talked to them. They said that in a shared hosting account i don't have access to the scheduler(windows), and if i need access to the cron, they i will have to go for the linux account. But, they also said that in a linux account my site wouldn't run since its developed in .net. Strange! Don't know what they expect me to do!!? May be switch over to a dedicated server?? maybe.

So, do I have any options?

[Motoma]

So, do I have any options?

Your other options will depend on what you need to accomplish. A lot of people think that they need to have a process executed at specific intervals, when in reality it can be faked quite easily.
Would you care to elaborate on your needs?

[gomzi]

Your other options will depend on what you need to accomplish. A lot of people think that they need to have a process executed at specific intervals, when in reality it can be faked quite easily.
Would you care to elaborate on your needs?

okay. sure.
Here's what I want to accomplish...

My website reads RSS and Atom feeds. As of now, I have to update the feeds at regular intervals manually by going to the admin section of my site. So, I thought that if I could automate that procedure, then I wouldn't have to worry about the updation taking place properly.

[Motoma]

okay. sure.
Here's what I want to accomplish...

My website reads RSS and Atom feeds. As of now, I have to update the feeds at regular intervals manually by going to the admin section of my site. So, I thought that if I could automate that procedure, then I wouldn't have to worry about the updation taking place properly.

Now that is an easy one.
Keep track of the last time you have updated any particular feed, as well as the feed itself in a database. When a feed is requested, check to see when the last update was, if this is older than you would like it to be, perform the update, and change the contents of your database appropriately.
This will save your system bandwidth, and get the same thing accomplished as a cron job would.

[gomzi]

Now that is an easy one.
Keep track of the last time you have updated any particular feed, as well as the feed itself in a database. When a feed is requested, check to see when the last update was, if this is older than you would like it to be, perform the update, and change the contents of your database appropriately.
This will save your system bandwidth, and get the same thing accomplished as a cron job would.

Hmm.... nice solution man.
Don't know why it didn't strike me!! :)

Thanks a lot.
Gomzi.

[Motoma]

Hmm.... nice solution man.
Don't know why it didn't strike me!! :)

Thanks a lot.
Gomzi.

Hope it works out for you. Come back if you have any more problems.