← All cron schedules
Cron every 2 minutes
The cron expression */2 * * * * runs a job every 2 minutes. The next runs are 2026-10-12 19:20 and 2026-10-12 19:22 UTC. The shortest gap between runs is 2 minutes, so a heartbeat monitor with a 5-minute grace period catches a missed run.
*/2 * * * *
Every 2 minutes.
| minute | hour | day of month | month | day of week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| */2 | * | * | * | * |
Next runs (UTC)
- Mon 2026-10-12 19:20 UTC (+00:00) · in 1m
- Mon 2026-10-12 19:22 UTC (+00:00) · in 3m
- Mon 2026-10-12 19:24 UTC (+00:00) · in 5m
- Mon 2026-10-12 19:26 UTC (+00:00) · in 7m
- Mon 2026-10-12 19:28 UTC (+00:00) · in 9m
- Mon 2026-10-12 19:30 UTC (+00:00) · in 11m
- Mon 2026-10-12 19:32 UTC (+00:00) · in 13m
- Mon 2026-10-12 19:34 UTC (+00:00) · in 15m
- Mon 2026-10-12 19:36 UTC (+00:00) · in 17m
- Mon 2026-10-12 19:38 UTC (+00:00) · in 19m
Notes for this schedule
If a run can take longer than the interval, runs pile up on top of each other. Wrap the command in
flock -n /tmp/my-job.lock so a new run is skipped while the previous one is still going.Examples
crontab (crontab -e)
*/2 * * * * /usr/local/bin/my-job.sh && curl -fsS -m 10 --retry 3 -o /dev/null https://puzaricloud.in/ping/<your-token>
systemd timer
# /etc/systemd/system/my-job.timer [Unit] Description=Run my-job (every 2 minutes) [Timer] OnCalendar=*-*-* *:00/2:00 Persistent=true [Install] WantedBy=timers.target
and the service it starts
# /etc/systemd/system/my-job.service [Unit] Description=my-job [Service] Type=oneshot ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/my-job.sh # runs only if ExecStart succeeded ExecStartPost=/usr/bin/curl -fsS -m 10 --retry 3 -o /dev/null https://puzaricloud.in/ping/<your-token>
Check the calendar spec with systemd-analyze calendar "*-*-* *:00/2:00", then systemctl enable --now my-job.timer. Persistent=true runs a missed job at boot.
Kubernetes CronJob
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
name: my-job
spec:
schedule: "*/2 * * * *"
timeZone: "Etc/UTC" # Kubernetes 1.27+; otherwise the controller's timezone
concurrencyPolicy: Forbid # don't start a new run while one is active
startingDeadlineSeconds: 300 # still start if the controller was briefly down
jobTemplate:
spec:
backoffLimit: 2
template:
spec:
restartPolicy: OnFailure
containers:
- name: job
image: your-image:tag
command: ["/bin/sh", "-c", "/app/run-job.sh && curl -fsS -m 10 --retry 3 -o /dev/null https://puzaricloud.in/ping/<your-token>"]
GitHub Actions: not possible. The shortest schedule GitHub runs is every 5 minutes, and runs are often delayed.
Common mistakes
Server timezone. cron uses the machine's local timezone, and most cloud VMs and containers are set to UTC. Check with
timedatectl or date. cronie (RHEL, Fedora, Arch) accepts CRON_TZ=Asia/Kolkata at the top of a crontab; Debian/Ubuntu cron does not.Daylight saving time. On DST days, local times around 01:00-03:00 are skipped or repeated. Vixie cron/cronie try to run skipped fixed-time jobs just after the jump and not twice in the repeated hour; Kubernetes, systemd and most libraries behave differently. Schedule in UTC if 'exactly once' matters.
Day-of-month OR day-of-week. If both the 3rd and 5th fields are restricted, cron runs when either matches:
0 0 13 * 5 runs on every 13th and every Friday, not only on Friday the 13th.Unescaped %. In a crontab line,
% is turned into a newline (everything after it goes to the command's stdin). Write date +\%F, not date +%F.A different environment. cron runs with a minimal
PATH (often just /usr/bin:/bin), no login shell and no .bashrc. Use absolute paths and set variables at the top of the crontab.Silent failures. cron doesn't tell anyone when a job fails or stops running; output goes to local mail nobody reads. A heartbeat monitor that expects a ping after every run is the only reliable way to notice.
How to get alerted when it doesn't run
A cron job that stops running looks exactly like one that's working: no errors, no output. The reliable fix is a heartbeat (dead man's switch): the job pings a URL each time it finishes, and the monitor alerts you when a ping is late.
- Create a heartbeat in Vigil and choose cron schedule: */2 * * * *, timezone of your server.
- Set a grace period of about 5 minutes: long enough for a normal run to finish, short enough that you hear about it quickly.
- Add the ping to the end of the command (above). && means only successful runs ping; use /ping/<token>/$? to report the exit code, and /start to catch jobs that hang.
Related: every minute * * * * * · every 30 seconds * * * * * · every 3 minutes */3 * * * * · every 5 minutes */5 * * * * · every 7 minutes */7 * * * * · every 10 minutes */10 * * * * · every 15 minutes */15 * * * * · every 20 minutes */20 * * * *
How Vigil can watch this for you
Monitor this cron job free
Vigil tells you when a run is missed
Vigil heartbeats understand cron expressions and timezones, so they know exactly when each run is due. Missed, failed or stuck runs alert you on email, Slack, Telegram, Discord or a webhook, and the history shows every run's duration.
Free plan, no card. Alerts on email, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Teams or any webhook.