Using automated tasks on a Web Hosting plan

Find out how to configure scheduled jobs on your Web Hosting

Objective

On your OVHcloud web hosting, you can use scripts to automate certain operations. A scheduled task ("cron job") runs your scripts at specific times, automatically.

This guide explains how to create cron jobs to automate scheduled tasks on a web hosting plan.

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Warning

This guide is designed to help you with common tasks. However, we recommend contacting a specialist provider or reach out to the OVHcloud community if you encounter any difficulties. We will not be able to assist you.

Requirements

An OVHcloud web hosting plan

OVHcloud Control Panel Access

Direct link:
Navigation path: Web Cloud > Hosting plans > Select your web hosting plan

Instructions

Creating an automated task

Click on the tabs below to view each of the 5 steps.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Go to the page, then select the web hosting plan concerned.

Customise the task settings in the window that appears.

Option	Description
Command to be executed	Define the path to the file containing your script. Example: www/jobs/cron.php
Language	Select the PHP version the script is using.
Activation	Choose whether the task will be active after creation or activated later.
Logs by email	If necessary, select a contact (admin or technical) to whom a report will be sent in case of an execution error. You can also provide an alternative email address.
Description	Enter a description to keep track of what your tasks do.

Click on Next.

The interface offers two modes to configure the frequency of your task:

Basic mode: use the drop-down menus to specify the time of day, days of a month, week days and months for the task.
Expert mode: enter numeric values as you would in a crontab.

Basic mode	Expert mode
Use the drop-down menus to specify the time of day, days of a month, week days and months for the task.	Enter numeric values as you would in a crontab. The asterisk operator denotes "every value" of the time period, meaning the task would continuously run once an hour every day in this example.

Info

The Days form allows you to define execution frequencies on a monthly cycle.

The Days of the week form allows you to define additional execution frequencies, but on a weekly cycle.

You can switch between the two modes during configuration. Please also note the limitations when scheduling a task on a web hosting plan.

Click on Next.

Modify or delete a scheduled task

Click on the tabs below to view each of the 3 steps.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Go to the page, then select the web hosting plan concerned.

Limitations of web hosting tasks

Functionality	Description
Hourly scheduling	You might notice that the field for "Minutes of the hour" is disabled in the interface (set to "?" in the crontab view). A task can only be executed once an hour as the highest repetition frequency and the minute of execution cannot be specified.
Running time	The time limit for a task is 60 minutes. If a script exceeds this running time, it will be stopped automatically by the system.
Variables	You can only define variables in a script. Adding them to the URL calling the script will not work (Example: www/jobs/cron.php?variable=value).
Data limit	A task can only generate up to 5 MB of data (stdin/stderr). For example, if a script writes data into a .txt file, the execution will be stopped automatically once the file reaches 5 MB in size.
Scripts producing errors	If a script is faulty, it will be automatically disabled after 10 failed execution attempts. The error report will only be sent when the 10 attempts have failed. Correct your script according to the error report received, then reactivate the cron task in the Control Panel (click `...` then on `Edit`.)
Execution reports	Reports will be sent to your selected email address only once a day (during night hours).

Troubleshooting

Testing your script with a web browser

A simple test to see if your script will produce an error is to run it in a web browser. For example, if the file path of your script is "www/cron.php" and your hosting domain is "mypersonaldomain.ovh", you would use the URL "http://mypersonaldomain.ovh/cron.php". If no error is showing up but the script is not performing as expected, follow up with the suggestions below.

Verifying the usage of absolute paths

Always make sure to use absolute paths to files in your scripts. The "DIR" constant, for example, can help to receive the current path in PHP scripts (PHP documentation).

Checking your execution logs

In your web hosting's logs, accessible from the , you will see the log category labelled "cron".

Please refer to this guide for details.

Example logs

Example of a successfully finished execution output

[2026-03-30 00:36:01] ## OVH ## START - 2026-03-30 00:36:01.524384 executing: /usr/local/php7.2/bin/php /homez.161/myftpusername/www/myscript.sh
[2026-03-30 00:36:01]
[2026-03-30 00:36:01] ## OVH ## END - 2023-08-10 22:39:44.086166 exitcode: 0

Example of a failed execution output due to exceeded execution time

[2026-03-30 00:36:01] ## OVH ## START - 2026-03-30 00:36:01.524384 executing: /usr/local/php7.2/bin/php /homez.161/myftpusername/www/sleep.sh
[2026-03-30 01:36:01] ## OVH ## ERROR - CRON TASK INTERRUPTED BY OVH - reason: your script duration exceeded the maximum permitted (3600 seconds)
[2026-03-30 01:36:01] ## OVH ## END - 2026-03-30 01:36:01.086166 exitcode: 0

Example of a failed execution output because the script file was not found in the specified path

[2026-03-30 00:36:01] ## OVH ## START - 2026-03-30 00:36:01.524384 executing: /usr/local/php7.2/bin/php /homez.161/myftpusername/www/noscript.sh
[2026-03-30 00:36:01] ## OVH ## ERROR command '/homez.161/myftpusername/www/noscript.sh' not found
[2026-03-30 00:36:01] ## OVH ## END - 2026-03-30 00:36:01.086166 exitcode: 255

Example of a failed execution output because of a permissions error (chmod) or incorrect configuration of the .ovhconfig file

[2026-03-30 18:07:10] ## OVH ## Your job could not be initiated for an unknown reason.
[2026-03-30 18:07:10]
[2026-03-30 18:07:10] ## OVH ## END - 2026-03-30 18:07:10.969840 exitcode: 255

Go further

Configuring the .ovhconfig file of your Web Hosting plan

Using SSH on a Web Hosting plan

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