Crontab Resource

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Use the crontab Chef InSpec audit resource to test the crontab entries for a particular user on the system. It recognizes special time strings (@yearly, @weekly, etc).

Availability

Installation

This resource is distributed along with Chef InSpec itself. You can use it automatically.

Version

This resource first became available in v1.15.0 of InSpec.

Syntax

A crontab resource block declares a user (which defaults to the current user) and the details to be tested, such as the schedule elements for each crontab entry or the exact commands themselves:

describe crontab do
  its('commands') { should include '/some/scheduled/task.sh' }
end

Note

The include matcher in this context specifies the entire list of commands that the crontab should include and not a particular substring that should be included by a command. The include matcher always matches a complete command invocation, including options and arguments.

The path to the system crontab can also be supplied via:

describe crontab(path: '/etc/cron.d/some_crontab') do
  its('commands') { should include '/path/to/some/script' }
end

Note that only the path or the user (and not both) should be supplied as arguments to the resource.

Examples

The following examples show how to use this Chef InSpec audit resource.

Test that root’s crontab has a particular command

describe crontab('root') do
  its('commands') { should include '/path/to/some/script -option arg' }
end

Test that myuser’s crontab entry for command ‘/home/myuser/build.sh’ runs every minute

describe crontab('myuser').commands('/home/myuser/build.sh') do
  its('hours') { should cmp '*' }
  its('minutes') { should cmp '*' }
end

Test that the logged-in user’s crontab has no tasks set to run on every hour and every minute

describe crontab.where({'hour' => '*', 'minute' => '*'}) do
  its('entries.length') { should cmp '0' }
end

Test that the logged-in user’s crontab contains a single command that matches a pattern

describe crontab.where { command =~ /a partial command string/ } do
  its('entries.length') { should cmp 1 }
end

Test a special time string (i.e., @yearly /root/annual_report.sh)

describe crontab.commands('/root/annual_report.sh') do
  its('hours') { should cmp '0' }
  its('minutes') { should cmp '0' }
  its('days') { should cmp '1' }
  its('months') { should cmp '1' }
end

Test @reboot case

describe crontab.commands('/root/reboot.sh') do
  its('hours') { should cmp '-1' }
  its('minutes') { should cmp '-1' }
end

Property Examples

Test a special time string

describe crontab do
  its('minutes') { should cmp '0' }
  its('hours') { should cmp '0' }
  its('days') { should cmp '1' }
  its('weekdays') { should cmp '1' }
  its('user') { should include 'username'}
  its('commands') { should include '/some/scheduled/task.sh' }
end

Chef InSpec will automatically interpret crontab-supported special time strings. For example, a crontab entry set to run @yearly can be tested as if the entry was manually configured to run on January 1, 12 AM.

Matchers

For a full list of available matchers, please visit our matchers page.

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