How to use GoDaddy Cron Manager for WP-o-Matic

Gary Eckstein Internet 26 , , , , , , , , , ,

WordPress Wp-O-Matic not working with godaddy? Here is the solution…

GoDaddy is used by many people to host their websites. Among the many Tool offered with GoDaddy Linux hosting is a Cron Manager. Cron is very simplistically the Linux / Unix equivalent of Windows ‘Scheduled Tasks’. The GoDaddy version simplifies the usual command based Cron interface by providing a GUI where just a few options need to be filled. Because the GoDaddy Cron Manager is not command line based, many people find it difficult to get the Cron Manager to work. Below is a tutorial of how to get WordPress WP-o-Matic Cron to work with godaddy.com hosting:

Use Cron for WP-o-Matic

WP-o-Matic is a popular WordPress Plugin which creates posts from RSS feeds. The posts may be ‘Fetched’ by WP-o-Matic manually, by accessing a specific URL on your website (URL supplied in the Options tab of WP-o-Matic) or via Cron (Cron command supplied in the Options tab of WP-o-Matic). The Cron method is great for automating WP-o-Matic to fetch and create posts however there is a little trick that seems to have many GoDaddy users unable to automate the WP-o-Matic fetch.

In the first paragraph of this post it is described that the GoDaddy Cron Manager is GUI and not command line based. The Cron string supplied on the Options tab of WP-o-Matic is intended for Cron Command lines. So, to get GoDaddy to tell WP-o-Matic to fetch according to a specified schedule all we need to do is

  1. Go to WP-o-Matic Options Tab in your WordPress install.
  2. Ensure that in ‘Unix cron’ is checked (in WP-o-Matic Options in your WordPress install).
  3. In the Cron command highlight all characters EXCULDING those before ‘/usr’ (i.e. in the Cron command field the value will look something like ‘*/20 * * * * /usr/bin/curl http://example.com/wp-content/plugins/WP-o-Matic/cron.php?code=ba360243’ however we only require ‘/usr/bin/curl http://example.com/wp-content/plugins/WP-o-Matic/cron.php?code=ba360243’ to be highlighted).
  4. Copy why you have highlighted.
  5. Paste into the ‘command’ field in GoDaddy Cron Manager.
  6. Fill the other GoDaddy Cron Manager fields with your options and save.

(see the diagram below for an example of setting up a new ‘Cron Job’ to get WordPress WP-o-Matic to fetch posts at 6 P.M. daily.).

You will now receive an email from Cron Manager every time the Cron command is run.