cron runs but script is not executed properly

[ichbindev]

I have the following bash script for daily backing up of mysql database and deleting some temporary files. Its main steps are: (1) Use mysqldump to create a backup .sql file; (2) Zip up the file; (3) Copy the file to a Windows shared folder using smbclient; (4) Delete the sql and zip file created; (5) Delete some files from a directory.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
Date=`date "+%Y%m%d%H%M%S%n"`
DBUser="mydbuser"
UserPassword="mydbpassword"
BkpUser="mybkpuser"
BkpPassword="mybkppassword"
mysqldump mydatabase -u$DBUser -p$UserPassword > /home/me/daily-backup/mydatabase.sql
cd /home/me/daily-backup/
zip mydatabase-"$Date".zip mydatabase.sql
smbclient "//bkpserver/backup" -I10.10.1.10 -Wworkgroup -U $BkpUser%$BkpPassword < /home/me/scripts/smbclient-commands
rm mydatabase.sql mydatabase-"$Date".zip
cd /home/me/tempfiles/
rm -f *.csv

The file smbclient-commands has the following contents
prompt
mput *.zip
quit

I set up cron with the following

crontab -u me -e

and then input the following line

00 05 * * * /home/me/scripts/dailybackup.sh

cron runs successfully, but instead of executing the shell script properly, it creates a binary file in /home/me/daily-backup/. When I run the script manually, it works perfectly. I have given execute permissions on script to user and other, read is allowed for user, group, and other. daily-backup directory has read, write, and execute permission for user and other. smbclient-commands file has read permission for user, group, and other; write permission to user.

I am using Ubuntu Gutsy server edition. Is there something I am doing wrong and need to correct so that it runs properly?

[Titan8990]

I can't say for sure what you problem is but I can help to clean that script up a little.

"cd /home/me/daily-backup/"

This is bad practice for scripts. You should always use absolute paths. So that would change the next line to:

zip mydatabase-"$Date".zip /home/me/daily-backup/mydatabase.sql


So, it is correctly creating the mysqldump but failing at zipping and/or transfering it via SMB?

[ichbindev]

It's creating the dump and the zip files but not able to copy the file via smbclient. Instead, there is a binary file created with weird names like ziqaxKgX or something like that.

[ichbindev]

i found a tutorial online (http://www.techsneeze.com/smbclient-...windows-server) which shows how to use the -c flag and give commands while calling smbclient. i will try that solution instead of getting commands from a file and see if that works. will post once i have results.

[ichbindev]

i found out that getting mysql dump and then zipping it is not the problem. when it zips the directories, then it creates a binary file with a weird name and also doesn't move anything via smbclient. if i comment out the lines where it zips up directories, then the scheduled job is able to move the zip of mysql dump.

[ichbindev]

i could not find a solution but someone else did. i found a blog post (Problem running bash script in cron) referencing my own question here, and a solution was posted there. i followed the instructions and got the problem solved.