Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

FreeBSD Manual Pages

  
 
  

home | help
PERIODIC.CONF(5)	      File Formats Manual	      PERIODIC.CONF(5)

NAME
       periodic.conf --	periodic job configuration information

DESCRIPTION
       The  file periodic.conf contains	a description of how daily, weekly and
       monthly	system	maintenance  jobs  should  run.	  It  resides  in  the
       /etc/defaults  directory	 and  parts may	be overridden by a file	of the
       same  name  in  /etc,  which  itself   may   be	 overridden   by   the
       /etc/periodic.conf.local	file.

       The  periodic.conf file is actually sourced as a	shell script from each
       of the periodic scripts and is intended to simply provide default  con-
       figuration variables.

       The following variables are used	by periodic(8) itself:

	   local_periodic
	       (str) List of directories to search for periodic	scripts.  This
	       list  is	 always	 prefixed with /etc/periodic, and is only used
	       when an argument	to periodic(8) is not  an  absolute  directory
	       name.

	   <dir>_output
	       (path  or  list)	What to	do with	the output of the scripts exe-
	       cuted from the directory	dir.  If this variable is  set	to  an
	       absolute	path name, output is logged to that file, otherwise it
	       is  taken  as  one  or more space separated email addresses and
	       mailed to those users.  If this	variable  is  not  set	or  is
	       empty, output is	sent to	standard output.

	       For  an	unattended  machine, suitable values for daily_output,
	       weekly_output,	   and	    monthly_output	might	    be
	       "/var/log/daily.log",	     "/var/log/weekly.log",	   and
	       "/var/log/monthly.log" respectively, as newsyslog(8)  will  ro-
	       tate these files	(if they exists) at the	appropriate times.

	   <dir>_show_success

	   <dir>_show_info

	   <dir>_show_badconfig
	       (bool)  These  variables	 control whether periodic(8) will mask
	       the output of the executed scripts based	on their  return  code
	       (where  dir is the base directory name in which each script re-
	       sides).	 If  the  return  code	of  a  script	is   `0'   and
	       <dir>_show_success  is  set  to "NO", periodic(8) will mask the
	       script's	output.	 If the	return code of a  script  is  `1'  and
	       <dir>_show_info	is  set	 to  "NO",  periodic(8)	 will mask the
	       script's	output.	 If the	return code of a  script  is  `2'  and
	       <dir>_show_badconfig  is	set to "NO", periodic(8) will mask the
	       script's	output.	 If these variables are	set to	neither	 "YES"
	       nor "NO", they default to "YES",	"YES" and "NO" respectively.

	       Refer  to  the  periodic(8)  manual  page for how script	return
	       codes are interpreted.

       The following variables are used	by the standard	scripts	that reside in
       /etc/periodic/daily:

	   daily_clean_disks_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to remove  all  files  matching
	       daily_clean_disks_files daily.

	   daily_clean_disks_files
	       (str)  Set  to  a  list of file names to	match.	Wild cards are
	       permitted.

	   daily_clean_disks_days
	       (num) When daily_clean_disks_enable is set to "YES", this  must
	       also  be	set to the number of days old that a file's access and
	       modification times must be before it is deleted.

	   daily_clean_disks_verbose
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want the removed  files  to  be  re-
	       ported in your daily output.

	   daily_clean_tmps_enable
	       (bool)  Set to "YES" if you want	to clear temporary directories
	       daily.

	   daily_clean_tmps_dirs
	       (str)  Set  to  the   list   of	 directories   to   clear   if
	       daily_clean_tmps_enable is set to "YES".

	   daily_clean_tmps_days
	       (num)  When  daily_clean_tmps_enable  is	set, this must also be
	       set to the number of days old that a file's access and  modifi-
	       cation times must be before it is deleted.

	   daily_clean_tmps_ignore
	       (str)  Set to the list of files that should not be deleted when
	       daily_clean_tmps_enable is set to "YES".	 Wild card  characters
	       are permitted.

	   daily_clean_tmps_verbose
	       (bool)  Set  to	"YES"  if you want the removed files to	be re-
	       ported in your daily output.

	   daily_clean_preserve_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if  you  wish  to  remove  old  files  from
	       /var/preserve.

	   daily_clean_preserve_days
	       (num)  Set  to the number of days that files must not have been
	       modified	before they are	deleted.

	   daily_clean_preserve_verbose
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want the removed  files  to  be  re-
	       ported in your daily output.

	   daily_clean_msgs_enable
	       (bool)  Set  to	"YES"  if  you	wish old system	messages to be
	       purged.

	   daily_clean_msgs_days
	       (num) Set to the	number of days that files must not  have  been
	       modified	 before	 they  are  deleted.  If this variable is left
	       blank, the msgs(1) default is used.

	   daily_clean_rwho_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you wish old files  in  /var/who	to  be
	       purged.

	   daily_clean_rwho_days
	       (num)  Set  to the number of days that files must not have been
	       modified	before they are	deleted.

	   daily_clean_rwho_verbose
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want the removed  files  to  be  re-
	       ported in your daily output.

	   daily_clean_hoststat_enable
	       (bool)  Set to "YES" to run sendmail -bH	to automatically purge
	       stale entries from sendmail(8)'s	host status cache.  Files will
	       be deleted using	the same criteria as  sendmail(8)  would  nor-
	       mally use when determining whether to believe the cached	infor-
	       mation, as configured in	/etc/mail/sendmail.cf.

	   daily_backup_passwd_enable
	       (bool)  Set  to	"YES"  if  you want the	/etc/master.passwd and
	       /etc/group files	backed up and reported on.  Reporting consists
	       of checking both	files for modifications	and running  chkgrp(8)
	       on the group file.

	   daily_backup_aliases_enable
	       (bool)  Set  to	"YES"  if  you want the	/etc/mail/aliases file
	       backed up and modifications to be displayed in your daily  out-
	       put.

	   daily_calendar_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to run calendar -a daily.

	   daily_accounting_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to rotate your daily accounting
	       files.	No rotations are necessary unless accounting_enable is
	       enabled in rc.conf(5).

	   daily_accounting_compress
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want your daily accounting files  to
	       be compressed using gzip(1).

	   daily_accounting_save
	       (num) When daily_accounting_enable is set, this may also	be set
	       to  the	number of daily	accounting files that are to be	saved.
	       The default is "3".

	   daily_accounting_flags
	       (str) Set to the	arguments to pass to the sa(8) utility (in ad-
	       dition to -s) when daily_accounting_enable  is  set  to	"YES".
	       The default is -q.

	   daily_news_expire_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to run /etc/news.expire.

	   daily_status_disks_enable
	       (bool)  Set  to	"YES" if you want to run df(1) (with the argu-
	       ments supplied in daily_status_disks_df_flags) and dump -W.

	   daily_status_disks_df_flags
	       (str)  Set  to  the  arguments  for  the	 df(1)	utility	  when
	       daily_status_disks_enable is set	to "YES".

	   daily_status_ata_raid_enable
	       (bool)  Set  to	"YES"  if you want to run atacontrol status on
	       your ataraid(4) arrays.

	   daily_status_gmirror_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to run gmirror status  on  your
	       gmirror(8) devices.

	   daily_status_graid3_enable
	       (bool)  Set  to	"YES" if you want to run graid3	status on your
	       graid3(8) devices.

	   daily_status_gstripe_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to run gstripe status  on  your
	       gstripe(8) devices.

	   daily_status_gconcat_enable
	       (bool)  Set  to "YES" if	you want to run	gconcat	status on your
	       gconcat(8) devices.

	   daily_status_network_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to run netstat -i.

	   daily_status_network_usedns
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to run netstat(1)  without  the
	       -n option (to do	DNS lookups).

	   daily_status_rwho_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to run uptime(1)	(or ruptime(1)
	       if rwhod_enable is set to "YES" in /etc/rc.conf).

	   daily_status_mailq_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to run mailq(1).

	   daily_status_mailq_shorten
	       (bool)  Set to "YES" if you want	to shorten the mailq(1)	output
	       when daily_status_mailq_enable is set to	"YES".

	   daily_status_include_submit_mailq
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you also want to	run  mailq(1)  on  the
	       submit  mail  queue  when  daily_status_mailq_enable  is	set to
	       "YES".  This may	not work with MTAs other than sendmail(8).

	   daily_status_security_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to run the security check.  The
	       security	check is another set of	periodic(8) scripts.  The sys-
	       tem defaults  are  in  /etc/periodic/security.	Local  scripts
	       should  be placed in /usr/local/etc/periodic/security.  See the
	       periodic(8) manual page for more	information.

	   daily_status_security_inline
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want the security check  output  in-
	       line.   The default is to either	mail or	log the	output accord-
	       ing to the value	of daily_status_security_output.

	   daily_status_security_output
	       (str) Where to  send  the  output  of  the  security  check  if
	       daily_status_security_inline is set to "NO".  This variable be-
	       haves  in  the same way as the *_output variables above,	namely
	       it can be set either to one or more email addresses  or	to  an
	       absolute	file name.

	   daily_status_security_diff_flags
	       (str)  Set to the arguments to pass to the diff(1) utility when
	       generating differences.	The default is -b -u.

	   daily_status_security_chksetuid_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" to compare the modes	and modification times
	       of setuid executables with the previous day's values.

	   daily_status_security_chkmounts_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" to check for	changes	mounted	 file  systems
	       to the previous day's values.

	   daily_status_security_noamd
	       (bool)  Set  to	"YES" if you want to ignore amd(8) mounts when
	       comparing  against  yesterday's	file  system  mounts  in   the
	       daily_status_security_chkmounts_enable check.

	   daily_status_security_chkuid0_enable
	       (bool)  Set  to	"YES" to check /etc/master.passwd for accounts
	       with UID	0.

	   daily_status_security_passwdless_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" to check  /etc/master.passwd	 for  accounts
	       with empty passwords.

	   daily_status_security_logincheck_enable
	       (bool)  Set  to	"YES"  to check	/etc/login.conf	ownership, see
	       login.conf(5) for more information.

	   daily_status_security_ipfwdenied_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" to show log entries for packets  denied  by
	       ipfw(8) since yesterday's check.

	   daily_status_security_ipfdenied_enable
	       (bool)  Set  to "YES" to	show log entries for packets denied by
	       ipf(8) since yesterday's	check.

	   daily_status_security_pfdenied_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" to show log entries for packets  denied  by
	       pf(4) since yesterday's check.

	   daily_status_security_ipfwlimit_enable
	       (bool)  Set to "YES" to display ipfw(8) rules that have reached
	       their verbosity limit.

	   daily_status_security_kernelmsg_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" to show new dmesg(8)	entries	since  yester-
	       day's check.

	   daily_status_security_loginfail_enable
	       (bool)	Set   to   "YES"   to	display	  failed  logins  from
	       /var/log/messages in the	previous day.

	   daily_status_security_tcpwrap_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" to display connections denied  by  tcpwrap-
	       pers  (see  hosts_access(5))  from /var/log/messages during the
	       previous	day.

	   daily_status_mail_rejects_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to  summarise  mail  rejections
	       logged to /var/log/maillog for the previous day.

	   daily_status_mail_rejects_logs
	       (num) Set to the	number of maillog files	that should be checked
	       for yesterday's mail rejects.

	   daily_status_named_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to summarise denied zone	trans-
	       fers (AXFR and IXFR) for	the previous day.

	   daily_status_named_usedns
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to enable reverse DNS lookups.

	   daily_status_ntpd
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to enable NTP status check.

	   daily_queuerun_enable
	       (bool)  Set to "YES" if you want	to manually run	the mail queue
	       at least	once a day.

	   daily_submit_queuerun
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you also want to manually	run the	submit
	       mail queue at least once	a day  when  daily_queuerun_enable  is
	       set to "YES".

	   daily_local
	       (str)  Set  to a	list of	extra scripts that should be run after
	       all other daily scripts.	 All scripts  must  be	absolute  path
	       names.

       The following variables are used	by the standard	scripts	that reside in
       /etc/periodic/weekly:

	   weekly_locate_enable
	       (bool)	  Set	 to    "YES"	if    you    want    to	   run
	       /usr/libexec/locate.updatedb.  This script is run using nice -5
	       as user "nobody", and generates the table used by the locate(1)
	       command.

	   weekly_whatis_enable
	       (bool)	 Set	to    "YES"    if    you    want    to	   run
	       /usr/libexec/makewhatis.local.	This  script  regenerates  the
	       database	used by	the apropos(1) command.

	   weekly_catman_enable
	       (bool)	 Set	to    "YES"    if    you    want    to	   run
	       /usr/libexec/catman.local.   This  script  processes all	out of
	       date manual pages, speeding up the man(1) command  at  the  ex-
	       pense of	disk space.

	   weekly_noid_enable
	       (bool) Set to "YES" if you want to locate orphaned files	on the
	       system.	 An  orphaned  file  is	 one  with an invalid owner or
	       group.

	   weekly_noid_dirs
	       (str) A list of directories  under  which  orphaned  files  are
	       searched	for.  This would usually be set	to /.

	   weekly_status_pkg_enable
	       (bool)  Set  to "YES" if	you want to use	pkg_version(1) to list
	       installed packages which	are out	of date.

	   pkg_version
	       (str) When weekly_status_pkg_enable is set to "YES", this vari-
	       able specifies the program that is used to determine the	out of
	       date packages.  If unset, the pkg_version(1) program  is	 used.
	       As  an  example,	this variable might be set to "portversion" if
	       the ports/sysutils/portupgrade port has been installed.

	   pkg_version_index
	       (str) This variable specifies the INDEX	file  from  /usr/ports
	       that  should be used by pkg_version(1).	Because	the dependency
	       tree  may  be  substantially  different	between	 versions   of
	       FreeBSD,	there may be more than one INDEX file in /usr/ports.

	       Note,  if  the pkg_version variable is set to "portversion", it
	       will also be necessary to arrange that the correct  INDEX  file
	       is    specified	  using	  environment	variables   and	  that
	       pkg_version_index    is	  cleared    in	    /etc/periodic.conf
	       ("pkg_version_index=").

	   weekly_local
	       (str)  Set  to a	list of	extra scripts that should be run after
	       all other weekly	scripts.  All scripts must  be	absolute  path
	       names.

       The following variables are used	by the standard	scripts	that reside in
       /etc/periodic/monthly:

	   monthly_accounting_enable
	       (bool)  Set  to	"YES" if you want to do	login accounting using
	       the ac(8) command.

	   monthly_local
	       (str) Set to a list of extra scripts that should	be  run	 after
	       all  other  monthly scripts.  All scripts must be absolute path
	       names.

FILES
       /etc/defaults/periodic.conf  The	default	configuration file.  This file
				    contains all default variables and values.

       /etc/periodic.conf	    The	usual system specific  variable	 over-
				    ride file.

       /etc/periodic.conf.local	    An	additional  override file, useful when
				    /etc/periodic.conf is shared  or  distrib-
				    uted.

SEE ALSO
       apropos(1),  calendar(1),  df(1),  diff(1), gzip(1), locate(1), man(1),
       msgs(1),	  netstat(1),	 nice(1),    pkg_version(1),	login.conf(5),
       rc.conf(5),   ac(8),  chkgrp(8),	 dump(8),  newsyslog(8),  periodic(8),
       sendmail(8)

HISTORY
       The periodic.conf file appeared in FreeBSD 4.1.

AUTHORS
       Brian Somers <brian@Awfulhak.org>

FreeBSD	8.0			 May 12, 2007		      PERIODIC.CONF(5)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=periodic.conf&sektion=5&manpath=FreeBSD+8.0-RELEASE>

home | help