How to configure cron with debug logging

Environment

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Issue

How can cron be configured to run in debug mode for more detailed logging?

Resolution

The crond daemon has an -x option to set the following debug flags:

crond -x [ext,sch,proc,pars,load,misc,test,bit]

ext   print extended debugging information
sch   scheduling
proc  process control
pars  parsing
load  database loading
misc  miscellaneous
test  test mode - do not actually execute any commands
bit   show how various bits are set (long)

Add the following line to the /etc/sysconfig/crond file to enable debugging:

CRONDARGS="-x ext,sch,proc,pars,load,misc,bit"

Restart the crond daemon:

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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 $ sudo service crond restart

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 or later $ sudo systemctl restart crond

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Additional log entries for cron will be in the /var/log/messages file.