Cron & jobs

The Drupal Operator uses several Kubernetes Jobs and CronJobs to manage:

  • Drupal cron
  • Automatic database backups
  • Automatic files backups
  • Database import
  • Files import
  • Optional locale/translation updates

The main orchestration logic is in roles/setup/tasks/main.yaml.

Drupal cron

Controlled by:

  • drupal_cron (boolean, default true)
  • drupal_cron_schedule (default "*/5 * * * *")

When drupal_cron: true, the operator creates a CronJob:

  • Name: <name>-drupal-cron
  • Namespace: same as the Drupal CR

The CronJob runs Drupal cron on the schedule you specify.

Suspend / resume behavior

In roles/setup/tasks/main.yaml, before imports or major updates the operator:

  • Suspends the Drupal CronJob:

    apiVersion: batch/v1 kind: CronJob name: "-drupal-cron" spec: suspend: true

  • Deletes Jobs and Pods created by that CronJob.

After the Drupal Deployment is available again, it:

  • Unsuspends the CronJob:

    apiVersion: batch/v1 kind: CronJob name: "-drupal-cron" spec: suspend: false

This avoids cron tasks running while the site is undergoing imports or upgrades.

Automatic backup CronJobs

Controlled by:

  • backup_db (boolean, default false)
  • backup_files (boolean, default false)
  • backup_db_cron_schedule (default "0 3 * * *")
  • backup_files_cron_schedule (default "0 5 * * *")

When enabled, the operator creates:

  • Database backup CronJob:

    • Name: <name>-auto-db-backup
    • Template: templates/automatic-db-backup.yaml.j2

  • Files backup CronJob:

    • Name: <name>-auto-files-backup
    • Template: templates/automatic-files-backup.yaml.j2

These CronJobs typically:

  • Use drupal_backup_secret to get credentials (for S3 or other backends).
  • Run backup scripts that dump the DB or archive files to external storage.

As with Drupal cron, the operator:

  • Suspends these CronJobs before imports/updates.
  • Deletes Jobs created by them.
  • Unsuspends them after Drupal is ready again.

See Importing DB & files, and backups for more context.

Import Jobs (DB and files)

These are one-shot Jobs, not CronJobs.

  • Database import Job:

    • Name: <name>-db-import
    • Template: templates/mariadb-import-job.yml.j2

  • Files import Job:

    • Name: <name>-files-import
    • Template: templates/files-import-job.yml.j2

Creation and execution are driven by:

  • drupal_import_database and drupal_database_backup_path
  • drupal_import_files and drupal_files_backup_path
  • change_cause and calculated checksums (see imports-backups.md)

The operator:

  • Deletes any existing import Jobs and their Pods.
  • Creates new Jobs if the relevant checksum has changed.

  • Uses kubernetes.core.k8s_info with until to wait until:

    status.succeeded > 0

  • Updates the Drupal CR status with timestamps and checksum fields.

Locale update Job

Controlled by:

  • drupal_locale_update (boolean, default false)

When drupal_locale_update: true, the operator creates a Job:

  • Name: <name>-drupal-locale-update
  • Template: templates/drupal-locale-update-job.yaml.j2

This Job is created after the Drupal Deployment is ready and is meant to handle tasks such as:

  • Downloading translation files
  • Running drush commands to update locale/translation data

In the main tasks:

  • Any existing <name>-drupal-locale-update Job and its Pods are deleted before a new one is created.

Cleanup pattern

Before creating new Jobs or CronJobs, the operator systematically cleans up:

  • Existing Jobs:

    kind: Job name: "-db-import" name: "-files-import" name: "-drupal-locale-update"

  • Pods created by those Jobs (via label selectors).

  • Jobs and Pods created by Drupal cron and backup CronJobs when suspending them.

This pattern:

  • Prevents old Jobs from interfering with new runs.
  • Keeps the namespace clean of completed/failed Jobs and Pods over time.

Summary

  • CronJobs:
  • <name>-drupal-cron (Drupal cron)
  • <name>-auto-db-backup (DB backup, optional)

  • <name>-auto-files-backup (files backup, optional)

  • Jobs:

  • <name>-db-import (database import, one-shot)
  • <name>-files-import (files import, one-shot)
  • <name>-drupal-locale-update (locale update, optional)

The operator coordinates these so that imports, backups, and cron run safely around deployment changes.