CRON jobs and auto-load data in database

[hangojango]

Hello,

My host (WP Engine) has listed Bulletproof as main reason the server is getting lot of cron jobs, and also the main reason there is a high amount of autoload data.

Re cron jobs, this is their info:

bpsPro_AutoRestore_check | 2021-06-14 03:13:05 | now | 2 minutes |
| bpsPro_AFS_check | 2021-06-14 03:14:02 | 14 seconds | 1 minute |

Re autoload data, this is their info:

+----------------------+------------------------------------------------+
| LENGTH(option_value) | option_name |
+----------------------+------------------------------------------------+
| 842998 | bulletproof_security_options_mscan_plugin_hash |
| 89599 | bulletproof_security_options_mscan_theme_hash |

They recommend autoload data not be higher than 800KB but my site currently has 2368390 (obviously not all from Bulletproof).
They suggest I turn off autoload data for Bulletproof, as per this info: https://wpengine.com/support/database-optimization-best-practices/#Autoloaded_Data

My questions are:
1. Can I increase cron job frequency for the 2 listed and if so, how?
2. Can I turn off autoload data for the 2 listed?

Thanks for any advice.

[AITpro Admin]

Is an actual problem occurring?  Yes, BPS Pro runs very frequent cron jobs when using the optimum default settings setup by the Setup Wizard, but those cron jobs are optimized for performance and use very low resources.  Yes, the MScan files are autoloaded, but those files are not executed or processed on page load and are only processed when running an MScan scan.  Yes, you can experiment with turning off autoload.  I’ve never tested that.  So let me know what happens with that.

To change the AutoRestore|Quarantine cron frequency:
Go to the BPS Pro > AutoRestore page > ARQ Cron Check Frequency option setting and change the cron frequency setting to whatever cron frequency you would like to use.

[hangojango]

No actual problem occurring other than the host saying the cron jobs use a lot of resources unnecessarily. Good to know how to adjust it anyway. I will also set MScan files to not autoload. Hoping nothing explodes 😉

Thanks.

[hangojango]

sorry for a little bother but it seems I haven’t been able to turn off the cron job for bpsPro_AFS_check

Please refer to the screenshots to see the step I took (in AutoRestore tab, ARQ Backup File Status Check = Off). I assume that was the thing to do.
Appreciate your thoughts. Cheers.

[hangojango]

nb: didn’t see a place to attach screenshots but enough info in the text.

[AITpro Admin]

Regarding the ARQ Backup File Status Check On|Off option setting.  See the AutoRestore|Quarantine – ARQ IDPS Read Me help button help info below.

6. The ARQ Backup File Status Check option allows you to turn On and turn Off Backup files status checks. This is ONLY a status check that displays the total number of files backed up and the last modified time of those backed up files. This option does not affect AutoRestore in any way. When this setting is set to On the AutoRestore page will take a second or more to load since ARQ backup files are being checked. If ARQ is already setup then you can turn this option to Off so that the AutoRestore page loads quicker. Any time you actually want to check ARQ Backup files you can turn this option On and then turn it back Off once you are done checking your Backup files.

Honestly I should have told you from the get go that you don’t really need to worry about cron jobs at all. WordPress Cron jobs themselves do not use any significant resources, but if a particular cron job is processing some poorly written script/code then yeah that poorly written script/code would cause significant resource usage. All BPS Pro scripts/code are well written/tested and optimized for maximum website performance. Cron jobs are simply an automated trigger that process scripts/code.

So what I should have told you is to disregard that fact that BPS Pro runs a lot of cron jobs since they do not negatively impact your website or server performance. 😉

[hangojango]

Cool, thanks for that.

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