Scheduled Tasks

To allow Smart Update Monitor to automatically monitor your Joomla website, it uses Joomla's Scheduled Tasks feature.

A Scheduled Task runs the update check regularly in the background. This means you do not have to manually open Smart Update Monitor and start the check from the dashboard.

Why set up a Scheduled Task?

Without a Scheduled Task, you can run Smart Update Monitor manually at any time by clicking Check Now. However, monitoring will only take place when you start the check yourself.

With a Scheduled Task, Joomla can automatically perform the check at a specified interval.

This allows Smart Update Monitor to:

  • regularly check for available updates,
  • update the stored update information,
  • detect problems with Update Sites,
  • log the results,
  • send email notifications according to your configuration.

Create a Scheduled Task

Smart Update Monitor installs its own task plugin, which provides Joomla with the required task type.

To set up automatic checks:

  1. Log in to the administrator area of your Joomla website.
  2. Go to System → Scheduled Tasks.
  3. Click New.
  4. Select the task for Smart Update Monitor.
  5. Set the desired execution interval.
  6. Enable and save the task.

Joomla can then automatically run Smart Update Monitor according to the configured schedule.

Recommended interval

For most websites, we recommend running the update check once a day.

Updates for Joomla and extensions are generally not released frequently enough to require checks every few minutes or hours.

A daily check therefore provides a good balance between timely notifications and avoiding unnecessary requests to the various Update Sites.

Run the task manually

After setting up the task, we recommend running it manually once using Joomla's Scheduled Tasks feature.

This allows you to immediately verify that Smart Update Monitor is being executed correctly.

Afterwards, check the Smart Update Monitor dashboard and logs. The completed check should be reflected there.

How are Joomla Scheduled Tasks triggered?

Creating a Scheduled Task initially only defines what Joomla should execute and when it is scheduled to run.

For Scheduled Tasks to run automatically and reliably, the task scheduler of your Joomla installation must be configured correctly.

Depending on your Joomla and server configuration, tasks can be triggered using the Web Scheduler or a server-side cron job.

For more information about configuring task execution, refer to the official Joomla documentation.

Server-side cron job

If your hosting package supports cron jobs, a server-side cron job is generally the most reliable solution for regularly executing scheduled tasks.

The cron job triggers Joomla's task scheduler at regular intervals. Joomla then determines which Scheduled Tasks need to be executed based on their configured schedules.

The exact setup of a cron job varies depending on your hosting provider. You can usually find the required information in your hosting control panel or your hosting provider's documentation.

Task is not being executed

If no new check appears on the dashboard for an extended period, first check the configured Scheduled Task.

In particular, check the following:

  • Is the Smart Update Monitor task enabled?
  • Is the execution interval configured correctly?
  • Are other Joomla Scheduled Tasks working?
  • Is the Joomla Scheduler being triggered regularly by the server?
  • Does an error appear when you run the task manually?

Then check the Logs in Smart Update Monitor. There you can verify whether an update check was performed.

Manual checks are still available

Even when a Scheduled Task is configured, you can still start an additional manual check from the dashboard at any time.

This is useful, for example, if you have just made changes to your website or want to immediately check whether a particular update is detected.

Recommended setup

For reliable automatic monitoring, we recommend the following configuration:

  • Smart Update Monitor task enabled
  • Update check once a day
  • Reliable execution of the Joomla Scheduler, preferably using a server-side cron job
  • Email notifications enabled

With this setup, Smart Update Monitor operates largely automatically in the background.