Creating server-side cron jobs for CT IDX Pro

When running CT IDX Pro you have the option of disabling WP-Cron and creating server-side cron jobs which will increase the overall performance of your site and reduce all the load that WP-Cron causes as it fires on every visitor hit, rather than just running the IDX data retrieval functions every 20 minutes (general MLS data), every hour (all agent/office data), and every 24 hours (expire listing data).

IMPORTANT: If your server-side cron jobs are not properly set up the IDX will not function, so we do recommend this only for advanced users or you might get your hosting provider to help.

Two ways to add the server cron jobs:

Hosting Dashboard

In this example, we’ll use Cloudways our recommended hosting provider, but the same basic principles also apply to other hosts’ running cPanel, WHM, or custom dashboards — you can consult with your hosts’ support or documentation on that.

1. Login to your WordPress sites admin > navigate to Settings > CT IDX Pro
2. Find “IDX WP-Cron” > select Disabled (screenshot)
3. Find “IDX Cron Key” > enter your own unique key, can be anything you’d like — this is for security purposes (screenshot)
4. Scroll to and click “Save Settings”
5. Scroll back to “IDX Cron Key” > locate “CRON Syntax” > click “Copy to Clipboard” (screenshot)
6. Next login to Cloudways > click Applications > select your App
7. Go to “Cron Job Management” > click “Advanced”
8. Paste the “CRON Syntax” from step 5 (screenshot)
9. Click “Save Changes”, then repeat steps 5-8 for the “Expire Cron Syntax” as well, and you’re all set.

Suggestions after those steps are complete:

1. Check your server’s cron logs after about 20-30 minutes to verify that your newly created cron job is running, if you’re unsure how to do that your hosts’ support can help you verify.
2. Go into your Cloudways Dashboard > Servers > select your Server > Manage Services > restart all of them from top to bottom, just to clear out the old processes, and start everything fresh — more on that panel in this article.

Tip: One of the easiest methods to tell if your new server-side cron jobs are running is to enable debug from Settings > CT IDX Pro > Turn on debug logging (screenshot) > Save Settings, then check back by refreshing the settings page in 10 minutes, if you see the debug file generated your server-side cron jobs are running — however, we do still suggest checking with your hosting provider and verifying with them as well.

WP-CLI

If you’re comfortable with command line and your server supports WP-CLI, the process is much simpler and only requires a single command to be run.

wp cron event run idxProCronUpdater