Setting Up Queue Workers and Cron Jobs

Why Queue Workers Matter#

AcelleMail uses Laravel queues to process emails asynchronously. Without queue workers running, emails won't be sent, automations won't trigger, and bounces won't be processed.

Cron Job Setup#

AcelleMail's scheduler handles periodic tasks. Add this to your crontab:

sudo crontab -u www-data -e
# Add this line:
* * * * * cd /var/www/acellemail && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

The scheduler runs these tasks:

• Process automation workflows
• Send scheduled campaigns
• Process bounce/complaint notifications
• Clean up expired sessions
• Generate reports

Queue Worker with Supervisor#

Install Supervisor#

sudo apt install supervisor -y

Create Worker Configuration#

sudo nano /etc/supervisor/conf.d/acellemail-worker.conf

[program:acellemail-worker]
process_name=%(program_name)s_%(process_num)02d
command=php /var/www/acellemail/artisan queue:work redis --sleep=3 --tries=3 --max-time=3600
autostart=true
autorestart=true
stopasgroup=true
killasgroup=true
user=www-data
numprocs=2
redirect_stderr=true
stdout_logfile=/var/www/acellemail/storage/logs/worker.log
stopwaitsecs=3600

Start Workers#

sudo supervisorctl reread
sudo supervisorctl update
sudo supervisorctl start acellemail-worker:*

Monitor Workers#

# Check status
sudo supervisorctl status

# View logs
tail -f /var/www/acellemail/storage/logs/worker.log

# Restart after code changes
sudo supervisorctl restart acellemail-worker:*

Redis Configuration (Recommended)#

Using Redis as queue driver is faster than database driver:

sudo apt install redis-server -y
sudo systemctl enable redis-server

In .env:

QUEUE_CONNECTION=redis
REDIS_HOST=127.0.0.1
REDIS_PORT=6379

Troubleshooting#

Emails not sending?#

# Check if workers are running
sudo supervisorctl status

# Check queue size
php artisan queue:monitor redis:default --max=100

# Process failed jobs
php artisan queue:retry all

Worker crashes?#

# Check supervisor logs
sudo tail -f /var/log/supervisor/supervisord.log

# Check worker logs
tail -f /var/www/acellemail/storage/logs/worker.log