Failed to start nginx.service: Interactive authentication required. with crontab

I am trying to make a crontab to start nginx if it is stopped.

I googled and found these two scripts

http://www.akamaras.com/linux/linux-script-to-check-if-a-service-is-running-and-start-it-if-its-stopped/

#!/bin/bash
service=replace_me_with_a_valid_service

if (( $(ps -ef | grep -v grep | grep $service | wc -l) > 0 ))
then
echo "$service is running!!!"
else
/etc/init.d/$service start
fi

somehow if I run it manually it works fine by doing source scriptName after I add it to crontab even if the service is stopped, it keeps on echoing nginx is running and does not start the service.

Then I found another script in digital ocean

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-a-simple-bash-script-to-restart-server-programs

#!/bin/sh

ps auxw | grep nginx | grep -v grep > /dev/null

if [ $? != 0 ]
then
        /etc/init.d/nginx start > /dev/null
fi

again if I run it manually it works, but it will ask for the user's password

==== AUTHENTICATING FOR org.freedesktop.systemd1.manage-units ===
Authentication is required to start 'nginx.service'.
Authenticating as: abc,,, (abc)

after I typed in the password ==== AUTHENTICATION COMPLETE === will show and starts nginx

then I add the script into crontab...I get this permission error

Failed to start nginx.service: Interactive authentication required.

Does anyone know how I can fix this?

Thanks in advance for any advices.

Those scripts you have been trying to use are obsolete and shouldn't be used on a modern system with systemd.

Try a script like this instead:

#!/bin/bash
if ! systemctl is-active nginx >/dev/null ; then
    systemctl start nginx
fi

But, that is some terribly nasty hackery and probably not necessary, so before you do that, try having systemd restart nginx automatically if it stops. Do that with a systemd drop-in:

[Service]
Restart=always

which you place as the file /etc/systemd/system/nginx.service.d/override.conf (creating the directory if it doesn't exist). You can also use systemctl edit nginx to create the file.

And of course, either creating the systemd drop-in, or putting this script in crontab, must be done as root (try using sudo -i for a long running root shell).

Don't do this via cron at all.

Nginx itself is very stable, it won't just stop the service for no reason. You can make it unstable with an application though. If the application is unstable, just try-restart it hourly-daily-weekly-whatever.

It's less outage than waiting about 30 seconds until cron kicks in. You can restart at night, whereas you can be assured any instabilities will hit you when high traffic happens.

Chances are that you will stop nginx for maintenance and you'd be suprised by cron starting it back in the middle of your work.

Think about pacemaker cluster if the environment is very unstable.

And work/instist on application bugs to be fixed, so it can run a month without a hang/death.