Hi,
I have a perl script (generate_report.pl) which generates reports based on dynamically created logs. This script runs on a remote win-2000 machine. The script takes paramters for the generation of the report and it takes a lot of time to run, and once it generates the report it mails it automatically.

To make the process easier, Ive scheduled a batch job to be running at frequent intervals in the remote machine, which keeps looking for an entry in a text file, if there is any, it takes the inputs and feeds it to generate_report.pl. One can make the entry in the text file using a cgi script from a machine in the network.

My question is whether I can use a cgi script to execute the perl script generate_report.pl at that time on a click of a button? The script takes some hours, so I always get an error in IE, or it hangs... This is because if I make an entry in the text file, I have to wait until the next scheduled time of the batch job and then another couple of hours to get the report!

There is no way that the report can be generated faster (even if yes, then 2 hours instead of 3 is only possible!). My only problem is an alternative to running it explicitly in the remote machine.
Thanks!

janitored by ybiC: Retitle from "cgi perl", replace <br>'s with balanced <p>'s for legibility

In reply to Launch background perl script from CGI by Anonymous Monk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.