How to reload nginx of remote server using cron as root user
Install sudo on the remote server (if not already installed). Then configure it to allow ubuntu user to execute service nginx reload command as root without password prompt. Something like the following in sudoers file:
ubuntu ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/service nginx reloadAnd now to reload nginx you just run (from ubuntu user):
sudo -n service nginx reload
If you start your nginx server as ubuntu (ssh -i /home/ubuntu/key.pem" ubuntu@example.com:/etc/nginx), you don't need to reload as root.
You can send the reload signal to the current nginx process:
ssh -i /home/ubuntu/key.pem" ubuntu@example.com:/etc/nginx -s reload