On the Cloud Classic infrastructure, cron jobs, SSH, and Cloud Hooks run on the same infrastructure. Hence, they might compete with other processes, such as PHP or MySQL for system resources. You can also ssh directly to a specific web node and purchase dedicated cron capacity to ensure that a single node was always available and isolated for the sole use of frequent or resource-intensive cron processes.

In Cloud Next, the existing Cloud Classic functionality is enhanced. By default, all production and non-production environments have access to isolated cron, SSH, and Cloud Hooks pods that run only when needed and shut down whenever they are not. Thus, your environments are more efficient by default and utilize fewer Cloud Capacity Units when idle because excess pods are not left running. Additionally, cron, SSH, and Cloud Hook activity cannot interfere with Drupal, Memcached, or MySQL activity by competing for resources.

In Cloud Next, long running or stuck processes, such as processes running cron or Cloud Hooks, can’t be terminated manually. Contact Acquia Support for assistance if this happens in one of your environments.

Environments upgraded to Cloud Next may require adjustments to scripts, cron jobs, and other automations due to the updated location of several file directories. For more information, see Working with files.