A developer has set an indexer to "Update by Schedule". However, they notice that data changes are not appearing on the storefront even after a long wait. What is the most likely cause of this issue?

Question

Options

• AThe search engine service is offline.
• BThe indexer does not support "Update by Schedule" mode.
• CThe cron job responsible for running the indexers is not configured or is failing.
• DThe Varnish FPC has not been flushed.

• A
  3% (1)
• B
  14% (5)
• C
  76% (28)
• D
  8% (3)

Explanation

When an indexer is set to "Update by Schedule", it relies entirely on a cron job to process queued data changes - if that cron job is misconfigured or failing silently, no reindexing ever runs, so stale data persists on the storefront indefinitely.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A - A search engine being offline would affect search functionality, but many indexers (catalog, price, etc.) don't depend on the search engine at all, making this too narrow a cause.
• B - "Update by Schedule" is a valid, supported mode for most Magento indexers, so this premise is simply false.
• D - Flushing Varnish clears the full-page cache, which is a separate concern; even with Varnish flushed, un-indexed data still won't reflect the changes.

Memory tip: Think of "Update by Schedule" as a delivery truck on a timed route - if the driver (cron) never shows up, the packages (index updates) just pile up at the warehouse. Always verify cron is running (crontab -l or check the Magento cron log) before investigating anything else.

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