diff --git a/build/hpux/hc_hpux_platform/hc_hpux_platform.psf b/build/hpux/hc_hpux_platform/hc_hpux_platform.psf
index 59348d6..f1d9665 100644
--- a/build/hpux/hc_hpux_platform/hc_hpux_platform.psf
+++ b/build/hpux/hc_hpux_platform/hc_hpux_platform.psf
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ This is the OS/platform plugin package"
 
         directory       ../../../etc/opt/hc/=/etc/opt/hc
         file            -m 644 check_hpux_autofs.conf.dist
+        file            -m 644 check_hpux_cron_status.conf.dist
         file            -m 644 check_hpux_drd_status.conf.dist
         file            -m 644 check_hpux_file_age.conf.dist
         file            -m 644 check_hpux_file_change.conf.dist
diff --git a/etc/opt/hc/check_hpux_cron_status.conf.dist b/etc/opt/hc/check_hpux_cron_status.conf.dist
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eb02118
--- /dev/null
+++ b/etc/opt/hc/check_hpux_cron_status.conf.dist
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#******************************************************************************
+# @(#) check_hpux_cron_status.conf
+#******************************************************************************
+# This is a configuration file for the check_hpux_cron_status HC plugin.
+# All lines starting with a '#' are comment lines.
+# [default: indicates hardcoded script values if no value is defined here]
+#******************************************************************************
+
+# specify whether to also log passed health checks
+# (warning: this may rapidly grow the HC log)
+# [default: no]
+log_healthy="no"
+
+# specify the wait time (in seconds) between registering and checking a cron task
+# [default: 10]
+wait_time=10
+
+# specify the path the cron log file
+# [default: /var/adm/cron/log]
+cron_log="/var/adm/cron/log"
+
+
+#******************************************************************************
+# End of FILE
+#******************************************************************************
diff --git a/opt/hc/lib/platform/hp-ux/check_hpux_cron_status.sh b/opt/hc/lib/platform/hp-ux/check_hpux_cron_status.sh
index a1af81b..84c064a 100755
--- a/opt/hc/lib/platform/hp-ux/check_hpux_cron_status.sh
+++ b/opt/hc/lib/platform/hp-ux/check_hpux_cron_status.sh
@@ -19,12 +19,13 @@
 # @(#) MAIN: check_hpux_cron_status
 # DOES: see _show_usage()
 # EXPECTS: n/a
-# REQUIRES: data_comma2space(), init_hc(), log_hc()
+# REQUIRES: data_is_numeric(), data_comma2space(), init_hc(), log_hc()
 #
 # @(#) HISTORY:
 # @(#) 2018-02-08: initial version [Patrick Van der Veken]µ
 # @(#) 2018-02-13: fix to avoid log check if cron is not active [Patrick Van der Veken]
 # @(#) 2019-03-16: replace 'which' [Patrick Van der Veken]
+# @(#) 2021-03-25: make _WAIT_TIME & _CRON_LOG_FILE configurable [Patrick Van der Veken]
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # DO NOT CHANGE THIS FILE UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!
 #******************************************************************************
@@ -33,20 +34,25 @@
 function check_hpux_cron_status
 {
 # ------------------------- CONFIGURATION starts here -------------------------
-typeset _CRON_LOG_FILE="/var/adm/cron/log"
-typeset _WAIT_TIME=10
-typeset _VERSION="2019-02-16"                           # YYYY-MM-DD
+typeset _CONFIG_FILE="${CONFIG_DIR}/$0.conf"
+typeset _VERSION="2021-03-25"                           # YYYY-MM-DD
 typeset _SUPPORTED_PLATFORMS="HP-UX"                    # uname -s match
 # ------------------------- CONFIGURATION ends here ---------------------------
 
 # set defaults
-(( ARG_DEBUG > 0 && ARG_DEBUG_LEVEL > 0 )) && set ${DEBUG_OPTS}
+(( ARG_DEBUG > 0 && ARG_DEBUG_LEVEL > 0 )) && set "${DEBUG_OPTS}"
 init_hc "$0" "${_SUPPORTED_PLATFORMS}" "${_VERSION}"
 typeset _ARGS=$(data_comma2space "$*")
 typeset _ARG=""
 typeset _MSG=""
 typeset _STC=0
+typeset _CFG_HEALTHY=""
 typeset _LOG_HEALTHY=0
+typeset _CFG_CRON_LOG_FILE=""
+typeset _CFG_WAIT_TIME=""
+typeset _LOG_HEALTHY=0
+typeset _CRON_LOG_FILE=""
+typeset _WAIT_TIME=""
 typeset _JOB_ID=""
 typeset _AT_BIN=""
 
@@ -55,11 +61,56 @@ for _ARG in ${_ARGS}
 do
     case "${_ARG}" in
         help)
-            _show_usage $0 ${_VERSION} ${_CONFIG_FILE} && return 0
+            _show_usage "${0}" "${_VERSION}" "${_CONFIG_FILE}" && return 0
             ;;
     esac
 done
 
+# handle configuration file
+[[ -n "${ARG_CONFIG_FILE}" ]] && _CONFIG_FILE="${ARG_CONFIG_FILE}"
+if [[ ! -r ${_CONFIG_FILE} ]]
+then
+    warn "unable to read configuration file at ${_CONFIG_FILE}"
+    return 1
+fi
+_CFG_WAIT_TIME=$(_CONFIG_FILE="${_CONFIG_FILE}" data_get_lvalue_from_config 'wait_time')
+if [[ -z "${_CFG_WAIT_TIME}" ]]
+then
+    # default
+    _WAIT_TIME=10
+    log "setting value for parameter wait_time to its default (${_WAIT_TIME})"
+else
+    data_is_numeric "${_CFG_WAIT_TIME}"
+    # shellcheck disable=SC2181
+    if (( $? > 0 ))
+    then
+        warn "wait time parameter is not numeric in configuration file ${_CONFIG_FILE}"
+        return 1
+    else
+        _WAIT_TIME=${_CFG_WAIT_TIME}
+    fi
+fi
+_CFG_CRON_LOG_FILE=$(_CONFIG_FILE="${_CONFIG_FILE}" data_get_lvalue_from_config 'cron_log')
+if [[ -z "${_CFG_CRON_LOG_FILE}" ]]
+then
+    # default
+    _CRON_LOG_FILE="/var/adm/cron/log"
+    log "setting value for parameter cron_log to its default (${_CRON_LOG_FILE})"
+else
+    _CRON_LOG_FILE="${_CFG_CRON_LOG_FILE}"
+    log "setting value for parameter cron_log (${_CRON_LOG_FILE})"
+fi
+_CFG_HEALTHY=$(_CONFIG_FILE="${_CONFIG_FILE}" data_get_lvalue_from_config 'log_healthy')
+case "${_CFG_HEALTHY}" in
+    yes|YES|Yes)
+        _LOG_HEALTHY=1
+        ;;
+    *)
+        # do not override hc_arg
+        (( _LOG_HEALTHY > 0 )) || _LOG_HEALTHY=0
+        ;;
+esac
+
 # log_healthy
 (( ARG_LOG_HEALTHY > 0 )) && _LOG_HEALTHY=1
 if (( _LOG_HEALTHY > 0 ))
@@ -74,10 +125,20 @@ else
     log "not logging/showing passed health checks"
 fi
 
+# check timeout (_WAIT_TIME must be at least 30 secs smaller than health check timeout)
+if (( _WAIT_TIME > 0 ))
+then
+    if (( (_WAIT_TIME + 30) > HC_TIME_OUT ))
+    then
+        warn "wait time value will conflict with health check timeout. Specify a (larger) --timeout value"
+    return 1
+    fi
+fi
+
 # ---- process state ----
 # try the pgrep way (note: old pgreps do not support '-c')
 (( ARG_DEBUG > 0 )) && debug "checking cron service via pgrep"
-(( $(pgrep -u root cron 2>>${HC_STDERR_LOG} | wc -l 2>/dev/null) == 0 )) && _STC=1
+(( $(pgrep -u root cron 2>>"${HC_STDERR_LOG}" | wc -l 2>/dev/null) == 0 )) && _STC=1
 
 # evaluate results
 case ${_STC} in
@@ -99,18 +160,30 @@ then
 fi
 
 # ---- log state ----
-_AT_BIN="$(command -v at 2>>${HC_STDERR_LOG})"
+# check cron log file
+if [[ ! -r ${_CRON_LOG_FILE} ]]
+then
+    _MSG="cron log does not exist (${_CRON_LOG_FILE})"
+    _STC=1
+    if (( _LOG_HEALTHY > 0 || _STC > 0 ))
+    then
+        log_hc "$0" 1 "${_MSG}"
+    fi
+    return 0
+fi
+# create test event
+_AT_BIN=$(command -v at 2>>"${HC_STDERR_LOG}")
 if [[ -x ${_AT_BIN} && -n "${_AT_BIN}" ]]
 then
     # start test job
     (( ARG_DEBUG > 0 )) && debug "checking cron log via {${_AT_BIN}}"
-    (echo "*** CHECK LOG ***" >/dev/null | ${_AT_BIN} now) >>${HC_STDOUT_LOG} 2>>${HC_STDERR_LOG}
-    sleep ${_WAIT_TIME}
-    if (( $(grep -c 'cron may not be running' ${HC_STDERR_LOG} 2>/dev/null) == 0 ))
+    (echo "*** CHECK LOG ***" >/dev/null | ${_AT_BIN} now) >>"${HC_STDOUT_LOG}" 2>>"${HC_STDERR_LOG}"
+    sleep "${_WAIT_TIME}"
+    if (( $(grep -c 'cron may not be running' "${HC_STDERR_LOG}" 2>/dev/null) == 0 ))
     then
         # find job results
-        _JOB_ID=$(grep -E -e '^job' ${HC_STDERR_LOG} 2>/dev/null | awk '{ print $2}' 2>/dev/null)
-        if [[ -n "${_JOB_ID}" ]] && (( $(grep -c "${_JOB_ID}" ${_CRON_LOG_FILE} 2>/dev/null) > 0 ))
+        _JOB_ID=$(grep -E -e '^job' "${HC_STDERR_LOG}" 2>/dev/null | awk '{ print $2}' 2>/dev/null)
+        if [[ -n "${_JOB_ID}" ]] && (( $(grep -c "${_JOB_ID}" "${_CRON_LOG_FILE}" 2>/dev/null) > 0 ))
         then
             _MSG="cron is logging correctly, schedule via {${_AT_BIN}} OK"
             _STC=0
@@ -125,7 +198,7 @@ then
 else
     # check cron log itself
     (( ARG_DEBUG > 0 )) && debug "checking cron log via file check"
-    if [[ -r ${_CRON_LOG_FILE} ]] && [[ -s ${_CRON_LOG_FILE} ]]
+    if [[ -s ${_CRON_LOG_FILE} ]]
     then
         _MSG="cron is logging correctly (${_CRON_LOG_FILE})"
         _STC=0
@@ -148,9 +221,12 @@ function _show_usage
 cat <<- EOT
 NAME        : $1
 VERSION     : $2
-CONFIG      : $3
+CONFIG      : $3 with parameters:
+                log_healthy=<yes|no>
+                wait_time=<seconds>
+                cron_log=<file_path>
 PURPOSE     : Checks whether cron (CRON) service is running and whether cron is
-              actually logging to ${_CRON_LOG_FILE}.
+              actually logging to the cron log file.
 LOG HEALTHY : Supported
 
 EOT