swatchdog - Man Page

swatchdog  [ --awk-field-syntax ] [ --config-file|-c file ]  [ --daemon ]  [ --extra-include-dir|-I path ] [ --extra-module|-M module_name ] [ --help|-h ] [ --input-record-separator regex ]  [ --old-style-config|-O ] [ --pid-file file ] [ --restart-time|-r time ]  [ --script-dir path ] [ --tail-args arguments_for_tail_program ] [ --tail-program-name filename ] [ --version|-V ] [ --use-cpan-file-tail ] [ [ --examine|-f file_to_examine ]  | [ --read-pipe|-p program_to_pipe_from ]  | [ --tail-file|-t file_to_tail ] ] [ --debug [ level ] ]  [ --dump-script filename ]

Swatchdog is designed to monitor system activity. In order for Swatchdog to be useful, it requires a configuration file which contains pattern(s) to look for and action(s) to perform when each pattern is found.

--awk-field-syntax

Use this option only if you want to overide regular expression backreferencing in favor of awk(1) style field referencing. Included for backward  compatibility.

--config-file|-c filename

Tells swatchdog where to find its configuration file. The default is ${HOME}/.swatchdogrc.

--daemon

This tells swatchdog to run in the background and disassociate itself from  any terminal.

--extra-include-dir|-I path

This tells swatchdog where to look for custom action modules.

--extra-module|-M module_name

This tells swatchdog what custom action modules to load in.

--help|-h

Prints usage information and exits.

--input-record-separator=regular_expression

Tells swatchdog to use regular_expression to delineate the boundary of each input record. The default is a carriage return.

--old-style-config|-O

This tells swatchdog that your configuration file is written using the syntax that was abandoned back in the 1990's.

--pid-file file

Writes the process ID to file. Useful when running in daemon mode.

--restart-time=[+]hh:mm[am|pm] or -r [+]hh:mm[am|pm]

Restart at the specified time where hh is hours and mm is minutes.  If the am/pm indicator is omitted, then a 24-hour clock is assumed.  If the time is preceded by the "+" character, then the restart time  will be set to the current time plus the specified time and the am/pm indicator will be ignored.

--script-dir=/path/to/directory

This switch causes the temporary watcher script to be written to a file in the specified directory rather than the user's home directory. It is highly advised that you do NOT use directories that are writable by others such as /tmp.

--tail-args arguments_for_tail_program

Pass specific options to the tail(1) program.

--tail-program-name filename

Runs an alternate tail(1) like program instead of the system default.

--version or -V

Prints version information and exits.

--use-cpan-file-tail

Use CPAN's File::Tail module to read the log file instead of the tail(1)  command.

You may specify only one of the following options:

--tail-file=filename or -t filename

Examine lines of text as they are added to filename.

--read-pipe=command or -p command

Examine input piped in from the command.

--examine=filename or -f filename

Use filename as the file to examine.  Swatchdog will do a single pass through the named file.

The following options are purely for debugging purposes, but are documented here for completeness:

--debug[=level]

Spew out various levels of debugging for swatchdog developers.

--dump-script[=filename]

Instead of running the watcher script after it is generated,  it is written to filename or to STDOUT.

If swatchdog is called with no options, it is the same as typing the  command line

        swatchdog --config-file=~/.swatchdogrc --tail-file=/var/log/syslog

or if /var/log/messages exists

        swatchdog --config-file=~/.swatchdogrc --tail-file=/var/log/messages

The configuration file is used by the swatchdog(8) program to determine what types of expression patterns to look for and what type of action(s) should be taken when a pattern is matched.

Each line should contain a keyword and a, sometimes optional, value for that keyword. The keyword and value are separated by  a space or an equal (=) sign.

watchfor regex

ignore regex

echo [modes]

Echo the matched line. The text mode may be normal, bold, underscore, blink, inverse,  black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, black_h, red_h, green_h, yellow_h, blue_h,  magenta_h, cyan_h, and/or white_h. The _h colors specify  a highlighting color. The other colors are assigned to the letters. Some modes may not work on some terminals. Normal is the default.

bell [N]

Echo the matched line, and send a bell N times (default = 1).

exec command

Execute command. The command may contain variables which are  substituted with fields from the matched line. If the --awk-field-syntax command-line option has been specified, then each $N will be replaced by the Nth field in the line. If the option has not been specified, then each $N will refer to a backreference in the regular expression used to match the line.

A $0 or $* will always be replaced by the entire line, unless they have been escaped, regardless of the --awk-field-syntax option.

An escaped $N, $0 or $* may have unwanted effects since the value will be determined by the shell used to execute the command.

mail [addresses=address:address:...][,subject=your_text_here]

Send mail to address(es) containing the matched lines as they appear (default address is the user who is running the program).

pipe command[,keep_open]

Pipe matched lines into command. Use the keep_open option to  force the pipe to stay open until a different pipe action is run or  until swatchdog exits.

write [user:user:...]

Use write(1) to send matched lines to user(s).

throttle hours:minutes:seconds,[key=message|regex|<regexE]>

This action has been depreciated. Use threshold instead For example,

throttle 15:00,key="foo"

would look like this

threshold track_by="foo",type=limit,count=1,seconds=900

threshold track_by=key, type=<limit|threshold|both, count=number, seconds=number>

Thresholding can be done for the complete watchfor block and/or for individual actions. Add "threshold=on" as an option along with the other threshold options when thresholding an individual action.

track_by

The value of this should be something that is unique to the watchfor regular expression. Tip: enclose unique parts of the regular expression in parentheses, then use the sub matches as part of the value  (e.g. track_by="$2:$4").

type

There are three types of thresholding. They are as follows:

limit

Perform action(s) for the first "count" matches during the time interval specified by "seconds", then ignore events for the rest of the time interval (kind of like throttle)

threshold

Perform action(s) on each match for up to count matches during the  time interval specified by seconds

both

Perform actions(s) once per time interval after "count" matches occur, then ignore additional matches during the time interval  specified by "seconds"

continue

Use this action to cause swatchdog to continue to try to match other pattern/action groups after it is done with the current pattern/action block.

quit

Use this action to cause swatchdog to clean up and quit immediately.

The following may be used as an option for any of the above actions except for throttle and threshold.

when=day_of_week:hour_of_day

Use this option to specify windows of time and days when the action can  be performed.  For example:

mail=sysad-pager@somehost.somedomain,when=1-6:8-17

perlcode [depth] arbitrary_Perl_code

This permits you to easily insert random Perl code into your swatchdogrc file. The optional depth value tells swatchdog how deep into the code to put the perl  code. (0=outside the main loop, 1=inside the main loop (default), 2=just inside the  conditional used by the current watchfor statement, and 3=inside the throttle block).

Its intended use is to permit variable substitution. For example:

perlcode $syslog="^\w{3}\s+\d{1,2}\s+\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}.*";

watchfor /$syslog hostname pppd/>

but any valid Perl is permitted.  Remember the semicolon, and make judicious use of the --dump-script option if you run into trouble.

In this example, a line which contains the string "file system full" will be echoed and the screen bell will sound.  Also, threshold will use what  is matched within the parentheses as its key rather than trying to use the  log message with its time stamp cut out. Multiple instances of the message will not be echoed if they appear within a minute of the  first one. Instead the following message will be acted upon after  the time interval has expired.

signal(3), perl(1), perlre(1)

Upon receiving an ALRM or HUP signal swatchdog will re-read the configuration file and restart, except when used with the --daemon  command line option where it will simply exit. Swatchdog will terminate gracefully when it receives a QUIT, TERM, or INT signal.

    E. Todd Atkins
    Todd.Atkins@StanfordAlumni.ORG

Swatchdog is a SourceForge project whose project page is at  http://sourceforge.net/projects/swatchdog and homepage is at http://swatchdog.sourceforge.net