[hobbit] File existence monitoring

Thu Nov 29 21:45:37 CET 2007

Well, I finally have file existence working with changing filenames.
Thanks for the suggestion Charles.  It wouldn't exactly work for me
though since the files may never be created.

The documentation of client-local.cfg says "Putting wildcards directly
into the file: entry will not work."  But, you can do something like
this:

file:`echo /usr/local/scripts/logs/logfile.*`

Since the beginning of the filename is always the same, doing the echo
command on the filename still reported a name that Hobbit could check
against.

Then, in the hobbit-client.cfg, I have this:

FILE %^\/usr\/local\/scripts\/logs\/logfile.* SIZE>1K

This checks that the file is there and that it's over 1K in size.

Thanks!

D. Stuffle  

________________________________

From: Charles Jones [mailto:jonescr at cisco.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 7:23 PM
To: hobbit at hswn.dk
Subject: Re: [hobbit] File existence monitoring

It won't work the way you are doing it now.  You are using an ls command
to dynamically create the list of files to check in your client-local,
so when that file is missing, the ls command doesn't output it as a
filename to check, so the test drops off when that file dissappears,

Since the files are dynamic, I assume created every day, you are going
to have to figure out a way to tell if one of them goes away.  Maybe you
could have a cron job that runs every morning, and does an ls of the
files and saves the output somewhere like /var/tmp/todays_files.txt, and
then in your client-local you could do something like:

[hostname]
file:`head -1 /var/tmp/todays_files.txt|tail -1`
file:`head -2 /var/tmp/todays_files.txt|tail -1`
file:`head -3 /var/tmp/todays_files.txt|tail -1`
...

That would add a file entry for every line of todays_files.txt.  So if
one of the files got deleted, it would still be referenced in
todays_files.txt, and thus continue to be monitored (including
notification that it was no longer there).

That is a frightful way to do it, but I can't think of anything better
at the moment :)  Dealing with randomly generated filenames is a pain.

-Charles

Stuffle, David (Corporate) wrote: 

I found part of my problem of why the file existence isn't working.  I
wasn't specifying the full path in the hobbit-clients.cfg file.  I also
had to escape the forward slashes and underscores with backslashes.
Plus, the "red" parameter wasn't valid from what the log said.

But still, I want to know if a file doesn't exist.  The hobbitcleint.log
file on the client just keeps saying

 "ls: /usr/local/scripts/logs/dcsmnj8yecotnwbcevyym9t8c_4d7i*: No such
file or directory".  Therefore, it doesn't report anything about it.
But I want to be alerted that it doesn't exist.

Is anyone successfully monitoring file existence?

D. Stuffle

________________________________

From: Stuffle, David (Corporate) [mailto:David.Stuffle at adesa.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 5:15 PM
To: hobbit at hswn.dk
Subject: RE: [hobbit] File existence monitoring

Thanks Greg, 

The filenames do change, they have the date appended to them.  I'm
wanting to check that the files are there and that they're not 0 bytes.

I know that when I was first setting it up I messed up something and it
said "File missing" when it didn't find the file.  Now it doesn't seem
to care.  

D. Stuffle

________________________________

From: Hubbard, Greg L [mailto:greg.hubbard at eds.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 4:49 PM
To: hobbit at hswn.dk
Subject: RE: [hobbit] File existence monitoring

If the file names never change, then specify the file name in the
client-local.cfg instead of running the ls command.  If you delete the
file, then the ls command will return nothing.  That is what I would try
first, anyway.

Or, it could be your check -- you are only asking for an alarm if the
file size is bigger than 1K.  A missing file is not bigger than 1K is
it?  And it seems like you need to do some other things as well to get
this correct.  I am working from memory...

GLH

________________________________

	From: Stuffle, David (Corporate)
[mailto:David.Stuffle at adesa.com] 
	Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 2:59 PM
	To: hobbit at hswn.dk
	Subject: [hobbit] File existence monitoring

	Hi,

	I'm wanting to check the existence of specific files in a
directory and that they are at leat 1K in size.  I have this in the
hobbit-clients.cfg file:

	HOST=hostname1

	        PROC httpd

	        FILE %^sdc_.* MTIME<3600 TIME=W:0730:2200 red

	        FILE %^dcs1xaz9saotnw713cmtaut8c_6w3j.* red size>1K
TIME=*:0730:1800

	        FILE %^dcsaplg0kbotnwvrj16x28msg_1i2n.* red size>1K
TIME=*:0730:1800

	        FILE %^dcsdq1p60cotnw32xcywlbisg_9i5q.* red size>1K
TIME=*:0730:1800

	        FILE %^dcsmnj8yecotnwbcevyym9t8c_4d7i.* red size>1K
TIME=*:0730:1800

	        FILE %^dcsp6ro5kbotnwvjh6yh0dmsg_3j1y.* red size>1K
TIME=*:0730:1800

	        FILE %^dcsu5rokrbotnwb01tmd19mat_4w7s.* red size>1K
TIME=*:0730:1800

	And this in client-local.cfg:

	[hostname1]

	file:`find /usr/local/webtrends/sdc/weblog -type f | xargs ls
-1tr | tail -1`

	file:`ls -1
/usr/local/scripts/logs/dcs1xaz9saotnw713cmtaut8c_6w3j*`

	file:`ls -1
/usr/local/scripts/logs/dcsaplg0kbotnwvrj16x28msg_1i2n*`

	file:`ls -1
/usr/local/scripts/logs/dcsdq1p60cotnw32xcywlbisg_9i5q*`

	file:`ls -1
/usr/local/scripts/logs/dcsmnj8yecotnwbcevyym9t8c_4d7i*`

	file:`ls -1
/usr/local/scripts/logs/dcsp6ro5kbotnwvjh6yh0dmsg_3j1y*`

	file:`ls -1
/usr/local/scripts/logs/dcsu5rokrbotnwb01tmd19mat_4w7s*`

	They all show up under the files column.  To test it, I deleted
the file specified in the last line from the directory, but all Hobbit
does is remove it from displaying.  I want it to go red saying that the
file does not exist.

	The man pages says "By default, a warning is triggered for files
that have a FILE entry, but which do not exist."  But, I'm not seeing
this occur.

	Any ideas?

	D. Stuffle   

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