Linux – How to Send Email Alert on Log File Entry

alertsemaillinuxlog-files

Under Linux, what's a simple way to automatically watch a logfile, and email me if a certain string appears? I have an application that will log certain failures to a logfile, but has no built-in way of sending alerts or executing scripts on failure. I suppose I could rig something up with tail -f and some shell scripts, but I'd rather use an existing maintained tool if it exists.

Best Answer

I checked out several of the options mentioned on this page, and ended up using something far simpler: swatch.

Those other systems are great for dealing with existing system logs, or with software where you don't have control over the output. I just didn't want to write a bunch of code to do email notifications just yet. So I just created a swatch file like this:

watchfor /./
    mail addresses=me\@example.com:other\@example.com,subject=log_alert

And then started it up with

swatch -c send-me-everything.swatch -t /my/app/urgentevents

It's crude, but since I control the logfile output, I don't need anything more complicated yet.

Related Topic