[AccessD] Q related to UNIX VM's and Task Monitoring

I assume that the "background workers" are tasks written in some high 
level language, probably running in a thread?  You need to determine 
whether they write status kinda stuff to files or a database.  They 
should.  If they do then you would need to read those files / database 
tables periodically to make sure that status messages are being 
written.  If that stops then the thread / worker is stopped.  If they 
don't, see if you can persuade someone (developer) to write status stuff 
out periodically.

In the end however the reason for the failure needs to be investigated 
and fixed.  Anything else is just a kluge.

John W. Colby

On 2/4/2015 12:03 AM, Darren wrote:
> howdy y'all,
>   
> I'm not a network or Unix nerd by any stretch - not even a beginner, so I'll
> explain my issue and see if there's an appropriate response.
>   
> We have a "Unix VM" that manages "background workers" that support certain
> tasks in our Ruby screens (Hope I have described that right).
> Anyway...We have a situation that occurs once in a while, where these
> "background workers" halt or fail (whatever). It's a PITA as it then causes
> our end client screens (The Ruby ones) to crash when clients are performing
> certain tasks. Not a good look.
>   
> I have asked if there is at least the option to set up monitoring of these
> 'background workers' and (Holy Grail) would be to have them re-started. but
> at the very least have some peeps alerted to their 'non-started' state.
>   
> I have been told that this is "...not an insignificant task" and very
> "...tricky/difficult" thing to do.
> I'm OK to write some interface in VB or even access to access logs or
> whatever that might assist. Is it a difficult thing to set up monitoring
> tools on a "Unix VM"? and does the difficulty relate to the types of
> "background workers" etc.
>   
> Can I write anything in Access that might be able to see this stuff? Has
> anyone done anything like that?
>   
> I really do appreciate this is a "how long is a piece of string" question,
> but would welcome comment from my Brains Trust.
>   
> (Anything in quotes is as spoken or written to me by our DEV nerds - Great
> peeps BTW not having a go at our nerds).
>   
> Many thanks in advance.
>   
> Darren