[Mimedefang] Re: swatch script to email you when an error occurs.

[Ole Craig]

On 02/18/04 at 10:45, 'twas brillig and Jeremy Mates scrobe:
> * Ole Craig <olc at cs.umass.edu>
> > I know this, and it's not quite what I was getting at. I'm perhaps
> > guilty of excessive indirection in attempting to highlight that a
> > script which attempts to
> > 
> >       *send mail* 
> > when
> >       *the mail server is malfunctioning* 
> > 
> > may have larger issues.
> 
> This can be avoided by using multiple notification methods, assuming the
> methods do not use the same underlying protocols. That is, sending
> notifications via e-mail and to a pager, assuming the pager alert does
> not also go out over e-mail.
> 
> Additionally, I like to have utilities poke at a status page in the
> event that notifications have been disabled, but the status page is
> still working.

	Yup, "defense in depth" (or words to that effect) is A Good
Thing. I've known admins who specced servers with sound cards just so
they could have server-room wailing thrown in as a last resort. ("Hi,
this is the night backup monke^Woperator, I was just in the server
room and I could *swear* I heard something crying 'I have no SMTP and
I must HELO' and then your phone number...")

		Ole
-- 
Ole Craig * UNIX, linux, SMTP-ninja; news, web; SGI martyr * CS Computing
Facility, UMass * <www.cs.umass.edu/~olc/pgppubkey.txt> for public key

  Where are the missing deficit-reduction program-related activities?