Swatch and Logwatch

I had wanted to do some log monitoring without reinventing the world, so I looked around for some log monitoring tools. I found logwatch, which was easy enough to download and install. Had a little problem with configuration, but since I was only interested in watching ssh logins I impleted a command to do just that.

In my looking around, I also found Swatch. Swatch is actually a PERL script. We had a very old very of PERL, so I downloaded and installed the latest from CPAN. I did this because Swatch kept asking for PERL modules which weren't in our version. Once I installed the latest version of PERL, I only needed an additional four modules which I installed. After that I was able to get Swatch up and running and used this command to start it:

/export/home/ramosg/localperl/bin/swatch --tail-file=/var/adm/messages --tail-args -f

Swatch also looks for a config file which I set up in my home directory:


.swatchrc
watchfor /Failed none for/
mail addresses=gregory.c.ramos

Security +

Well, I have taken a break from Linux for a while. New job, new state. One of my job requirements to meet DOD 8570 was to pass Security +. This was not a certification I would have gone after normally, but it was a job requirement, and it did get me back to studying again. So with that in mind, I have decided to pursue some Linux certs. The first up will be Linux+. I'll take that test and see how things go. If I pass it, it will get me not only Linux+, but LPI level 1, and Novell's Certified Linux Professional. So now, back to the books.