howdy folks,

I want to monitor a log file for a specific event and grab an iostat the moment the event is detected. The bash function below works fine until the file gets renamed (logfile.nnn.txt), gzipped (logfile.nnn.txt.gz), moved (mv logfile.nnn.txt.gz ./backup_logs) and re-created (touch logfile.txt). Once it's truncated it ceases to work.

tail -f logfile.txt | while read INFILE
do
[[ "${INFILE}" == *"event_12345"* ]]
&& iostat -t >> iostat_when_process_times_out.txt
&& beep
done

Need solution so that I can still monitor the log for the event and capture an iostats when it happens. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hey I think I fixed it.

I did two things:
1. created a symbolic link to the logfile
2. Instead of running "tail -f" I tried with "tail -F" (capital F) which looks like it includes a retry function. The function spit out this message:
tail: `tempsymboliclink_logfile' has been replaced; following end of new file

And I'm sitting pretty with an iostats log. My guess is it's the tail option, not the symbolic link that mattered but it's working as-intended.