Shell Script To Notify Admin User if UNIX / Linux System Load Crossed Certain Limit

Author: Vivek Gite Last updated: October 15, 2009 9 comments

#!/bin/bash
# 
# Script to notify admin user if Linux,FreeBSD load crossed certain limit
# It will send an email notification to admin.
#
# Copyright 2005 (c) nixCraft project
# This is free script under GNU GPL version 2.0 or above. 
# Support/FeedBack/comment :  http://cyberciti.biz/fb/
# Tested os: 
# * RedHat Linux
# * Debain Linux
# * FreeBSD
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
# This script is part of nixCraft shell script collection (NSSC)
# Visit http://bash.cyberciti.biz/ for more information.
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
# Set up limit below
NOTIFY="6.0"
 
# admin user email id
EMAIL="root"
 
# Subject for email
SUBJECT="Alert $(hostname) load average"
 
# -----------------------------------------------------------------
 
# Os Specifc tweaks do not change anything below ;)
OS="$(uname)"
TRUE="1"
if [ "$OS" == "FreeBSD" ]; then
        TEMPFILE="$(mktemp /tmp/$(basename $0).tmp.XXX)"
	FTEXT='load averages:'
elif [ "$OS" == "Linux" ]; then
        TEMPFILE="$(mktemp)"
	FTEXT='load average:'
fi
 
 
# get first 5 min load
F5M="$(uptime | awk -F "$FTEXT" '{ print $2 }' | cut -d, -f1) | sed 's/ //g'"
# 10 min
F10M="$(uptime | awk -F "$FTEXT" '{ print $2 }' | cut -d, -f2) | sed 's/ //g'"
# 15 min
F15M="$(uptime | awk -F "$FTEXT" '{ print $2 }' | cut -d, -f3) | sed 's/ //g'"
 
# mail message
# keep it short coz we may send it to page or as an short message (SMS)
echo "Load average Crossed allowed limit $NOTIFY." >> $TEMPFILE
echo "Hostname: $(hostname)" >> $TEMPFILE
echo "Local Date & Time : $(date)" >> $TEMPFILE
 
# Look if it crossed limit
# compare it with last 15 min load average
RESULT=$(echo "$F15M > $NOTIFY" | bc)
 
# if so send an email
if [ "$RESULT" == "$TRUE" ]; then
        mail -s "$SUBJECT" "$EMAIL" < $TEMPFILE
fi
 
# remove file 
rm -f $TEMPFILE

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9 comments… add one

Satya Jun 4, 2017 @ 13:11
For me the script is running but seems it’s failing in sending email.
Reply Link
Ritchie Oct 19, 2012 @ 19:11
Will this script be running continuously and throwing mails or throw one mail and stop???
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rural-geek Oct 10, 2012 @ 14:44
Hi,
Thank you for sharing your knowledge ;-)
Just a little point of detail about this script:
the uptime command returns 3 values : 1mn average, 5mn average and 15mn average, not 5mn,10mn and 15mn as you wrote.
Reply Link

Lang Zerner Feb 5, 2011 @ 10:29

The quotes and double-quotes in the corrected lines originally submitted by Anonymous are not simple straight quotes, but curly “smart quotes” (most likely inserted by some MS Word or Outlook editor not designed for code).

Your script will fail if you simply copy and paste those lines from the web page into your text editor, as curly quotes are not valid delimiters in any shell.

Here is the corrected script as it is working on my FreeBSD system. I hope this will appear here unaltered:

#!/bin/bash
#
# Script to notify admin user if Linux,FreeBSD load crossed certain limit
# It will send an email notification to admin.
#
# Copyright 2005 (c) nixCraft project
# This is free script under GNU GPL version 2.0 or above.
# Support/FeedBack/comment :  http://cyberciti.biz/fb/
# Tested os:
# * RedHat Linux
# * Debain Linux
# * FreeBSD
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
# This script is part of nixCraft shell script collection (NSSC)
# Visit http://bash.cyberciti.biz/ for more information.
# -------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Set up limit below
NOTIFY="6.0"

# admin user email id
EMAIL="root"

# Subject for email
SUBJECT="Alert $(hostname) load average"

# -----------------------------------------------------------------

# OS-specifc tweaks - do not change anything below
OS="$(uname)"
TRUE="1"
if [ "$OS" == "FreeBSD" ]; then
        TEMPFILE="$(mktemp /tmp/$(basename $0).tmp.XXX)"
        FTEXT='load averages:'
elif [ "$OS" == "Linux" ]; then
        TEMPFILE="$(mktemp)"
        FTEXT='load average:'
fi

# get first 5 min load
F5M="$(uptime | awk -F "$FTEXT" '{ print $2 }' | cut -d, -f1 | sed 's/ //g')"
# 10 min
F10M="$(uptime | awk -F "$FTEXT" '{ print $2 }' | cut -d, -f2 | sed 's/ //g')"
# 15 min
F15M="$(uptime | awk -F "$FTEXT" '{ print $2 }' | cut -d, -f3 | sed 's/ //g')"

# mail message
# keep it short coz we may send it to page or as an short message (SMS)
echo "Load average Crossed allowed limit $NOTIFY." >> $TEMPFILE
echo "Hostname: $(hostname)" >> $TEMPFILE
echo "Local Date & Time : $(date)" >> $TEMPFILE

# Look if it crossed limit
# compare it with last 15 min load average
RESULT=$(echo "$F15M > $NOTIFY" | bc)


# if so send an email
if [ "$RESULT" == "$TRUE" ]; then
        mail -s "$SUBJECT" "$EMAIL" < $TEMPFILE
fi

# remove file
rm -f $TEMPFILE

Reply Link

gsmtools Sep 1, 2011 @ 22:27
working great
thank you
Reply Link

kunthar May 28, 2010 @ 15:10
Linux xxx.com 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5 #1 SMP Tue Nov 3 16:18:27 EST 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
(standard_in) 1: illegal character: |
(standard_in) 1: parse error
(standard_in) 1: illegal character: ‘
(standard_in) 1: illegal character: ‘
error.
Reply Link
- Anonymous May 28, 2010 @ 16:08
  Solved.
  #F5M=”$(uptime | awk -F “$FTEXT” ‘{ print $2 }’ | cut -d, -f1) | sed ‘s/ //g'”
  #F10M=”$(uptime | awk -F “$FTEXT” ‘{ print $2 }’ | cut -d, -f2) | sed ‘s/ //g'”
  #F15M=”$(uptime | awk -F “$FTEXT” ‘{ print $2 }’ | cut -d, -f3) | sed ‘s/ //g'”
  lines should be
  F5M=”$(uptime | awk -F “$FTEXT” ‘{ print $2 }’ | cut -d, -f1)”
  # 10 min
  F10M=”$(uptime | awk -F “$FTEXT” ‘{ print $2 }’ | cut -d, -f2)”
  # 15 min
  F15M=”$(uptime | awk -F “$FTEXT” ‘{ print $2 }’ | cut -d, -f3)”
  with
  bash –version
  GNU bash, version 3.2.25(1)-release (i686-redhat-linux-gnu)
  bc confused about comparison results.
  Reply Link
  - Lang Zerner Feb 5, 2011 @ 10:20
    The correction in the comment above simply removes the sed command from the end of the pipeline on all three lines:
    | sed ‘s/ //g’
    As it turns out, the error is also corrected by moving the closing right paren so that it includes the sed command within the main pipeline. For example, change:
```
F15M="$(uptime | awk -F "$FTEXT" '{ print $2 }' | cut -d, -f3) | sed 's/ //g'"
```
    to:
```
F15M="$(uptime | awk -F "$FTEXT" '{ print $2 }' | cut -d, -f3 | sed 's/ //g')"
```
    (and the same for the F5 and F10 lines, in case you use them)
    Reply Link
will May 30, 2008 @ 15:23
Doesn’t appear to work?
Even when the value from bc is 0 it still sends a email?
Reply Link