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Aisalkyn Aidarova
Aisalkyn Aidarova

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PROJECT: Linux Log Monitoring & Auto-Alert System (Bash)

#devops #linux #automation #monitoring

πŸ“Œ Real-World Context (Very Important)

Company type:
SaaS / FinTech / E-commerce company

Problem in production:

  • Servers generate huge log files

  • Engineers must:

    • Detect errors
    • Count how often they occur
    • Alert before customers complain

  • Bash is often the first line of defense before fancy tools (ELK, Datadog)

This project simulates what DevOps engineers really do on EC2 / Linux servers.

🧠

Topic Where Used
Variables Config paths, thresholds
Environment variables Reusable config
$PATH Script execution
`> >> < ` Logs, pipelines
grep awk sed cut sort uniq wc Log analysis
if / for / while Logic & loops
Functions Clean, reusable code
Cron jobs Automation in production

πŸ— Project Architecture (Simple) 

/opt/log-monitor/
β”œβ”€β”€ logs/
β”‚   └── app.log
β”œβ”€β”€ scripts/
β”‚   └── monitor.sh
└── reports/
    └── daily_report.txt
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STEP 1: Create Sample Production Log 

mkdir -p /opt/log-monitor/{logs,scripts,reports}

cat <<EOF > /opt/log-monitor/logs/app.log
INFO User login success
INFO User login success
ERROR Database connection failed
INFO Payment processed
ERROR Payment timeout
ERROR Database connection failed
WARN Slow API response
INFO User logout
EOF
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πŸ”Ή Why DevOps cares:
Logs are the source of truth during outages.

STEP 2: Bash Script Skeleton

Create script:

nano /opt/log-monitor/scripts/monitor.sh
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#!/bin/bash
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Make executable:

chmod +x /opt/log-monitor/scripts/monitor.sh
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STEP 3: Variables & Environment Variables 

LOG_FILE="/opt/log-monitor/logs/app.log"
REPORT_FILE="/opt/log-monitor/reports/daily_report.txt"
ERROR_THRESHOLD=2
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Environment variable example: 

export ALERT_EMAIL="devops@company.com"
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πŸ”Ή Why in prod:

  • Same script works in dev / staging / prod
  • Only env vars change

STEP 4: $PATH (Production Reality)

Move script into PATH:

sudo ln -s /opt/log-monitor/scripts/monitor.sh /usr/local/bin/log-monitor
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Now you can run:

log-monitor
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πŸ”Ή Why in prod:
DevOps scripts must run without full paths (cron, automation)

STEP 5: Redirection & Pipes (Core Skill)

Count errors:

grep "ERROR" "$LOG_FILE" | wc -l
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Append report:

echo "Log Report - $(date)" >> "$REPORT_FILE"
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πŸ”Ή Why in prod:
Almost every DevOps task uses pipes

STEP 6: Text Processing (Real Log Analysis)

Count each error type: 

grep "ERROR" "$LOG_FILE" \
| awk '{print $2}' \
| sort \
| uniq -c
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Extract message only: 

grep "ERROR" "$LOG_FILE" | cut -d' ' -f2-
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πŸ”Ή Why in prod:
You rarely read logs manually β€” you filter and summarize

STEP 7: Functions (Clean Production Code) 

count_errors() {
  grep "ERROR" "$LOG_FILE" | wc -l
}

generate_report() {
  echo "------ ERROR SUMMARY ------" >> "$REPORT_FILE"
  grep "ERROR" "$LOG_FILE" | awk '{print $2}' | sort | uniq -c >> "$REPORT_FILE"
}
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πŸ”Ή Why in prod:
Large scripts must be readable and maintainable

STEP 8: if Condition (Decision Making) 

ERROR_COUNT=$(count_errors)

if [ "$ERROR_COUNT" -ge "$ERROR_THRESHOLD" ]; then
  echo "ALERT: Too many errors ($ERROR_COUNT)" >> "$REPORT_FILE"
fi
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πŸ”Ή Interview question:
β€œHow do you trigger alerts automatically?”

STEP 9: for Loop (Multiple Files Scenario) 

for file in /opt/log-monitor/logs/*.log; do
  echo "Processing $file"
done
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πŸ”Ή Why in prod:
Applications often have many log files

STEP 10: while Loop (Streaming Logs) 

tail -f "$LOG_FILE" | while read line; do
  echo "$line"
done
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πŸ”Ή Why in prod:
Live debugging during incidents

STEP 11: Final Script (Clean & Complete) 

#!/bin/bash

LOG_FILE="/opt/log-monitor/logs/app.log"
REPORT_FILE="/opt/log-monitor/reports/daily_report.txt"
ERROR_THRESHOLD=2

count_errors() {
  grep "ERROR" "$LOG_FILE" | wc -l
}

generate_report() {
  echo "Log Report - $(date)" > "$REPORT_FILE"
  echo "-------------------------" >> "$REPORT_FILE"
  grep "ERROR" "$LOG_FILE" | awk '{print $2}' | sort | uniq -c >> "$REPORT_FILE"
}

ERROR_COUNT=$(count_errors)
generate_report

if [ "$ERROR_COUNT" -ge "$ERROR_THRESHOLD" ]; then
  echo "ALERT: High error rate ($ERROR_COUNT errors)" >> "$REPORT_FILE"
fi
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Run:

log-monitor
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STEP 12: Cron Job (Production Automation) 

crontab -e
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Run every 5 minutes:

*/5 * * * * /usr/local/bin/log-monitor
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πŸ”Ή Why DevOps uses cron:

  • Health checks
  • Log cleanup
  • Backups
  • Monitoring

🎯 How to Explain This to Students

Simple explanation:

β€œDevOps engineers use Bash to watch servers automatically.
This script checks logs, finds problems, and reports them β€” without human effort.”

πŸ’Ό Interview Mapping (Very Important)

Question:
β€œHow do you use Bash in production?”

Answer:

β€œI use Bash for automation like log monitoring, alerting, backups, and health checks.
For example, I wrote scripts that analyze logs using grep/awk, run via cron, and trigger alerts when error thresholds are exceeded.”

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