[rancid] Running rancid as a deamon

[vishal.ud]

I was wondering if this is possible since the advantages wud be as below
1) instant notifications if changes made unlike waiting for the cron runs
2) eliminates the dependency on the cron if it fails to run

[Chris Gauthier]

I don't see how it is feasible to run rancid as a daemon since that is
not how is was designed. What I mean is rancid was designed to run on a
periodic basis and it would time out during periods of no changes.
Others have gained a more "near realtime" performance by integrating
rancid with other NMS products or invoking it based on SNMP traps. I
don't believe it is even possible to run rancid as a daemon without it
quitting in just a short amount of time. Do you really need the
realtime changelogs? Is your equipment really changing that often?
When was the last time cron actually failed on you?

If you are worried about cron failure, then you might consider writing a
script invoked by cron that a) 'touch /tmp/some_dummy_filename b)
executes rancid. Next, you would have to have a daemon that checks for
the existence of the /tmp/some_dummy_filename file and also compares its
timestamp to the current time. If it was beyond a certain age, you
could then invoke rancid again. This daemon would ideally run as the
rancid user.

Complicated? Yep. Is there a simpler way? Probably. Am I worried
about cron failure? No. I have never seen cron fail because of a
problem with cron. My cron failures have all been self-induced.

Good luck!

Chris Gauthier

-----Original Message-----
From: rancid-discuss-***@shrubbery.net
[mailto:rancid-discuss-***@shrubbery.net] On Behalf Of vishal.ud
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 3:50 AM
To: rancid-***@shrubbery.net
Subject: [rancid] Running rancid as a deamon

I was wondering if this is possible since the advantages wud be as below
1) instant notifications if changes made unlike waiting for the cron
runs
2) eliminates the dependency on the cron if it fails to run

[vishal.ud]

Chris ,
Thank you for your comprehensive reply . Well i donot need the realtime
change as such and no the configs donot change that often either Well im
gonna look into integrating NMS with rancid(since we already have a
local deployment)
Thanks again for your help

Post by Chris Gauthier
I don't see how it is feasible to run rancid as a daemon since that is
not how is was designed. What I mean is rancid was designed to run on a
periodic basis and it would time out during periods of no changes.
Others have gained a more "near realtime" performance by integrating
rancid with other NMS products or invoking it based on SNMP traps. I
don't believe it is even possible to run rancid as a daemon without it
quitting in just a short amount of time. Do you really need the
realtime changelogs? Is your equipment really changing that often?
When was the last time cron actually failed on you?
If you are worried about cron failure, then you might consider writing a
script invoked by cron that a) 'touch /tmp/some_dummy_filename b)
executes rancid. Next, you would have to have a daemon that checks for
the existence of the /tmp/some_dummy_filename file and also compares its
timestamp to the current time. If it was beyond a certain age, you
could then invoke rancid again. This daemon would ideally run as the
rancid user.
Complicated? Yep. Is there a simpler way? Probably. Am I worried
about cron failure? No. I have never seen cron fail because of a
problem with cron. My cron failures have all been self-induced.
Good luck!
Chris Gauthier
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 3:50 AM
Subject: [rancid] Running rancid as a deamon
I was wondering if this is possible since the advantages wud be as below
1) instant notifications if changes made unlike waiting for the cron runs
2) eliminates the dependency on the cron if it fails to run
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[john heasley]

Post by vishal.ud
I was wondering if this is possible since the advantages wud be as below

i don't know what "wud" is.

Post by vishal.ud
1) instant notifications if changes made unlike waiting for the cron runs

see the faq for a way to do that.

Post by vishal.ud
2) eliminates the dependency on the cron if it fails to run

i think you far more problems if you can't even rely upon cron. perhaps
try a more stable o/s.