$version = "test";  

 $pid = get_pid($version); 

  if ( $pid eq "" )          # if null, MEVS not running - issue command to start MEVS
   {
       @command = ("/mevs/$version/bin/mevs", "/mevs/$version/data/config_data/mevs2.cfg", "online", "&");
       system(@command);                     # restart MEVS

       $pid = get_pid($version);  # Get the new pid
       print "new pid: [$pid]\n"; # print pid
.
.
.

############################################################################
sub get_pid         
############################################################################
 {
    my $version = $_[0];   # passed version, prod/test/qa
    my $command = sprintf q(ps -ef | grep %s | grep online | awk '{print $2}'), $version;    # create get pid command
    my @output  = `$command`;   # get the pid(s)
    return $output[0];          # return new pid                                      

 }