bfdi533,

"...my code runs every 3 minutes and checks the last 5 minutes worth of logs from a DB. Every matching event is then logged to a different table in the DB..."

I'm guessing that you read the log files to get at the time stamps each time your script is called. I suggest you search on "Perl 'pop before smtp' " to get some examples and ideas on how to query logs for specific information. Specifically, use of 'read, tell, seek' functions in Perl. Also, what if the error is "disk is full" and you can't log to the DB or there's not enough room in "/tmp" to build your email, or...

This is not a new or unique problem, so build on the shoulders of those that went before you.

Good Luck...Ed