comment on

Dear Monks,

I'm a newbie looking for some guidance on best practices for this specific task. I have strung up some code that is working based on help from others perl folks. I am still trying to identify my style. I learn by examples and I'd rather be more verbose with my code so that I can understand it.

I am still trying to get my arms around understanding the use of hashes. I have code here that is using hash ref. I'm unclear on how to print this out in a specific format.

Purpose of my script: 1) Get the hostname. The hostname is prefixed to the server logs. (ex. server1.log, server2.log, server2.log) 2) For each date given, either manually or systematically, give me the backup set name 3) For every backup set name, grab either one of these variables if they appear (backup-size, backup-time, backup-status, or ERROR if its given for that backup set) 4) Generate a datafile with these values delimited in whatever format. This datafile will be used later as feed to another system.

Current issues: My current script uses hashes, again from help. I'm still confused on hash of hashes and its use. I didn't go the array route, cause I'm not sure how to set that up and from what I read, accessing the hash would be easier? I'm not sure. I am having problems formatting the output in an ordered fashion. So, i'm looking at a structure like this:

server1:
  MyDate (today's date)
         --> MyBackupSet
                     --> Backup Attribute = Backup Value

server2:
MyDate (today's date)
         --> MyBackupSet
                     --> Backup Attribute = Backup Value
[download]

Current perl code:

use strict;
use warnings;
use File::Basename;
use Data::Dumper;

my %MyItems;
my $ARGV ="/var/log/server1.log";
my $mon = 'Aug';
my $day = '06';
my $year = '2010';

while (my $line = <>)
{
    chomp $line;
    print "Line: $line\n" if debug;

    if ($line =~ m/(.* $mon $day) \d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2} $year: ([^:]+):bac
+kup:/)
    {

        my $server = basename $ARGV, '.log';
        my $BckupDate="$1 $year";
        my $BckupSet =$2;
        print "$BckupDate ($BckupSet): " if debug;

        $MyItems{$server}{$BckupSet}->{'MyLogdate'} = $BckupDate;
        $MyItems{$server}{$BckupSet}->{'MyDataset'} = $BckupSet;
        $MyItems{$server}{$BckupSet}->{'MyHost'} = $server;
        #$MyItems{$server}{$BckupSet}->{'MyServer'} = $server;

        if ($line =~ m/(ERROR|backup-size|backup-time|backup-status)[:
+=](.+)/)
        {
            my $BckupKey=$1;
            my $BckupVal=$2;
            $MyItems{$server}{$BckupSet}->{$BckupKey} = $BckupVal;
            print "$BckupKey=$BckupVal\n" if debug;
        }
    }
}

print Dumper(%MyItems);
[download]

Output from Dumper:

$VAR1 = 'server1';
$VAR2 = {
          'abc1.mil.mad' => {
                                 'ERROR' => ' If you are sure  is not 
+running, please remove the file and restart ',
                                 'MyLogdate' => 'Fri Aug 06 2010',
                                 'MyHost' => 'server1',
                                 'MyDataset' => 'abc1.mil.mad'
                               },
          'abc2.cfl.mil.mad' => {
                                  'backup-size' => '187.24 GB',
                                  'MyLogdate' => 'Fri Aug 06 2010',
                                  'MyHost' => 'server1',
                                  'backup-status' => 'Backup succeeded
+',
                                  'backup-time' => '01:54:27',
                                  'MyDataset' => 'abc2.cfl.mil.mad'
                                },
          'abc3.mil.mad' => {
                                'backup-size' => '46.07 GB',
                                'MyLogdate' => 'Fri Aug 06 2010',
                                'MyHost' => 'server1',
                                'backup-status' => 'Backup succeeded',
                                'backup-time' => '00:41:06',
                                'MyDataset' => 'abc3.mil.mad'
                              },
          'abc4.mad_lvm' => {
                                'backup-size' => '422.99 GB',
                                'MyLogdate' => 'Fri Aug 06 2010',
                                'MyHost' => 'server1',
                                'backup-status' => 'Backup succeeded',
                                'backup-time' => '04:48:50',
                                'MyDataset' => 'abc4.mad_lvm'
                              }
        };
[download]

Sample output source file (server log file):

Fri Aug 06 00:00:04 2010: abc2.cfl.mil.mad:backup:INFO: 
Fri Aug 06 00:00:05 2010: abc2.cfl.mil.mad:backup:INFO: backup-set=abc
+2.cfl.mil.mad
Fri Aug 06 00:00:05 2010: abc2.cfl.mil.mad:backup:INFO: backup-date=20
+100806000004
Fri Aug 06 00:00:05 2010: abc2.cfl.mil.mad:backup:INFO: 
Fri Aug 06 00:48:54 2010: abc4.mad_lvm:backup:INFO: backup-size=422.99
+ GB
0: abc4.mad_lvm:backup:INFO: flush-logs-time=00:00:00
Fri Aug 06 00:48:54 2010: abc4.mad_lvm:backup:INFO: backup-time=04:48:
+50
Fri Aug 06 00:48:54 2010: abc4.mad_lvm:backup:INFO: backup-status=Back
+up succeeded
Fri Aug 06 00:48:54 2010: abc4.mad_lvm:backup:INFO: Backup succeeded
Fri Aug 06 00:48:54 2010: abc4.mad_lvm:backup:INFO: PHASE START: Runni
+ng post backup plugin
Fri Aug 06 00:48:55 2010: abc4.mad_lvm:backup:INFO: PHASE END: Running
+ post backup plugin
Fri Aug 06 00:48:55 2010: abc4.mad_lvm:backup:INFO: PHASE START: Clean
+up
Fri Aug 06 00:48:55 2010: abc4.mad_lvm:backup:INFO: PHASE END: Cleanup
Fri Aug 06 00:48:55 2010: abc4.mad_lvm:backup:INFO: END OF BACKUP
[download]

Format I would like to try and create if possible (datafile):

MyHost=>server1;MyLogdate=>Fri Aug 06 2010;MyDataset=>abc2.cfl.mil.mad
+;backup-time=>Fri Aug 06 2010;backup-status=>Backup succeeded
MyHost=>server2;MyLogdate=>Fri Aug 06 2010;MyDataset=>abc4.mad_lvm;bac
+kup-status=>Backup succeeded
[download]

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