I have a number of existing scripts based on Test::Simple that I use to monitor a system. The scripts work very well, testing a set of conditions and sending an e-mail if something goes awry. A master script runs the tests and then goes to sleep for a time before testing again.

We are now moving the system to an external hosting facility where the e-mail option won't work. The external provider uses BMC Patrol to monitor the servers and software. Their operations guy said that Patrol will parse a file looking for certain conditions (e.g. Error 13 your SAN is corrupt - Abort, Retry, Fail?) and inform the operators via e-mail or SMS.

This is great but I wanted to get away from having a Perl app constantly testing the system and generating the log file. I don't know a great deal about patrol but it should be able to run a Perl app (my Test::Simple based script) and parse the output for errors.

Has anyone else used BMC Patrol and used it in conjunction with Perl?