<h1>Hello Witnesses!</h1>

I made a little tweak to <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/bash-script-to-monitor-your-witness-node">my witness node monitoring script</a> today as I've received two false positives recently. One of them was after midnight this past weekend while camping with the family. Yes, I opened up my laptop in the tent, tethered through my phone, and logged in to find everything was fine. Grr.

Here's the diff of the changes:

```
~/steem-docker # diff check_status.sh check_status_2017-09-10 
21c21
< #latest_block="failtest"
---
> #latest_block=""
25d24
<   rm -f possible_problem.txt
27,33d25
< fi
< 
< if [ ! -f possible_problem.txt ]; then
<     now=$(date)
<     echo  $latest_block > possible_problem.txt
<     echo  $latest_block > "past_issues_$now.txt"
<     exit 1
```

I basically added a second chance test, and I'm recording failures to a dated file for curiosity's sake. It's quick and dirty, but works fairly well.

Here's the full updated script:

```
#!/usr/bin/env bash
if [ -f notification_sent.txt ]; then
    exit 1
fi

if [ ! -f last_block.txt ]; then
    echo "1" > last_block.txt
    exit 1
fi

last_saved_block=$(< last_block.txt)
latest_log_entry=$(./run.sh logs | tail -n 1)

if [[ $latest_log_entry == *"Generated block"* ]]; then
    echo "We just mined a block. Exiting."
    exit 1
fi

latest_block=$(echo $latest_log_entry | awk '{print $11;}')
# to test, uncomment this next line:
#latest_block="failtest"
if [[ "$latest_block" -gt "$last_saved_block" ]]; then
  echo "We're good. Latest block is... $latest_block"
  echo $latest_block > last_block.txt
  rm -f possible_problem.txt
  exit 1
fi

if [ ! -f possible_problem.txt ]; then
    now=$(date)
    echo  $latest_block > possible_problem.txt
    echo  $latest_block > "past_issues_$now.txt"
    exit 1
fi

# Houston, we have a problem!

echo "There seems to be a problem."
echo "Last saved block: $last_saved_block"
echo "Latest block: $latest_block"

python sendnotice.py

echo -e "Something went wrong. Here's what we got for the latest block: $latest_block \r\n" > notification_sent.txt
```

Now, if you get two errors in a row (I cron this script for every minute), then you'll get the text message/email instead of with every random funky error notice steemd spits out which happens to line up with the moment you test for successful blocks coming in.

You can see my original post here: <a href="https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/bash-script-to-monitor-your-witness-node">Bash Script to Monitor Your Witness Node</a>.

Steem on!

-----

<p>
    <div class="pull-left">
        <a href="https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@lukestokes/my-name-is-luke-let-s-create-the-world-we-want-to-live-in"><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/steemimgimgs/2016/10/23/luke_stokes_head_shot31b50.png" /></a>
    </div>
    <em><a href="https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@lukestokes/my-name-is-luke-let-s-create-the-world-we-want-to-live-in">Luke Stokes</a> is a father, <a href="https://steemit.com/@corinnestokes">husband</a>, <a href="https://www.foxy.io/">business owner</a>, programmer, and voluntaryist who wants to help create a world we all want to live in. Visit <a href="http://understandingblockchainfreedom.com/">UnderstandingBlockchainFreedom.com</a></em>
</p>

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