iwatch

realtime filesystem monitoring program using inotify

inotify (inode notify) is a Linux kernel subsystem that monitors events in filesystems and reports those events to applications in real time. inotify can be used to monitor individual files or directories. When a directory is monitored, inotify will return events for the directory itself and for files inside the directory. iWatch is a Perl wrap to inotify to monitor changes in specific directories or files, sending alarm to the system administrator (or other destination) in real time. It can: - Send notifications via email about changes. - Take programmable actions immediately, as emit alerts via XMPP (jabber) messengers, WhatsApp or execute a local program or script. - Act as HIDS (Host-based Intrusion Detection System) or an integrity checker, complementing the firewall system in networks and improving the security. iWatch can run as a simple command, as well a daemon. A good example of iWatch usage is to monitor the pages directory in webservers to notify, in real time, about defacements or file insertions. Other example is to synchronize configuration files between machines, when they are changed, as in DHCP servers acting in failover mode. You also use to synchronize files, via rsync when these files are changed.