Very Generic Linux Service Watchdog script

A strong watchdog script- indeed!

#!/bin/bash
#
# watchdog
#
# Run as a cron job to keep an eye on what_to_monitor which should always
# be running. Restart what_to_monitor and send notification as needed.
#
# This needs to be run as root or a user that can start system services.
#
# Revisions: 0.1 (20100506), 0.2 (20100507)

NAME=what_to_monitor
START=/full/path/to/$NAME
NOTIFY=person1email
NOTIFYCC=person2email
GREP=/bin/grep
PS=/bin/ps
NOP=/bin/true
DATE=/bin/date
MAIL=/bin/mail
RM=/bin/rm

$PS -ef|$GREP -v grep|$GREP $NAME >/dev/null 2>&1
case "$?" in
 0)
 # It is running in this case so we do nothing.
 $NOP
 ;;
 1)
 echo "$NAME is NOT RUNNING. Starting $NAME and sending notices."
 $START 2>&1 >/dev/null &
 NOTICE=/tmp/watchdog.txt
 echo "$NAME was not running and was started on `$DATE`" > $NOTICE
 $MAIL -n -s "watchdog notice" -c $NOTIFYCC $NOTIFY < $NOTICE
 $RM -f $NOTICE
 ;;
esac

exit

Src: http://blog.eracc.com/2010/05/08/linux-monitor-a-service-with-a-watchdog-script/