I bring this up because of recent conversations I have found myself in.
Over the years I have gone back and forth between OSX & Linux laptops. Over these same years I was also monitoring several MySQL databases. I have found numerous server side solutions for you to be able to monitor your database, Nagios and of course MySQL Enterprise Monitor to list a couple. Both of these are great solutions and allow you to try and get some sleep and night.
Over the years I have gone back and forth between OSX & Linux laptops. Over these same years I was also monitoring several MySQL databases. I have found numerous server side solutions for you to be able to monitor your database, Nagios and of course MySQL Enterprise Monitor to list a couple. Both of these are great solutions and allow you to try and get some sleep and night.
Years ago, while using OS X, I was enlightened to learn about a free module called Geektool, it is not new, but I often find people are unaware of it. I have had at least three conversations about it lately. While Nagios and enterprise can send me emails and sms messages, even some that I don't want. Geektool allowed me to have a pulse of whatever I wanted to monitor easily as I was busy working on other things.
Here is how it works, Geek Tool is a system preferences module for Mac OSX. It has the option to display url images and/or output from a script on top of your desktop background. So you can always have the results at a blink of your eye. I used the "shell mode" option and created Perl scripts that live locally in my LAMP database server environment. When these scripts are executed they output a range of information from a count of rows in the processlist , seconds behind master, InnoDB, stats as well as time stamps on the last run of key reports. I had key entities for the company db that I wanted available at a moments notice and displayed on top of my background and yet out of the way from desktop work. You could even tail your MySQL error logs if you wanted. Someone could ask a question and with a blink I could look to the corner of my desktop and have an answer. All of the data is dependent on the refresh thresholds that you determine. So you can have some checks every 10 seconds while another item checked every hour. It is all up to you.
Yes it would be just as easy to run the same Perl script via a terminal when asked a question. Having the results up in the corner of the screen though, I was able to see things becoming issues before they became issues. While I was off writing PHP or Perl scripts, I was also able to watch the database processlist slowly rise or slave start to fall behind and I knew someone was doing something that I needed to check on.
Was I able to catch everything and sleep well at night... No. This is just an additional monitor to keep we aware of more easily as I worked. I had Nagios, MySQL Enterprise Monitor and custom phone call alert system to handle the overnight monitoring.
The Database is of course critical, anyway to have stats and references easily, has always helped. You can use Geektool for numerous things. I happen to have used it to keep quick tabs on key stats for seven different databases, all with one look.
I have not yet found a Linux desktop replacement that I like as well yet, I am searching though.
A screenshot from their site can be seen here: http://projects.tynsoe.org/en/geektool/shots/shot02.jpg They have many more on their site.
URL here if your curious for more: http://projects.tynsoe.org/en/geektool/
