Very simple monit of a perl file - how to do it?

[Bruce B]

Hi Everyone,

I am very new to monit. I have a perl program (test.pl) which should be running 24/7 and should re-spawn if it goes dead. Of course monit is the right tool for it but I have no clue how to use it.

Here is what I do to start the program each time:

nohup perl /usr/src/test.pl >> /dev/null

The program actually creates a file with PID in it in /var/log/test.pid

I have the following so far in my /etc/monit.conf    ( I am running CentOS) and it doesn't seem to work. 

check process holdreport with pidfile /var/log/test.pid

   start program = "/usr/src/holdReport/startTest.sh"

   if 5 restarts within 5 cycles then timeout

And startTest.sh includes:

nohup perl /usr/src/test.pl >> /dev/null

I would love to receive alerts to my gmail if program shuts down. Please enlighten me on that too.

Thanks,

Bruce