Simple scripting question from newbie

[chrisstorck]

---

Red Hat 9

I have a process that frequently defuncts. I would like to write a script to stop it and start it at a set time everyday. To stop and start the process I used the following lines from the command line.
/etc/rc.d/init.d/agent.init stop
/etc/rc.d/init.d/agent.init start

when I try to create a script that I could run from cron I get the following error.
Usage: agent.be { start | stop }

I have also tried the follwoing commands without success.
killall agent.be
./etc/bkupexec/agent.be

Here is a copy of the agent.init script

#!/bin/sh

DESTDIR=/etc/bkupexec

if [ ! -d $DESTDIR ]
then			# Backup Exec Agent not installed
	exit
fi

CMD="$1"

case "$CMD" in
'start')
	if [ -x $DESTDIR/agent.be ]
	then
		$DESTDIR/agent.be -c $DESTDIR/agent.cfg 2>$DESTDIR/agent.log &
	fi
	;;
'stop')
	# stop the Agent daemons
        if [ -f /bin/grep ]
        then
	   pid=`/bin/ps -e | /bin/grep agent.be | /bin/sed -e 's/^  *//' -e 's/ .*//'`
        else
	   pid=`/usr/bin/ps -e | /usr/bin/grep agent.be | /usr/bin/sed -e 's/^  *//' -e 's/ .*//'`
        fi
	if [ "${pid}" != "" ]
	then
           if [ -f /bin/kill ]
           then
		/bin/kill ${pid}
           else 
                /usr/bin/kill ${pid}
           fi
	fi
	;;
*)
	echo "Usage: agent.be { start | stop }"
	;;
esac

Thankyou for your help

***Mod Edit: Put code into code brackets. Please use BBCode to format your posts in the future.***

[spookt]

Hi

From my command line your script works well. Could you post the lines from your crontab which invoke the script ? It seems that your arguments may not be reaching the script.

Spook

[chrisstorck]

OK, the crontab entry is

0 16 * * * /etc/dansguardian/bkupexec_agent_restart

this is just a file I created with the two lines

/etc/rc.d/init.d/agent.init stop
/etc/rc.d/init.d/agent.init start

in it.

[spookt]

Hmm, OK I had asumed that the code you posted was agent.be

It seems like the agent.be script which you call in the start method of the case statement requires a start or stop parameter which you are not supplying:

$DESTDIR/agent.be -c $DESTDIR/agent.cfg 2>$DESTDIR/agent.log &

I would also change the line

echo "Usage: agent.be { start | stop }"

to read

echo "Usage: agent.init { start | stop }"

so you can actually tell if the error is coming from agent.be or your script.

Cheers

Spook

[chrisstorck]

Alright, that worked. The script is successfully stopping and starting the process. Thank You very much!

[chrisstorck]

OK, I am a goober. Obviously the echoi would'nt have made a difference, un less it means something different than a windows/dos environment. For what ever reason this script is now working. I have changed nothing on the system since I first wrote in asking for help but it seems to really be working now. Thank you for all your help!!

[spookt]

Hi

You're welcome!

I suggested changing the echo just so it was clear where the actual error message came from (the error generated by agent.init would have said agent.be)

I'm glad you got things working. Isn't it a bummer when it just suddenly works and you cant see why it didn't in the first place

Cheers
Spook