Thanks to Hive account@lukestokes, who was kind enough to create a script, which notifies if witness server stops working I have added this functionality to our server as well. Tested it, works perfectly! I think that this is a must have for every witness.

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Steemit software is not perfect and for some reason, it might stop working.

We have seen some cases when an accounts sent out spam messages which caused some witness servers to stop functioning or when a false power-down was allowed to happen because of a bug in software and the whole network stopped to protect accounts.

Having notifications being sent out to witness owners if a witness server stops working is crucial to protect our Steemit blockchain. Thanks again Hive account@lukestokes for creating such a script for everyone to use. Here is a link to the original article: https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/bash-script-to-monitor-your-witness-node

Please find below detailed installation instructions on how to install the sctipt below for those of you who are not so advanced in using the console. These instructions apply to the Hive account@someguy123 STEEM-in-a-box, although I believe it should work on any set-up. If you have a chance to test it on regular setup, please let us know in the comments section.

This script monitors the witness server using ./run.sh logs command, and writes the latest block to the last_block.txt file. If the block number is lower then the one in the file it will send a notification using python using your credentials in the sendnotice.py file. It also logs errors in notification_sent.txt file.

Step 1 - Intal python

You will need python to send out an SMS or an email. Install it if you don't have python installed already

Install prerequisites

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential checkinstall
sudo apt-get install libreadline-gplv2-dev libncursesw5-dev libssl-dev libsqlite3-dev tk-dev libgdbm-dev libc6-dev libbz2-dev

Download and extract Python

cd /usr/src
sudo wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.14/Python-2.7.14.tgz
sudo tar xzf Python-2.7.14.tgz

Compile Python Source

cd Python-2.7.14
sudo ./configure --enable-optimizations
sudo make altinstall

Check python version

python2.7 -V

Step 2 - Create your scripts

Navigate to your Steem-in-the-box docker

cd steem-docker

Create check_status.sh file (which monitors the logs)

nano check_status.sh

Paste in the code (ctrl + v) and to save and close type "Y" and hit Enter

#!/usr/bin/env bash
if [ -f notification_sent.txt ]; then
    exit 1
fi

if [ ! -f last_block.txt ]; then
    echo "1" > last_block.txt
    exit 1
fi

last_saved_block=$(< last_block.txt)
latest_log_entry=$(./run.sh logs | tail -n 1)

if [[ $latest_log_entry == *"Generated block"* ]]; then
    echo "We just mined a block. Exiting."
    exit 1
fi

latest_block=$(echo $latest_log_entry | awk '{print $11;}')
# to test, uncomment this next line:
#latest_block=""
if [[ "$latest_block" -gt "$last_saved_block" ]]; then
  echo "We're good. Latest block is... $latest_block"
  echo $latest_block > last_block.txt
  exit 1
fi

# Houston, we have a problem!

echo "There seems to be a problem."
echo "Last saved block: $last_saved_block"
echo "Latest block: $latest_block"

python sendnotice.py

echo -e "Something went wrong. Here's what we got for the latest block: $latest_block \r\n" > notification_sent.txt
./run.sh logs >> notification_sent.txt

Create a file which sends out notification

nano sendnotice.py

Paste in the following code (ctrl + v) and to save and close type "Y" and hit Enter

# Import smtplib for the actual sending function
import smtplib

# Import the email modules we'll need
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

msg = MIMEText("Check your Steemit Witness Node!")
msg['Subject'] = "Witness Node ERROR!"
msg['From'] = "YOURFROMEMAILHERE"
msg['To'] = "**********@txt.att.net"
s = smtplib.SMTP_SSL('smtp.gmail.com')
s.login('************@gmail.com','*********APP PASSWORD**********')
s.sendmail(msg['From'], [msg['To']], msg.as_string())
s.quit()

Edit the following fields

• Replace YOURFROMEMAILHERE with your email address.
• Replace **********@txt.att.net with your 10 digit phone number and domain for your phone carrier service. You can also just insert your gmail email address for email notifications
• Replace ************@gmail.com with your gmail login.
• Replace *********APP PASSWORD********** with your gmail password

Step 3 - Test email script

python sendnotice.py

If you receive an email from google saying that the app was blocked you can try to change these settings to ON.
Or if google blocks your server attempt to send an email "Review blocked sign-in attempt", visit this link: https://myaccount.google.com/security and press "Review devices" and mark that this device is yours.

Step 4 - Test main script

bash check_status.sh

If everything is ok you should see something like this

Step 5 - Setup Cron job to every minute

check your current path

pwd

Open up crontab (I prefer using nano to edit contab)

export VISUAL=nano; crontab -e

Paste in this code at the bottom of the file but instead of "/yuriks2000/steem-docker" use your path, which you got earlier using pwd command

* * * * * cd /yuriks2000/steem-docker; ./check_status.sh

Then to close press (ctrl + c ) and to save and close type Y and hit Enter

Thats all folks!

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Thank you for your attention, hope that this initiative by Hive account@lukestokes, will help us all to secure Steemit blockchain even better. I remember that because of this script Hive account@lukestokes was the first to react during the network halt on July 3ed 2018.

Hive account@yuriks2000 your loyal Steemit Witness and a CEO of BoomApps developing SteemApp, a completely free app for Steemians

Please support Hive account@yuriks2000 and Hive account@lukestokes by voting for us as Witness

Go to https://steemit.com/~witnesses

Or vote for us through steemconnect

Have a lovely day!

This is why we love Steemit!