• to be notified when incidents happen (email, XMPP, ZeroMQ...)
• automatic actions to be taken (restart, rm, git pull...)
• to collect system statistics for further processing e.g. graphs
• tie into existing/third-party Python code
• play along nicely with existing deployment/configuration ecosystem (fabric/cuisine)

• monitoring DSL: declarative programming to define monitoring strategy
• wide spectrum: from data collection and incident reporting to taking automatic actions
• Small, easy to read, a single file API
• Revised BSD License
• written in Python

• ensure service availability: test and start/stop when problems
• collect system statistics/data, log locally and/or remotely
• alert on system/service health, take actions

` python setup.py install ` or

` easy_install watchdog `

Read the presentation on Watchdog (previously named Watchdog).