1. Let's enable logging of everything to a single file: - Edit /etc/syslog-ng/syslog-ng.conf, and add this at the end: destination everything { file("/var/log/everything" template("$DATE <$FACILITY.$PRIORITY> $HOST $MSG\n") template_escape(no) ); }; log { source(s_all); destination(everything); }; ... this will enable logging of ALL messages to a single file, so that we can run a monitoring script on the messages. 2. Enable a daily automated script to truncate the log file so it doesn't grow too big: vi /etc/logrotate.d/everything /var/log/everything { daily copytruncate rotate 1 postrotate /etc/init.d/swatch restart endscript } 2. Install swatch # apt-get install swatch 3. Create /etc/swatch.conf vi /etc/swatch.conf watchfor /NATIVE_VLAN_MISMATCH/ mail=root,subject=VLAN problem threshold type=limit,count=1,seconds=3600 watchfor /CONFIG_I/ mail=root,subject=Router config threshold type=limit,count=1,seconds=3600 4. Start swatch: # swatch -c /etc/swatch.conf --daemon Check that it is running: # ps ax | grep swatch 5. Check that mails are coming in: # mutt -f /var/mail/netmanage