Monit: Monitor SSHD Server and Auto Restart SSH If It Does Not Respond

Posted by Vivek Gite [Last updated: June 11, 2008]

This FAQ is part 2 of 3 in the series Linux Server Monitor

Q. How do I monitor my ssh server with monit? How do I restart ssh server if it does not respond or dead due to any issues under Linux?

A. You can easily monitor Linux server or service such as OpenSSH (SSHD daemon) using monit utility.

Monitor SSH and Auto Restart If Died

Open your /etc/monitrc or /etc/monit/monitrc file:
# vi /etc/monit/monitrc
Append following code:
check process sshd with pidfile /var/run/sshd.pid start program "/etc/init.d/ssh start" stop program "/etc/init.d/ssh stop" if failed port 22 protocol ssh then restart if 5 restarts within 5 cycles then timeout
Save and close the file. Make sure you set /var/run/sshd.pid and /etc/init.d/ssh as per your Linux distribution. These values are valid for Debian / Ubuntu Linux. Restart monit to pickup the changes:
# /etc/init.d/monit restart