Folder Monitoring Software

[Rathji]

We recently upgraded a server at work Win2003 to Win2012.

On this server we need to monitor a folder for files and do some manual processing on the file when it appears. Until this upgrade, we have always used a folder monitoring service, and had it send emails to the appropriate people. Of course, the old software didn't work so we have tried a couple different solutions, none of which seem to be working that reliably.

Was wondering if anyone knew of a good solution for this kind of thing. We are non-profit, so free has been our target price point so far, but if the damn thing works, I am sure I will have not much problem convincing the powers to be to cough up some dough.

I do realize that the idea solution is to automate the entire thing, but the reality of the situation is these files (CSV) are generated by an archaic program (I am actually fairly sure it was written in Fortran) that we have no control over, with data entered by people with little or no ability to actually enter data that is expected of them. This often results in files that are totally mangled in terms of what is expected. As a result, someone needs to fix the files before they are processed.

[FanIn80]

Without really looking into anything, I imagine it should be fairly simple to write a small .Net app that checks the bite size of a particular folder (or even multiple folders), and then fires off an email whenever there's a change in the result.

[sclitheroe]

Did you discover this problem before or after upgrading the production system?

[Rathji]

The new software worked fine in test, and for 2 months in production, but it randomly has stopped working several times over the last couple weeks.

You can fix it with a reinstall, which is fine, but it is a hassle. I am hoping to find something that actually will work without us babysitting it.

We could write something to do this notification, but what we really would like to do is write something to automate the entire thing, but due to the severe clusterf*** that is the input we get, that won't happen until our slow time - over the summer.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Rathji

The new software worked fine in test, and for 2 months in production, but it randomly has stopped working several times over the last couple weeks.

You can fix it with a reinstall, which is fine, but it is a hassle. I am hoping to find something that actually will work without us babysitting it.

Ugh, the worst kind of problem - inconsistent behavior.

No suggestions, just commiserating.