Golang : Check from web if Go application is running or not

When we run some processes in the background to perform certain tasks and it would be a good idea to know if the process is still alive and kicking from time to time.

In this tutorial, we will learn how to check if a Golang program is still running in the memory and also spit out some custom information with a web browser.

In this example, our program will inform the world that it is running fine if everything is ok and reply with the total number of processes running in memory. Please change the code below to suit your requirements.

Run this code below and then point your browser to http://localhost:8088 and http://localhost:8088/getstatus (case sensitive) to see the output

 package main

 import (
 "bytes"
 "fmt"
 "io"
 "net/http"
 "os/exec"
 )

 func Greet(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 w.Write([]byte("Hello! I'm the getstatus.go program and I'm still alive and kicking."))
 }

 func ReplyStatus(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {

 // taken from
 // https://www.socketloop.com/tutorials/golang-pipe-output-from-one-os-exec-shell-command-to-another-command
 first := exec.Command("ps", "-ef")
 second := exec.Command("wc", "-l")

 reader, writer := io.Pipe()
 first.Stdout = writer
 second.Stdin = reader

 var buff bytes.Buffer
 second.Stdout = &buff

 first.Start()
 second.Start()
 first.Wait()
 writer.Close()
 second.Wait()

 total := buff.String() // convert output to string

 w.Write([]byte(fmt.Sprintf("Total processes running on this server : %s ", total)))
 }

 func main() {
 // http.Handler
 mux := http.NewServeMux()
 mux.HandleFunc("/", Greet)
 mux.HandleFunc("/getstatus", ReplyStatus)

 http.ListenAndServe(":8088", mux)
 }

NOTE : In a production system..... because the program is accessible from the web(outside world), you need to add some security measure such as password(with TFA) protected page or only accept incoming request from certain IP address.

References :

https://www.socketloop.com/tutorials/golang-gorilla-mux-routing-example

https://www.socketloop.com/tutorials/golang-web-routing-multiplex-example

https://www.socketloop.com/tutorials/golang-pipe-output-from-one-os-exec-shell-command-to-another-command