Final project: ship a verified operations report

Build a small operations report from an intentionally simple log. Your deliverable is a report, an archive, and evidence that the restored report matches. This brings together paths, quoting, filters, permissions, archives, and verification without requiring a server or administrator access.

The brief

Your team has a log with a severity and service name on each line. Count ERROR records by service, save the result, package the evidence, and prove the package can be restored. Use a new temporary directory.

Acceptance criteria

• The report counts api twice and worker once.
• INFO and WARN records are excluded.
• The source log and report are included in the archive.
• The original report is readable and writable only by its owner.
• A byte comparison confirms the restored report matches.
• You explain each pipeline stage and its limitations.

Start with the fixture

si_lab=$(mktemp -d)
cd "$si_lab" || exit
printf '%s\n' 'INFO api ready' 'ERROR api timeout' 'ERROR worker retry' 'WARN web slow' 'ERROR api timeout' > events.log
cat events.log

Plan before looking at the example

Choose a filter, a field extractor, a grouping operation, and an archive command. Predict the report before you run anything. Then use the worked example to compare your approach.

Stretch task: Add an ERROR web record and regenerate the report. Explain why it now has a third service. If records contained quoted fields or structured JSON, choose an appropriate parser rather than stretching this whitespace-based pipeline.

Keep the useful habits

• Inspect the current path and target before a write.
• Bound output and network requests.
• Read the installed manual when versions differ.
• Verify a restore, not just the existence of an archive.
• Report what you observed separately from what you inferred.

You now have a repeatable method for unfamiliar commands: identify the job, find the manual, preview the effect, and verify the result.

Source credit and license

Adapted from 101 Linux Commands by Bobby Iliev and contributors. The original command-topic collection is MIT licensed. SI's lesson structure, rewritten explanations, practice fixtures, and knowledge checks form this course adaptation. The supplied ebook's affiliate and promotional links are not included.

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2020 Bobby Iliev

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