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The watchdog (PROWDOG) is an optional background process that:

  • Checks for the existence of the lock (.lk) file and makes sure that the .lk file is valid. If the file disappears or is corrupted, the database is automatically shutdown.
  • Cleans up after improperly terminated self-service clients as well as the remote clients of lost servers.
  • Checks if the broker is still alive. If for some reason the broker is not alive, the database is automatically shut down.

Without a watchdog process, the primary broker performs the watchdog function in addition to all its other duties. So, having a dedicated watchdog improves database performance. As a best practice, after you start up a database, you should start the watchdog.

The command to start the watchdog for a running database is:
prowdog db-name
Note: You can run only one watchdog per database.