UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Basically what i'm trying to do is execute an update command and at the same time have the system do a TCPdump to file for that update traffic.

So I would like to connect the two commands so that the tcpdump terminates automatically when the update finishes/fails/whatever.

Right now I have it to the point where it will ask me which interface to capture on and then it will execute the update and start doing a capture.

Code:

echo; netstat -i | awk '{print $1}' ; echo ; echo 'Interface to capture on?' ; read capture ; update & tcpdump -n -i $capture -w /tmp/capture.cap host xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

---------- Post updated at 01:24 PM ---------- Previous update was at 12:49 PM ----------

I have made a little progress on this.. Is there any way I can execute a command in the background and then save that new process ID to a variable?

So I could execute a command, save the process ID ex 1000 to variable Y.

Then when i'm done with all my commands I could just issue kill $Y to end the process still running?

So I basically just revered it. I run the capture in the background. Execute the update then kill the capture process.

---------- Post updated at 01:55 PM ---------- Previous update was at 01:24 PM ----------

Ok so looks like $! returns the process ID of the command that I just executed in the background.

So I got it to work by having it start the capture, then execute the update, then when the update is finished I did kill $! and that takes care of it.

I swear half the time I post something online I wind up figuring out my own answer before too long.