You'd go to a lot of trouble to do that
![Tongue](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/tongue.gif)
You could just have a script that uses the API and enables/disables each of the 2 pools as required
![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
My approach stemmed from the fact that it was boozer who reported a range of horrible events like cards dying constantly, cgminer eating the whole available memory space and bringing the system to a screeching halt...
Oh and yes, using the API calls to interact with cgminer would be by far preferable - I never suggested using messenger pigeons or necromancy in the overseer script.
![Cheesy](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/cheesy.gif)
The rest - such as actually detecting the pool-related issues remains the same, doesn't it? At least until the PoolIsInTrouble API is added.
API for the winz. So glad that thing exists. Boy it certainly was a smart idea for *someone* to start a bounty for that.
*stroking DAT's head* good Death, wise Death. We're certainly glad to have thee aboard
![Grin](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/grin.gif)
Oh - you want to to add "Last Share Time" to each pool?
Each device already says it - I guess it wouldn't hurt to have each pool say it too ... maybe one day ... if I'm bored ... or someone needs it
![Tongue](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/tongue.gif)
However, the point was to actually handle swapping 2 pools and that is already easily possible.
Since you only have one active pool at a time:
Look at each device to determine when the last share was ... and the device "Utility".
Edit: I guess next we'll be telling pool OPs to run cgminer and get it to tell them when their pool has crapped out
![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
But I should also mention that pools are unreliable anyway - you cannot know immediately that a pool is bad - it takes a bit of time.
If you decided every time a pool returned some problem or didn't reply, you'd be swapping pools faster than my API pool hopping script ...
Did I say that? No - never
![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
When I implemented the pool control in the API I actually wrote a script that same night to hop before I even released the API code change
![Tongue](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/tongue.gif)
Just as a test example of course
![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
That works
![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
However, if you hop lots with cgminer you lose hashes - last time I tried it was about a 2%-3% drop in hash rate due to swapping pools.