Slightly OT - checking if an app is running

Hi, This is slightly off topic, but it may be that PHP can provide the solution. I am running Filemaker Pro v5 Unlimited on an NT4 Server box. I have a Filemaker plug-in that checks that the required databases are running every 5 minutes, and if not, launches them. That's fine as long as the Filemaker application is running. Recently, the application has been shutting down inexplicably and that causes me quite a problem. I'm looking for a tool, or script that can check to see if Filemaker is running (or not) and then do whatever is necessary to get the system started, if required. My fallback from that would be for a 'failure' to trigger an email to alert me (I can do the email part). I'm looking for a temporary solution as I will be porting the data from NT/FMP/Lasso to Linux/MySQL/PHP in a few months. Any ideas anyone? Cheers George in Oxford