Setting up server monitoring: checks, locations and alerts

Server monitoring checks servers, websites and services around the clock and reports outages by email and SMS. It is set up in the customer portal on the „Servermonitoring“ page. There you find „Ihre Prüfungen“ (your checks), „Letzte Störungen“ (recent outages) and the „Alarmempfänger“ (alert recipients).

1. Creating a check

With „Neue Prüfung anlegen“ (create new check) you choose the target, that is the address or name of the server, and the type of check:

Type	What is checked
Ping	Reachability, packet loss and response time. Default: warning from 20 % loss or 0.15 seconds.
Port and service	A port with TCP or with the protocol SSH, SMTP, IMAP, POP3, FTP, LDAP or HTTPS. TCP only checks whether the port is open.
Website	Status code and response time of an address. Default: 200, 401 and 403 count as fine, warning from 2, outage from 5 seconds, measured over five minutes.
DNS	A record of type A, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS, CNAME or SOA.
Certificate	Validity of the certificate, directly encrypted (443, 465, 993) or with STARTTLS for SMTP, IMAP and POP3.
Content check	A text that must appear on the page, or one that must not appear, for example an error message.

The switch „Auch Warnungen melden“ (also report warnings) additionally reports early signs, for example a certificate that expires soon. The „Kurzname“ (short name) appears in the SMS, which holds only 160 characters. If it is left empty, it is formed from the target. A check can be adjusted later with „Prüfung ändern“ (change check).

2. Choosing locations

A check can run from several locations: Cologne, Munich and Hong Kong, depending on the plan. This shows whether a server has failed completely or is only unreachable from one region.

3. Alert recipients and quiet times

Under „Alarmempfänger“ you enter an email address or a mobile number. Which one it is, is detected automatically. Emails are always sent, also at night. For SMS alerts you can set quiet times, per weekday with times or for single days, for example during holidays.

SMS alerts are included depending on the plan, with a quota or without limit. With „SMS Kontingent hinzubuchen“ (add SMS quota) an add-on package is added, see SMS packages.

Values from the system

The type „Werte aus dem System“ (values from the system) reads values directly on the server and requires an agent there. This check is created when the agent is set up, not via „Neue Prüfung anlegen“.

Frequently asked questions

Does a second location count as another check?

No. Target and type form one check, regardless of how many locations it runs from.

Where can I see when an outage occurred?

Under „Letzte Störungen“ with start, end and duration per check.

See also: View server monitoring SMS packages