Uptime monitors

Created on 8 August, 2024 • Guides • 4 minutes read

I'm glad you've reached this point. This means that you're already a registered user and have a set up account. Now we can move on to creating the first monitoring. What is a service in the context of monitoring in the VirtualEyes application? It can be a website or a server with a public IP address. Uptime monitors will therefore be regular checks of the status of your website or server. Let me guide you through the process of creating your monitoring and explain all the possibilities so you can take full advantage of the VirtualEyes application.

Adding a monitoring

Go to the "Uptime monitors" section and click the "Create monitor" button. The name field is a short description of your service that will be displayed in many places. Let it be a friendly name that is easy for you to recognize. In this example, I named the monitoring "Test page". Next, you need to choose what type of service it will be. You have three options to choose from:

  • HTTP(s) - this is nothing more than a classic website
  • Ping (ICMP) - in this case, you will check whether your server responds to ICMP ping packets
  • Host / Port - thanks to this option, you can check whether a network service on your server is online, e.g. a mail server or FTP server

I will start by going through the HTTP(s) configuration, as it contains the most options to configure, and at the end I will discuss the differences in the other types of services.

The first and most important field is "URL Address". This must be a valid website address starting with http:// or https://. You can check the home page of your service, e.g. https://example.com or any other address, e.g. https://example.com/to/jest/tylko/przyklad.html. Then you will see the available notification channels.

NOTE! If you do not select any - you will not receive information about the service not working!

The last important thing is how often the application should monitor your service. Depending on your plan, different time intervals are available - from one minute (60 seconds) to one day (86400 seconds). These three simple settings will allow you to create a working monitoring - click "Create" to save, after which you will be redirected to the page with a summary of your monitoring. The summary page will be empty until the first check - this usually takes up to a dozen or so seconds.

Edit

Now go back to the service monitoring edit page. You can always do this by clicking the context menu and selecting "Edit". This option is available both on the summary page and on the list of your monitored services for each service.

Once you enter edit mode, you will notice that the form looks almost exactly like when adding a service. There is a new checkbox that allows you to disable service checking. This option is useful when, for example, you are updating your site and you know that it will not be available to your visitors. If you have a package that allows API access, you can automate this operation by including it in your CI/CD process.

Advanced settings

Both when adding and editing monitoring, you see the "Advanced settings" button on the form. It allows for more precise configuration. After clicking, you will see additional options:

  • Locations - here you can select from which locations you would like to check the service. If you select more than one server, the checking server will be selected randomly for each check.
  • Request timeout - set the time limit for your service to respond. The recommended setting is 5-10 seconds.
  • Email reports - if you check this option, you will receive a summary of the service statistics by email once a week.
  • Project - thanks to this option, you can connect the service to a selected project.

Custom Request

This section is intended for advanced users and allows for very precise monitoring configuration. Familiarize yourself with the individual options:

  • Method - set which HTTP method you want to use for the request to your website (applies only to the HTTP(s) service). For methods other than HEAD, the option to follow redirects is available (up to 5 redirects).
  • Request content - only for POST, PUT, and PATCH requests you can send any content to the server.
  • Username / password - if your site uses the Basic Authentication mechanism, you can enter the appropriate data here.
  • Custom request headers - this part allows you to configure any headers required by your application.

Custom response

In this part you can define the response parameters that will be returned by your website. These options are only available for request methods other than HEAD:

  • Response status code - set what HTTP code you expect in the response (the default value is 200).
  • Response content - if you fill in this field, it will additionally check whether the response contains the text you define.
  • Custom response headers - here you can define header checking from your application.


Now you know all the possibilities and configuration options available for monitoring services in the VirtualEyes application. Regardless of whether you run a simple website or an advanced web application, the variety of configurations will allow you to monitor virtually any scenario. In case of any doubts, you can always contact me using the "Contact" tab.