Setting Up Uptime Monitoring

Setting Up Uptime Monitoring

This step-by-step guide shows you how to set up uptime monitoring for your websites using Faciotech's Server Monitor.

Prerequisites

• An active Faciotech account
• Your website URL(s) to monitor
• Contact information for alerts (email and/or phone number)

Step 1: Access the Server Monitor

1. Log into your Faciotech Client Area.
2. Go to Server Monitor.
3. Click the Add Monitor tab.

Step 2: Configure Monitor Settings

Basic Settings

• Monitor Name — A friendly name (e.g., "Main Website").
• URL / Host — Full URL including https:// for HTTP monitors (e.g., https://yourdomain.com), or hostname/IP for Ping and Port monitors.
• Monitor Type — Select from:
  • HTTP(S) — Checks that your website returns the expected HTTP status code. Best for websites and web applications.
  • Ping — Sends ICMP ping requests to verify your server is reachable. Best for servers and infrastructure.
  • Port — Checks whether a specific port is open and accepting connections. Best for database servers, mail servers, and custom services.
  • Keyword — Verifies that specific text appears (or does not appear) on a web page. Best for detecting errors or confirming dynamic content loads correctly.

Check Frequency

Choose how often to check your site:

• 1 minute — Critical sites requiring the fastest possible notification.
• 5 minutes — Recommended for most websites.
• 15 minutes — Suitable for less critical sites.
• 30-60 minutes — Low-priority monitoring.

Timeout Settings

• Timeout — How long to wait for a response (default: 30 seconds).
• If your site does not respond within this time, the check is marked as failed.

Expected Status Code (HTTP monitors)

• Set the expected HTTP status code — usually 200 (OK).
• You can specify other codes such as 301 or 302 if your URL redirects by design.

Keyword Check (Keyword monitors)

• Enter the text to search for on the page.
• The monitor will alert you if the keyword is missing (or present, depending on configuration).

Step 3: Set Up Alerts

Alert Contacts

1. Switch to the Alerts tab.
2. Add email addresses for notifications.
3. Optionally add phone numbers for SMS alerts.

Alert Conditions

• Alert after X failures — How many consecutive failed checks before an alert is sent (2-3 recommended).
• This prevents false alarms from temporary network glitches.

Alert Frequency

• Repeat alerts — Get reminded if the site stays down.
• Common setting: every 30 minutes while the issue persists.

Step 4: Advanced Options (Optional)

HTTP Authentication

If your site or staging environment requires HTTP Basic Authentication:

• Enter the username and password in the monitor settings.
• Useful for staging sites or password-protected areas.

SSL Verification

• HTTP(S) monitors automatically verify SSL certificate validity.
• You will receive alerts if your certificate is invalid or has expired.

Step 5: Save and Verify

1. Click Create Monitor.
2. The monitor will perform an initial check immediately.
3. Return to the Overview tab to verify the monitor shows a status of Up.
4. Send a test alert from the Alerts tab to confirm notifications are working.

Monitoring Multiple Sites

Repeat the process for each website, service, or endpoint you want to monitor. Common examples:

• Main website — https://yourdomain.com
• Subdomain sites — https://blog.yourdomain.com
• Critical pages — https://yourdomain.com/checkout, https://yourdomain.com/login
• API endpoints — https://api.yourdomain.com/health
• Mail server — Port monitor on port 25, 465, or 587
• Database server — Port monitor on port 3306

Understanding Monitor Status

• Up — Site is responding normally within the expected parameters.
• Degraded — Site is responding but slower than expected.
• Down — Site is not responding or returning an error.
• Paused — Monitoring is temporarily disabled (e.g., during a maintenance window).

Best Practices

• Start with 5-minute checks and adjust based on your needs.
• Require 2-3 failures before alerting to avoid false alarms.
• Add multiple alert contacts for redundancy.
• Monitor critical pages, not just the homepage.
• Use keyword monitoring for pages with dynamic content to confirm they load correctly.
• Review your monitor reports weekly in the Reports tab.
• Schedule maintenance windows in the Maintenance tab to suppress alerts during planned work.

Troubleshooting

False Alerts

• Increase the timeout if your site is slow to respond.
• Require more consecutive failures before alerting.
• Check if your firewall is blocking monitoring IPs.

Not Receiving Alerts

• Verify your email address is correct in the Alerts tab.
• Check your spam or junk folder.
• Send a test alert from the Alerts tab to confirm delivery.

Need help setting up monitoring? Contact our support team or visit the Server Monitor to get started.