You can do a splendid job obtaining high search engine ranking and an equally
fine job marketing your site. However, your hard work will be of little value
unless your site and servers are up and fully operational. Unfortunately, items
such as software lockups, hardware Monitoring failures, databases, hackers, viruses, worms,
service patches, and Internet connectivity can all play a critical role in your
online success. Enter firms that specialize in email, site, and server monitoring.
What exactly is “server, email, and web site monitoring”?
Web site monitoring refers to monitoring the operational status and performance
of a web site that uses HTTP and/or HTTPS. Likewise, email monitoring refers to
the monitoring, operational status and performance of SMTP servers to insure that
mail is flowing correctly and timely. Server monitoring refers to monitoring the
operational status and performance of other server services such as FTP. While
the difference may seem slight, it is important to note the difference.
How Does Monitoring Work?
Monitoring firms attempt to connect to your site or server service at regular
intervals via the Internet. If the monitoring service is unable to connect and
verify correct operational status, most firms will retry based on customer defined
timeout and retry levels. If operational status still cannot be confirmed, then
a customer defined contact list is notified. Upon resumption of service, most
monitoring services will notify the contact list again informing them the site
or server service is operational.
Determining Operational Status
Some monitoring services simply use ping to see if a server answers and record
the response times during the process. Some services use more complex techniques
such as checking web page code, database connectivity, keyword verification, and
email round robin. The important point to consider is how a monitoring firm determines
operational status. A ping request for example may verify the server has power,
but does not guarantee a web site or server services is operational.
Most monitoring services provide detailed statistics that can be especially helpful
in verifying SLA and QOS agreements are being honored. When reviewing monitoring
services, insure that the method used to determine operational status is applicable
to your SLA or QOS agreement.
What Changes are Required?
Some monitoring services require that executables be installed on your server.
While this practice is not wide spread, it does exist. Most Internet monitoring
services can query your site or server service without the need of agents and
the associated complexity and maintenance required by installing additional software.