ServerView Monitoring™ Platform: External Network Monitoring and Server Uptime Monitoring

The ServerView Monitoring™ platform checks web server's uptime and performance status of servers, networks, and applications - ensuring a business's Internet assets are available and functioning optimally.

How does ServerView Monitoring™ work?

Dotcom-Monitor^® has monitoring agents positioned worldwide, covering the major Internet backbones. These worldwide monitoring agents each independently monitor a business' Internet assets (ex. website, web server, video stream, DNS server etc...) at a frequency established by the account owner, such as once per 1-minute, 3, 5, 10, or 15-minutes etc... If the performance or functionality of any monitored asset falls outside of specific parameters specified by the account user an error condition is triggered. Once an error is triggered, an alert is immediately sent via several options, including: email, SMS, phone, pager, SNMP trap, or email to phone. The alert process also includes the automatic emailing of a website snapshot and a network trace route for help in diagnostics and troubleshooting to minimize downtime. Finally, extensive reporting options, including: email, real-time, online, raw data feeds, and interactive drill-downs are available for presentations, diagnostics purposes, and Service Level Agreement (SLA) management. When an account is set up and monitoring tasks are added network monitoring services begin immediately.

ServerView Monitoring™ Platform Coverage:

• Website Monitoring

  Checks URLs for availability, performance, proper content, working certificates, and broken links. Supports POST and GET requests, client certificates, cookies, form submissions, custom headers, password secured sites, and timeout thresholds. Full-page Download option parses HTML into elements, measuring each for render time and availability.

• Web Application Monitoring

  Checks online transactions, such as: shopping carts, portals, banking applications, and online courses. Specifically useful when monitoring for web server performance during a web application or transaction. Supports dynamic variables, cookies, and secure sites. The EveryStep™ Macro Recorder is provided to record and replay HTTP/HTTPS requests between a browser and the web server. A custom data exchange process (not a regular browser) is used to record and replay these recorded steps. Monitoring agents replay the recorded transaction at a specified monitoring frequency, checking each step for availability, performance, and proper content. (NOTE: For websites with significant JavaScript or Ajax, or for "user experience" transaction monitoring, the browser-based UserView Monitoring™ Web Application Monitoring service is recommended.)

• Mail Server Monitoring

  Checks mail servers running SMTP, POP3, and IMAP services for functionality, availability, and performance. Mail servers are checked independently, or in a full-cycle mail check (sending an email to a mailbox using SMTP, then retrieving the email using IMAP or POP3). Processes for inbound mail and internal mail servers are checked, including the time it takes for the server to process incoming mail.

• DNS Monitoring Service

  DNS servers are checked by querying a specified server in order to resolve a specific internet address. If the DNS server is unable to resolve the address, or unavailable, the Dotcom-Monitor^® notification process starts. Domain Name Servers (DNS) are used to translate domain names to IP addresses. If the DNS server supporting an organization is down or slow, multiple services, such as: mail servers, websites, or proxy servers may be unavailable to the outside world.

• Ping and Trace route Monitoring Service

  The Ping command sends an ICMP echo request to a target name or IP address, in order to verify IP-level connectivity. This is useful for ensuring the integrity of routers, firewalls, and many other Internet appliance devices.

• Port Monitoring Service

  Dotcom-Monitor agents attempt a connection with a specific port on a web server using a TCP or a UDP protocol to determine if the remote computer is accepting connections on that port. If the connection is not accepted, then the service is likely down and the alert process starts. This is similar to a Telnet application.

• Web Service SOAP / HTTP Monitoring Service

  Dotcom-Monitor^® agents replicate one or more end-client requests and monitor Web Services for availability and proper content. SOAP is a lightweight XML-based protocol for the exchange of information in a decentralized, distributed environment. SOAP consists of three parts: an envelope that defines a framework for describing what is in a message and how to process it, a set of encoding rules for expressing instances of application-defined data types, and a convention for representing remote procedure calls and responses.

• VoIP Monitoring

  Dotcom-Monitor^® monitors VoIP services using SIP acting as an end client, placing an actual telephone call to a specified number and checking the results of that call. To accomplish this, Dotcom-Monitor^® is provisioned as either an extension, or a client, on the VoIP system and configured to call a specific number using a specified SIP server. The expected result of the call is setup as "Answer", "No Answer", "Busy", or an Error Condition (if there is an unexpected result).

• FTP Monitoring Service

  This service attempts to connect to a specified FTP server, then using a user name and password provided logs into the FTP server and issues a directory-listing command for a specific directory. Finally, after the contents of the directory are listed the FTP Monitoring Service checks that directory for specific files.

• Video Streaming Monitoring

  Checks video stream performance and availability, similar to a Windows Media Player. Ensures a connection to the media server can be made, performs buffering and plays the stream for 3-5 seconds, then disconnects. The service monitors most streams that can be played using Windows Media Player. Measures performance metrics, including: Connection Time, Buffering Time, Packages Received, Buffering Packages, Frame Rate, and Average Bytes/Sec.

• DNS Blacklist Monitoring

  We query major DNS Blacklist databases for IP or host name you specify and if host has been found in at least one of the database, it will trigger an alert. The technology is built on top of the Internet Domain Name System, or DNS. DNSBLs publish lists of addresses linked to spamming. Most mail transport agent (mail server) software can be configured to reject or flag messages which have been sent from a site listed on one or more such lists. If mail servers were added to the database, it will cause other companies to deny email delivery from those servers. It is important to know if your servers are listed in DNSBLs, so request could be sent for removal in timely fashion and finding the root cause for such entry.

• Private Agent

  A behind-the-firewall version of ServerView Monitoring™ services that is downloaded and set-up within a network in order to monitor devices not visible from outside the network.

• Server Uptime Monitoring

  Server uptime monitoring is one of the options to check web server developed by Dotcom-Monitor^® team. Why is it important to have server uptime? And why is uptime monitoring so important? It is much better to learn about the problems with your site not from drop in sales or the reaction of indignant clients, isn't it? Uptime monitor would check web server every 1 minute (or as you establish). Dotcom-Monitor^®'s server uptime monitoring system notifies you about any fault that may occur. Using several monitoring agents eliminates the chance of false alarms.

• Network Monitoring

  External Network Monitoring service by Dotcom-Monitor ensures maximum uptime and availability of your network infrastructure, web servers and applications. ServerView Monitoring™ Platform makes network monitoring configuration an easy task both for beginners and experienced network administrators.