How to Set Up Server Monitoring
Server monitoring checks whether your server, application, or service is reachable and responding correctly.
This setup uses HTTP-based checks with the same fields you already have.
What Is Server Monitoring?
Server monitoring verifies that your server is online and responding.
It is commonly used to detect:
- Server downtime
- Application crashes
- Reverse proxy or load balancer issues
- Backend service failures
What This Method Can Monitor
- Web servers (Apache, Nginx)
- Cloud servers (AWS, GCP, Azure)
- Application endpoints
- Status or health check URLs
Step-by-Step Server Monitoring Setup
Step 1: Monitor Name
Give the server monitor a clear name.
Example: Production Server Health
Step 2: Server URL or IP
Enter the server URL or public IP with protocol.
https://server.example.com/health
or
http://123.45.67.89
Step 3: Interval
Choose how often the server should be checked.
- 1 minute – Critical production servers
- 5 minutes – Important servers
- 15 minutes – Non-critical services
Step 4: SSL Certificate Monitoring
Set SSL monitoring to:
- ON – If server uses HTTPS and you want SSL alerts
- OFF – If monitoring plain HTTP or not required
Step 5: Domain Name Monitoring
Set Domain monitoring to OFF.
Server monitoring does not require domain expiry checks.
Step 6: Alert Condition
Select:
URL becomes unavailable
This triggers alerts when:
- Server is down
- Timeout occurs
- Server returns 5xx errors
Optional: Content-Based Server Check
If your server has a health endpoint returning text like OK, you can use:
URL response contains text
OK
This ensures the server is not only up, but healthy.
Step 7: Alert Channels
Add at least one alert channel.
- Email – Recommended
- Webhook – Slack, Discord, PagerDuty
Step 8: Method
Set Method to GET.
Step 9: Headers (Optional)
Only add headers if your server requires authentication.
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN
Step 10: HTTP Authentication
Leave EMPTY unless your server uses Basic Auth.
Step 11: Cache Buster
Set Cache Buster to ENABLED.
This avoids cached responses and ensures real server checks.
Recommended Server Monitoring Configuration
Name: Production Server Monitor
URL: https://server.example.com/health
Interval: 5 minutes
Alert condition: URL becomes unavailable
Method: GET
Headers: None
Authentication: None
Cache buster: Enabled
SSL monitoring: Optional
Domain monitoring: OFF
For best results, create a lightweight /health or /status endpoint on your server.
Common Server Monitoring Use Cases
- Detect server downtime early
- Monitor API backend availability
- Check load balancer health
- Verify deployments did not break services
Limitations
- Does not monitor CPU or RAM usage
- Only checks HTTP availability
- Advanced metrics need agent-based tools
Next Steps
Combine server monitoring with SSL, domain, API, and keyword monitoring
to get full visibility of your infrastructure.