Monitoring Services
SureMonitorsm
DataPipe's SureMonitorsm system utilizes a proprietary client-side application
to provide an advanced level of monitoring capabilities. SureMonitorsm is
capable of monitoring virtually all critical resources, processes and services
essential to your hosting solution including the following:
Content Checking
Content checking is a process by which SureMonitorsm requests a specific page
from a web site on your server and scans the page for an expected string value.
The page requested as well as the expected string value (a specific word or
phrase) can be fully customized. If SureMonitorsm finds the expected text on the
requested page, the content check passes and the service is considered up. If
SureMonitorsm cannot load the site or the expected text is not found on the
requested page the service is considered down and our technicians are notified
immediately.
Database Monitoring
Database monitoring is a similar process to content checking but deals
specifically with data within your database(s) as opposed to text on a page.
This task is accomplished by performing a query on specific tables within a
database on your database server. SureMonitorsm can be configured to log into
your Microsoft SQL Server or MySQL database with specific user credentials and
execute a stored procedure or perform a standard SELECT query on data within
the database. If rows are returned from the stored procedure or SELECT query
the service is considered up. If no rows are returned or the server cannot be
contacted by SureMonitorsm, the service is considered down and our technicians
are notified immediately.
ICMP - HTTP - FTP - SMTP - SSH
ICMP (Ping), HTTP, FTP, SMTP and SSH are a few of the protocols the DataPipe SureMonitorsm can monitor on your server.
- ICMP, or Ping, is monitored by default and basically tells our SureMonitorsm that your server is available and responding on the network.
- HTTP can be monitored to determine whether or not your server is responding on port 80 (the default port for the hosting of web sites). This service can be monitored for the base IP on your server or specific IPs on your server.
- FTP, like HTTP, can be monitored to determine whether or not your server is responding on port 21 (the default port for hosting file transfer sites). This service, like HTTP, can be monitored on the base IP of your server or specific IPs on your server.
- SMTP, like HTTP and FTP, can be monitored to determine whether or not your server is responding on port 25 (the default port for simple mail transfer services). This service, like HTTP and FTP, can be monitored on the base IP of your server or specific IPs on your server.
- SSH , like HTTP, FTP and SMTP, can be monitored to determine whether or not your server is responding on port 22 (the default port for Secure Shell). This service, like HTTP, FTP and SMTP, can be monitored on the base IP of your server or specific IPs on your server.
- SureMonitorsm is able to monitor additional protocols in the same fashion, these include: TCP (any port), UDP (any port), Microsoft SQL, MySQL, Oracle, Microsoft Terminal Services, etc..
Vital Services
SureMonitorsm is capable of defining any and all services monitored on your
server as "vital" services. If a vital service goes into a critical state
SureMonitorsm notifies our technicians of a potential issue with your server.
This feature is ideally suited for services running on special use servers such
as data servers or application servers.
CPU Utilization
SureMonitorsm is capable of monitoring and providing aggregate historical data
for CPU utilization on your server. Thresholds can be set which will change the
monitored service status at particular levels of CPU utilization based on
percentages. For example, a critical threshold for load on your CPU could be
set at 90 percent at which point SureMonitorsm would consider the monitored service to
be in a critical state, immediately notifying our technicians of a possible
issue.
Memory Utilization
Similar to CPU Utilization, SureMonitorsm is capable of monitoring the
percentage of memory in use on your server. With specified thresholds set,
SureMonitorsm is informed of a possible issue in the event of memory spikes, at
which point our technicians are notified of the potential issue with your
server. Like CPU utilization, aggregate historical data is stored for memory
utilization. Historical CPU and memory utilization data can be reviewed to
determine when application performance tuning or server upgrades may be
necessary.
Disk Storage Capacity
SureMonitorsm can be configured to monitor available disk space and inform
SureMonitorsm when storage space is limited. Thresholds can be set to provide
our technicians with adequate time to act upon a storage capacity issue that,
left unaddressed, could adversely affect your solution.
Running Processes or Applications
SureMonitorsm can monitor virtually any process, service or application running
on your server. This provides an enhanced level of monitoring functionality for
mission critical services and allows our technicians to act upon issues quickly
and proactively. SureMonitorsm is highly adaptable and can be customized to
provide advanced monitoring for unique application requirements.
Through the use of dashboard and tactical network summary views our technicians
utilize SureMonitorsm to monitor the status of servers within the network and
pinpoint problematic servers and/or services quickly and efficiently.
SureMonitorsm also employs notification services to issue alerts when monitored
service states change. Alerts are issued to our technicians via email and can
be automatically escalated as required via cell phones, pagers and the use of
text messaging.
SureMonitorsm was specifically developed for use on managed servers within our
network. As new platforms are introduced to our offerings, supported versions
of SureMonitorsm are developed and deployed by our software engineering team.
This flexibility allows DataPipe to offer the same level of advanced server
monitoring across all platforms. It ensures that our monitoring capabilities
will continue to evolve to meet the needs of our clients and our network, as
well as the needs of our support technicians as new server hardware and
software technologies are introduced.