Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Does Your Website Need a "Website Monitoring Service?"

By Bob Willis

So you have managed to achieve higher search engine rankings and are really working hard towards effectively marketing your website. Well, these efforts would definitely yield profits in the long run, all this would be of little value if your website and servers are not fully operational or consistently operational.

With website hosting various issues including hardware failures, database hacking, software lockups, viruses, worms, security issues, service patches and Internet connectivity come into play and need to be addressed from time to time in order to ensure your online success.

In order to resolve, abate or avoid the above problems, web masters can register with server, email and website monitoring services.

So what exactly are these monitoring services? Web site monitoring refers to monitoring the operational status and performance of a web site that uses HTTP and/or HTTPS. Email monitoring on the other hand refers to the monitoring, operational status and performance of SMTP servers in a bid to ensure that email flow is smooth and timely. Server monitoring refers to monitoring the operational status and performance of other server services such as FTP.

When a webmaster has set up an account with a web hosting company it is important to keep track of their website performance, any downtime period experienced and other security concerns. This process can further be fortified by utilizing the services mentioned above.

Different monitoring services use different techniques in order to determine and verify the operational status of the websites. Some simply use ping to determine the server response and record this response time interval. Other services may use more complex or advanced techniques such as checking web page code, database connectivity, keyword verification, and email round robin. It is important to note here that while a ping request may verify the power of the server it cannot guarantee whether a web site or the server service is operational.

The customer gets access to detailed statistics and this helps them verify their SLA and QOS agreements. Most of the monitoring services would require executables to be installed on your servers. In some cases, the monitoring services will require a firewall rule to be implemented if the server or website is behind a firewall.

Monitoring Intervals: Monitoring "interval" is simply the frequency in which a site or server is checked. Most monitoring packages range between 2 to 60 minutes. For a mission critical website or server, the 2 minute monitoring intervals are required in order to obviate probable revenue loss.

In the event of any problem, the monitoring firm would in most cases contact you by email. An email enabled cellular phone is highly advisable in order to ensure delivery of constant updates. It is important here to read the fine print as certain monitoring firms may charge additional fee for pager messages if you happen to exceed the specific number of monthly notifications.

So no matter which website hosting services you choose, monitoring services can play a vital role and enhance your online success.


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