If you've ever wondered about whether you need to monitor if your website goes offline, our beginners guide gives you all the essential detail so you can decide if it's right for you.
How Uptime Monitoring Works
Uptime monitoring platforms are a crucial tool for keeping websites, applications, and online services running smoothly. Understanding how website monitoring works can help businesses and website owners stay ahead of potential issues before they escalate into costly downtime. Just like a motorsport team constantly monitors a car's performance in real-time, tracking the uptime of your website ensures that you maximise performance of your digital team.
Types of Website Uptime Monitoring
There are several types of uptime monitoring, each designed to detect and report website downtime in different ways. We've taken a look below so you can understand more about them.
HTTP Monitoring
This is the most common form of uptime monitoring. It sends HTTP requests to your website to check if it responds correctly. If the request fails or returns an error, the system logs an issue and triggers an alert.
In the case of PageMarshal, we check the status code your website returns to tell you more about the kind of errors your website is giving.
Ping Monitoring
A simple and lightweight method, ping monitoring checks if a server is reachable by sending ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) requests. If no response is received, it indicates a potential issue.
While there are advantages to ping monitoring, this only tells you if your server is offline, not if your website is working correctly.
Port Monitoring
This method checks whether specific ports (such as FTP, SMTP, or database ports) are open and responding. If critical ports go offline, core services might be impacted.
DNS Monitoring
Ensures that your domain name system (DNS) is correctly resolving domain names to IP addresses. DNS failures can make a website inaccessible, even if the server is running.
How Monitoring Tools Detect Downtime
Just like a motorsport team uses multiple sensors to detect issues with a car's engine, aerodynamics, and tyres, uptime monitoring tools use different techniques to track website performance.
- Monitoring services test your website at predefined intervals (e.g., every 30 seconds, 1 minute, or 5 minutes).
- To rule out local connectivity issues, many tools test uptime from multiple global locations.
- When downtime is detected, alerts are sent via email, SMS, Slack, or integrations with IT management tools.
How to Interpret Monitoring Results
Receiving an alert is just the first step, as a small business owner you need to understand the error and take action to fix the issues.
Response Times
Slow response times can indicate a problem even if the site is still technically online. If a website is slow to load, users may leave before engaging.
Error Codes
When websites go offline, you often get an error code. These codes can help you understand the type of issue that has happened. Our guide to common error codes can help you understand more about the issue.
Availability Percentages
Many services provide an uptime percentage over a specific period (e.g., 99.9% uptime over 30 days). This metric helps businesses track reliability over time.
Would Uptime Monitoring Help Your Business
Understanding how uptime monitoring works helps businesses proactively prevent downtime and performance issues. Just as motorsport teams use telemetry data to make split-second adjustments and keep their cars at peak performance, website owners should leverage uptime monitoring to ensure their digital presence remains strong.
If you're looking for a free uptime monitoring platform, why not try PageMarshal.
