There are plenty of monitoring solutions in the world, but there’s one that’s been in our community for a long time and deserves your consideration if you’re looking for a hosted monitoring solution: NodePing.

When it comes to monitoring, a lot of our readers prefer to DIY everything, and there’s nothing wrong with that, and in some cases this allows for more robust monitoring.  For example, perhaps instead of external pings and HTTP connections, there’s a client reporting on which services are up, if certain transactions are flowing, etc.

But for providers (for example) or small businesses who what professional, just-works, redundant monitoring, NodePing is worth a look.  They do all the basics you’d expect (ping, various HTTPS tests, SSL, various other services), but bring a higher level of professionalism:

• They also monitor domain expiration, RBL status, SIP, SSL expiry, and lots more
• Their tests are multi-location and multi-check, so if a server fails (for example) a ping test, another NodePing server from another location will double-check before sending an alert
• You can send metrics from inside your firewall, so you can build out a single pane of glass with both an internal and external view
• Or go for a full on-premises alerting solution where their agent pushes data out to their monitoring farm

Additionally, everything with NodePing is above-board and open, including things like the nodes they’re testing from.

I’ve used NodePing off and on for years and it’s a really easy to use, reliable service.  $10/month gets you started and the possibilities are endless from there.  Check out NodePing!

raindog308

raindog308 is a longtime community LETizen, technical writer, and self-described techno polymath. With deep roots in the *nix world, he has a passion for systems both modern and vintage, ranging from Unix, Perl, Python, and Golang to shell scripting and mainframe-era operating systems like MVS. He’s equally comfortable with relational database systems, having spent years working with Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.

As an avid user of LowEndBox providers, raindog308 runs an empire of LEBs, from tiny boxes for VPNs, to mid-sized instances for application hosting, and heavyweight servers for data storage and complex databases. He brings both technical rigor and real-world experience to every piece he writes.

Beyond the command line, raindog308 has a life-long love of German Shepherd Dogs, high-quality knives, target shooting, theology, tabletop RPGs, playing guitar, and hiking in deep, quiet forests.

His goal with every article is to help users, from beginners to seasoned sysadmins, get more value, performance, and enjoyment out of their infrastructure.

You can find him daily in the forums at LowEndTalk under the handle @raindog308.