FAQ (general)

Why do I need website monitoring?

When managing a commercial website, you definitely want to be sure that you will always be the first person to find out about a failure or a malfunction of the website. To be able to react before the users notice and leave for the competition.

Why should I choose Super Monitoring?

We have been operating on the market since 2007, monitoring websites and web applications of clients from 22 countries around the world. We offer a wide range of features at attractive prices, with a simple and friendly interface. We constantly develop our service, implementing new features in response to the needs and ideas of our users. We don't miss failures or send false alarms.

How many monitoring checks will I need?

It all depends on how complex your website is.
For monitoring small business website, four checks should be enough, which will monitor:

  1. Availability and content of the home page.
  2. Home page loading time.
  3. Correct functioning of the contact form.
  4. Expiry of domain and SSL certificate.

What kinds of website failures can be detected?

There are five main symptoms of problems with the availability and functioning of a website:

1. Connection timeout

It's usually caused by:
a) network failure
b) server hardware failure
c) server software failure.
All the above can also be results of an overload - when web traffic exceeds the infrastructure capacity.
Our system reports a timeout when the three monitoring stations are unable to establish a connection to a website for more than 5 seconds.

2. HTTP error

Usually resulting from an incorrect server or website configuration.
Most common http errors:

  • 301 Moved permanently (redirects themselves are not errors—unless there are too many)
  • 302 Moved temporarily (as above)
  • 400 Bad Request (the request cannot be fulfilled due to bad syntax)
  • 401 Unauthorised (authentication failed)
  • 403 Forbidden (usually when file or folder rights are set improperly)
  • 404 Not Found (missing file or a folder)
  • 500 Internal Server Error (a generic error message, given when no more specific message is suitable)
  • 502 Bad Gateway (the server was acting as a gateway or proxy and received an invalid response from the upstream server)
  • 503 Service Unavailable (usually the first stage of an overload, the second stage is connection timeout)
Our service recognizes and records all http error messages.

3. Wrong or missing page content

It can be a result of:
a) database error
b) website functional error
c) human mistake.
Our services can be configured to search for a specified text string on the monitored page.

4. Website malfunction

Our system is able to test both simple forms (e.g. contact, search, login) and entire processes—e.g. purchasing.

5. Website loading time is too long

Website slowdown could mean problems on different levels: server, internet connection, website structure or its content.

Other

Super Monitoring also detects other problems:

  • the upcoming expiration of the internet domain
  • the upcoming expiration of the SSL certificate or its invalidity
  • presence on blacklists
  • search engine robots being blocked.

Can monitoring disrupt traffic statistics on my website?

Connections generated by some types of checks (availability, content, file integrity, condition of the day) are "invisible" to JavaScript-based traffic tracking systems—such as Google Analytics. However, tests performed using a real browser (i.e. form, loading time and process) render JavaScript and can appear in the statistics. To avoid this, just add a filter that excludes visits performed by the browser (UserAgent) "Super Monitoring".

I have a high resolution screen and I see large white margins on the sides of the user panel. How can I make better use of the available space?

Just click the "" icon in the upper right corner of the title bar (the blue one with the superheroes). The displayed content will then expand to cover the entire available width of the window—and this setting will be remembered.

Why five monitoring servers?

Sometimes ISP connection failures occur, as a result of which only some Internet users have no access to a particular website. We do not treat such situations as downtime of the monitored website. That is why – just to be on the safe side – we check availability from five different locations on the global Internet, and only unavailability on at least three servers is treated as downtime.

Why only five monitoring servers?

There is no need for a greater number of monitoring stations. Our servers are located on different continents, operate within independent data centers and use various connections to the Internet. The probability of a false alarm is minimal.

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