A website that is unreachable costs visitors, revenue, and trust. With uptime monitoring, you know immediately when your site, email, or server is down, before customers even notice. In this article, you’ll learn about the different types of monitoring available, how to set them up, and what steps to take once you receive an alert.
What is uptime monitoring and why is it important
Uptime monitoring is a service or script that periodically checks whether your website, email server, or a specific page is accessible. As soon as a check fails, you receive an immediate alert via email, SMS, or another channel. Without monitoring, you often only find out about an outage when a customer calls or when you happen to visit the site yourself.
For webshops and business websites, fast notification is essential: the sooner you know something is wrong, the sooner you can intervene, and the shorter the actual downtime will last. This applies not only to the website itself but also to email: if your mail server is unreachable, you may miss important orders or customer inquiries.
Types of monitoring for your website
There are several ways to monitor your website, depending on how thoroughly you want to check it:
- HTTP(S) check: checks whether the website responds and whether the status code is correct (for example, no 500 error).
- Ping check: checks whether the server itself is still reachable at the network level.
- Port check: checks specific services, such as the mail server on port 25, 465, or 993.
- SSL check: warns when an SSL certificate is about to expire or is invalid.
- Content check: checks whether certain text is still present on the page, useful for detecting whether a site is silently showing an error page.
For most websites, a combination of an HTTP check and an SSL check is sufficient. Larger webshops would do well to also monitor critical components, such as the checkout process, separately.
Setting up uptime monitoring in 5 steps
You can set up monitoring yourself with an external tool, independent of your hosting package. This step-by-step plan shows how to tackle this in practice.
Choose a monitoring service
There are free and paid tools that periodically check websites. Choose a service that performs checks from multiple locations, so a local network issue doesn’t trigger a false alarm.
Add your website and important subpages
Don’t just monitor the homepage, but also the login screen, the checkout process, or a contact form if these are critical to your business.
Set the check interval
The shorter the interval between checks, the faster you’ll notice an outage. Adjust this based on how critical the website is to your business.
Link alerts to multiple channels
In addition to email, set up an SMS alert or push notification as well, so you’re immediately informed even outside office hours.
Test the monitoring
Temporarily take the website offline, for example via maintenance mode, and check whether you actually receive an alert within the expected time.
What to do when you receive a downtime alert
Receiving an alert is only the first step; responding quickly and in a structured way is just as important.
- First check whether the problem lies with your own device or network, for example by opening the site from a different network.
- Check whether any recent changes have been made to the website, such as a plugin update or a DNS change.
- Check the domain name and DNS settings; an expired or incorrectly configured domain is a common cause of downtime. Also read more about managing /nl/domeinnamen/ if you’re unsure whether your domain is configured correctly.
- If in doubt, contact your hosting provider. At Tandata, you can reach us day and night via WhatsApp, ticket, or email for direct support.
- Document the outage: time, duration, and probable cause, so you can recognize patterns and prevent recurrence.
If you’re wondering whether your current hosting environment is stable enough, take a look at the options for /nl/webhosting/ or read how /nl/overstappen/ to another provider works without downtime for your visitors.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should an uptime check run?
For most websites, an interval of one to five minutes is sufficient to detect outages quickly without unnecessarily burdening the server.
Is uptime monitoring the same as a backup?
No, monitoring only signals that there is a problem. A backup allows you to restore the website. It’s recommended to use both together.
Can I also monitor email?
Yes, a port check on the mail server shows whether incoming and outgoing mail is still accessible. This is especially important if you rely on /nl/email-hosting/ for customer contact.
What is a false alarm and how do I prevent it?
A false alarm often results from a temporary network issue at the monitoring service itself. Therefore, choose a tool that checks from multiple locations before sending an alert.
Where can I find more information about server management?
In the /nl/support/ knowledge base, you’ll find more practical articles about server management, Plesk, and resolving common issues.
Conclusion
Uptime monitoring ensures that you discover downtime before your customers do. By setting up the right combination of checks, receiving alerts through multiple channels, and following a fixed response plan, you significantly limit the impact of outages on your website and email.