FAQ
From AlertFox
Our most FAQ are listed on the AlertFox website.
Contents |
Web Monitoring Questions
Q: How to monitor Flash applets?
Please see http://www.alertfox.com/Help. Also please note that all PRO accounts include our free iMacros macro creation service. You just need to send us a series of screenshots that describe the web transactions that you need to monitor, and we create the transaction monitoring macros within 1-2 workdays for you. Of course, this service applies to all iMacros macros, not just the ones to monitor Flash applets. Once completed, we add the macro directly in your AlertFox account, where you can test it yourself and change it further as required.
If you want to create or change Flash monitoring scripts yourself please
- Download the iMacros PRO Edition (free license included with the PRO2 and PRO3 account types!)
- Use the iMacros Browser or iMacros for Internet Explorer for Flash monitoring. These versions support the DirectScreen and computer vision based image search commands.
Q: How to monitor HTTP Basic Authentication protected websites?
The best way to monitor such sites is to create an iMacros sensor to log into the website. You can simply record the login process with an iMacros Browser addon or use this pre-made macro:
SET !ENCRYPTION NO ONLOGIN USER=<your user name> PASSWORD=<your password> URL GOTO=http://www.yourURL.com/
Q: How to monitor HTTPS (SSL) encrypted websites?
There are two options:
1. For standard up/down/performance monitoring, use a HTTP Sensor. It also suppports https website URLs.
2. Typically SSL protected sites contain important features such as logins, shopping carts and/or are complex web apps.
The best way to monitor such sites is to not only monitor there uptime, but also their functionality => Create an iMacros sensor for the website. This will not only monitor the performance of the site accurately in a real browser, but it also checks the certificate validity and expiration and makes sure all important features really work.
Note: If you want to monitor test or staging servers that use self-signed certificates, we can install your certificates on our monitoring servers (PRO3 or PRO3+ accounts).
Q: How to verify a downloaded file is correct?
AlertFox can not only test the download of a file, but you can also use the iMacros ONDOWNLOAD...CHECKSUM feature to verify the integrity of a downloaded file.
Reporting and Alerting Questions
Q: Is an email send when a monitored server fails?
A: Yes, you will receive an alert email immediately when a sensor detects a problem e. g. when the site is down or the or response time is too slow (timeout).
You will receive another notification when the site is up again.
Q: Do you offer SMS alerts?
A: Not yet, this is planned for early 2010. It will be a free service for all PRO accounts. In the meantime, please note that most of mobile carriers offer free Email To SMS gateways which can be used to forward simple text emails to a mobile phones. Our notification emails are formatted in a way that they also look good as SMS.
Q: In the report, what does Average, OK and NOK means?
Average: Average response time OK = Server ok (Up and responding fast) NOK = Server not ok (down or very slow)
Q: Can AlertFox follow website redirections?
Yes, the HTTP Sensor follows redirections (e. g. HTTP/1.1 302 Found) and monitors the real website, not only the redirecting server. By contrast, simple ping based uptime monitoring services can not do that and would monitor the wrong server.
In addition, the other option is to use a iMacros Sensor. It runs in a real browser, so it follows any kind of redirections, even tricky ones based on Javascript or Flash (just like the IE or Firefox web browser does).
A simple Firefox test macro will look as follows:
URL GOTO=http://www.yoursite.com TAG POS=1 TYPE=* ATTR=TXT:"*test for some text on your site*"
AlertFox Web Interface and Backend Questions
Q: What browsers do you run on the backend?
A: Please see the backend monitoring server page for details
Q: How to disable/enable monitoring for many sensors at once?
The fastest method to do this is to navigate to your sensor page and then run this iMacros macro via the "LOOP" button. You can adjust the start and end value to match the range of sensors you want to disable/enable.
VERSION BUILD=6301104 RECORDER=FX
URL GOTO=http://www.alertfox.com/EditAccountSensors
TAG POS={{!LOOP}} TYPE=A ATTR=TXT:Edit
'This lines DISables monitoring
TAG POS=1 TYPE=INPUT:CHECKBOX FORM=NAME:form1 ATTR=ID:ctl03_ctl00_dvDetail_cbMonitoringEnabled CONTENT=NO
'This line enables monitoring again
'TAG POS=1 TYPE=INPUT:CHECKBOX FORM=NAME:form1 ATTR=ID:ctl03_ctl00_dvDetail_cbMonitoringEnabled CONTENT=YES
TAG POS=1 TYPE=INPUT:SUBMIT FORM=ID:form1 ATTR=ID:ctl03_ctl00_dvDetail_btUpdate
Of course, the same approach can be used for any other mass changes in your AlertFox account.
