FAQs

• • INTERNATIONAL ERROR NOTIFICATION SETUP: I am from outside the United States. How do I enter a pager/phone number for receiving error notifications?
  • In the first field enter the United States international dialing number (011), and in the second field enter your country code (##), city code (###…), and local number (###-#…) If you have any difficulties immediately forward the phone number and issue to support@dotcom-monitor.com and our technical team will work with you to setup the notification.
• • HTTP AND HTTPS MONITORING: How do you monitor HTTP and HTTPS servers??
  • The Dotcom-Monitor service monitors all HTTP and HTTPS traffic. Dotcom-Monitor utilizes its worldwide monitroing agents to access the specified website pages (URL) on the web server with a process that is similar to a browser initiating certain activities when it reaches a specified URL. During this process, Dotcom-Monitor monitoring also calculates the time it takes to access the website. Additionally, it provides a monitoring check on the HTML coding of the website by checking for specific HTML keywords that the account user specifies. (NOTE: The keywords need to be precisely entered (the check is both spelling and case sensitive) or the monitor will indicate that the keyword is "not found," which initiates an alert notification.) When an error is detected Dotcom-Monitor automatically saves an HTML snapshot of the webpage, captures the webpage HTML code, and runs a traceroute from the monitoring location to the webpage server. Dotcom-Monitor then sends this information in an email to the account user(s). These tools help the account user pinpoint if the error is occuring on the network ,or on the webpage, or the webpage server. Specifically, the traceroute report provides detailed information about the monitored Internet path and can be used to pin-point the location of Internet-related problems along that path.
• • DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A FREE TRIAL AND FULL MEMBER ACCOUNT: What is the difference between the Free 30-day trial and a Full Member Account?
  • The 30-day free trial account monitoring process is available for potential clients to evaluate the services provided by Dotcom-Monitor. The 30-day free trial process of monitoring is the same monitoring process used for Full Member Accounts. However, the frequency of monitoring for a 30-day free trial is limited to once every 4-hours and error alert notifications are limited to email. A Full Member Account includes much higher frequency monitoring options (1-minute, 3, 5, 10, 15, 30 60-minute etc...) as well as additional notification options, such as: SMS, phone, pager, SNMP trap, and wireless device. Full Member Accounts also receive ongoing customer support.
• • REPORTING: What kind of reporting does Dotcom-Monitor provide?
  • Dotcom-Monitor provides email reports (daily, weekly, monthly), online text and graphical reports, realtime dashboard "Report Cards," SLA and SLA history reports, realtime XML feed report data, and weekly .CSV raw data reports. These reports include status and performance indicators, in both Summary and Detailed formats. The time period of the report can be customized. Summary Reports are a great tool for reporting on the relative health of the website for management purposes and are available in both text and graphic charts. A text example of the Summary Reports could include (example): Number of Successes: 10 Number of Failures: 1 Average Response Time(sec): 1.04 Response Time STDDev: 0.56 Downtime Percentage: 10% Detailed Reports and Traceroutes are excellent tools for troubleshooting downtime and other immediate web site performance issues. A detailed report shows the 50 most recent monitoring results, including: date and time when the web site was monitored, the duration, i.e. calculated time to access the web site, the status of the response (either success (S) or failure(F), error description, error number and (error) reason, and much more information. If an error is detected an email captures both a detailed network traceroute and a snapshot of the webpage at the time of the error. A Traceroute example: Tracing route to www.brownco.com [205.181.180.15] over a maximum 30 hops: 1 <10 ms <10 ms <10 ms gf-newell.gofast.net [206.144.156.1] 2 50 ms 20 ms 30 ms isdn-gw10.gofast.net [204.73.51.244] 3 gf-access-gw.gofast.net [204.73.51.254] reports: Destination net unreachable. Trace complete.
• • ERROR NOTIFICATION OPTIONS: How does Dotcom-Monitor send alerts if there is a website error, or error on any other type of monitored Device?
  • Dotcom-Monitor provides several different error alert notification options, including: email, email to phone, SMS, phone, pager, SNMP trap, as well as any combination of any of these notification options and Group Notifications. For details go to http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/notification.asp Additionally, Dotcom-Monitor can provide customized error alert notifications for complex and unique situations. For details on customization contact sales@dotcom-monitor.com, 1-888-479-0741 ext. 1.
• • CUSTOMIZATION: Beyond the standard options, what kind of customization can Dotcom-Monitor provide?
  • Dotcom-Monitor is dedicated to meeting customer needs, and have the ability to customize a system to fit customer needs, including: multiple and complex notification methods, monitoring every 15 seconds or even faster, and monitoring URL-based databases and other applications. Dotcom-Monitor has been in the monitoring business for over 12 years and our monitoring engineers are world experts in addressing highly complex, unique, and mission-critical monitoring, notification, alerting, escalation, analysis, and reporting needs. For additional details on customization options kindly contact sales@dotcom-monitor.com, or 1-888-479-0741 ext. 1
• • CUSTOMIZATION, ERROR ALERTS: How do I use the email gateway on my cell phone to receive notifications?
  • Each cell phone within the United States has an email address associated with it. All email that is sent to that email address is forwarded to that cell phone. This same email address is used to send error alert notifications to cell phones, wireless devices, as well as alphanumeric pagers. If a numeric pager is being used for error alerts, Dotcom-Monitor will dial the number directly at a charge of a one-minute long distance call. Dotcom-Monitor can also setup notification scripts so error alert pages can be sent to several pagers or error alert emails can be sent to multiple cell phones. For additional details on error alert customization and other customization options go to http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/customization.asp, or contact sales@dotcom-monitor.com, 1-888-479-0741 ext. 1.
• • MANAGING/POSTPONING ERROR ALERTS AND UPTIME ALERTS: How do I know my website or other monitored Device is operating correctly again?
  • Dotcom-Monitor will send error notification alerts as long as it detects a problem. For example, if a website is down and the monitoring frequency is set at every 10-minutes an error alert will be received by the account user every 10-minutes until the website is fixed. The account user can Postpone monitoring and error alerts for the website URL during the time period it is being fixed by logging into the account clicking the Device List tab> selecting the "Device" check-box >clicking the "Postpone" button. To test the fix re-enable ("un-postpone") monitoring by clicking the "Device List tab> select the "Device" check-box >and click the "Enable" button. If the problem is fixed the error alert notifications will stop. Also, an Uptime Alert can be setup by clicking Device List> "Device" Edit >Advanced Options> and put a check in the "Send Uptime Alert" check-box. To stop Uptime Alerts remove the check from the same check-box.
• • NOTIFICATION GROUPS FOR ALERTS AND REPORTS: Can multiple notification addresses be used in the event of site failure?
  • Paid accounts support an unlimited number of notifications via the Notification Group option. A Notification Group is a collection of notification addresses, and may include multiple emails, SMS devices, phones, pagers and etc... Once created, a Notification Group may be assigned to one or more monitored Devices. To setup a Notification Group click on the Notifications tab>Groups> Add New Notification Group button and input the required information. The new Notification Group will then appear as a selectable option under Device List>"Device" Edit>Reporting Options (and) Notification Options. NOTE: For security purposes, the 30-day free trial does not allow the creation of Group Notifications. If you have a 30-day free trial and would like to learn more about using Group Notifications kindly contact sales@dotcom-monitor.com, or 1-888-479-0741 ext. 1.
• • MONITORING WEBPAGE HTML KEYWORDS: How do I check for specific HTML keywords on a webpage to ensure webpage content is displaying properly?
  • Dotcom-Monitor can monitor for up to three HTML keywords, or phrases for each webpage. When a monitoring agent performs a check of a webpage it parses the HTML returned by the server for any specified keywords. If the keywords are not found an alert is generated. When an error is detected, Dotcom-Monitor saves a snapshot of the HTML that was returned by the server and sends an email with the snapshot as a viewable link to help troubleshoot the problem. Dotcom-Monitor also runs an automatic network traceroute from the monitoring agent to the monitored Device and sends the results within the same error notificatoin email.
• • POSTPONING MONITORING DURING ROUTINE MAINTENANCE: Is there are a way to postpone monitoring during periods of server maintenence and other periods of expected unavailability?
  • The "Schedulers" option is used to postpone monitoring for a set period of time (ex. Jan. 23, 1 pm to Jan 24, 2 pm) as well as reoccuring periods of time (ex. starting Jan. 23, 2010 every Saturday from 9 pm to 11 pm). Monitoring can be postponed for specific days of the week as well as specific hours and minutes during a day. To setup a Schedule click on the Schedulers tab>Add New Schedule button> and fill out the inputs requested. A new Schedule will appear as a selectable option under Device List tab>"Device" Edit>Monitoring Scheduler field dropdown emnu.
• • ALERT VERIFICATION PROCESS: What steps are taken to avoid "false alerts" and to verify that a problem is actually a problem and not just a temporary internet connection problem on the network?
  • Dotcom-Monitor monitors from 13 independent worldwide monitroing agent locatoins. Each monitoring agent location is positioned to travel over different major backbone of the Internet. The proprietary algorithms and automated redundant error confirmation processes continually refined by Dotcom-Monitor for more than a decade have significantly minimized potential "false error" notifications. Also, users are able to adjust the sensitivity of error notifications by using the Filters tab>Add New Response Filters button. In fact, Filters can be set to send an error after any monitornig agent detects an error, or only if an error is detected from several locations, or only if "X" number of errors are detected in a row from multiple locations, or only if downtime persists for more than a specified amount of time. All of these options can be customized and configured as needed under the Filters tab based on user preferences. In general, "false error" alerts account for less than 1% of all alert notifications.
• • USING TRACEROUTES FOR ERROR TROUBLESHOOTING: Why is a Traceroute automatically conducted if an error is detected?
  • Each time an error is detected by a remote Dotcom-Monitor agent location, it automatically executes a traceroute from that remote monitroing agent location where the error was detected to the monitored location. A Traceroute can help determine if the error is an issue related to the network istself -- such as packet loss or a network latency at one of the network hops -- or if the error is an actual server problem. If the error is stemming from a network issue the Traceroute will help identify the network hop where the problem is occuring. This helps identify whether or not the issue is actually witin the user's organization or within the user's direct control. If the Traceroute shows no packet loss and average latency, then the traceroute is helping to pinpoint where that the issue is not network-related and likely an issue with the server itself.
• • CUSTOMIZING THE FREQUENCY OF ERROR ALERTS: How do I set an Error Notification so an Alert is only sent one time when an error condition starts and then again once when the error condition is solved, not for the entire period of time that the error is occuring?
  • Click on Device List>"Device" Edit> and scroll to the bottom of the "Device" Edit page to Advanced Options. Under Advanced Options is a series of options, essentially: "Number of minutes between XXX notifications" where "XXX" stands for a type (email, phone, pager etc...) of alerting option. Based on the type of alerting option being used, a user can input that a error alert and an uptime alert should only be sent once every 360 minutes (ex. "360" Number of minutes between email notifications). As an example, in the case of a user who has an error conditoin who using email alerts and 1-minute monitoring, this will prevent an email error alert from being sent to the email 360 times. Instead the user will receive a single error alert when the error condition starts and a single uptime alert when it is fixed. Each time the error condition is fixed the counter for "Number of minutes between XXX notificatoins" is reset.
• • MONITORING COMPLEX AND DYNAMIC WEBSITES: Can your system be configured to navigate inside complex websites that require authentication and have dynamic content?
  • Yes. Both Dotcom-Monitor's monitoring system and web load stress test system support the setup and navigation of complex and dynamic online transactions and sequences. Dotcom-Monitor supports basic and form authentication and most forms of dynamic site content, including support for cookies. Specifically, the “Macro Recorder” tool helps to autoamte the recording and uploading of sequential transactions into a user's Dotcom-Monitor account. To use the Macro Recorder go to the Macro Recorder tab>download the Macro Recorder and follow the prompts to record and upload an online transaction or sequence for monitoring.
• • MONITORING A WEBSITE THAT INCLUDES SECURITY QUESTIONS: Can we set up monitoring that includes a login to a site that includes several known security questions and answers and run a pre-defined transaction. ?
  • This is a common security authentication schema for many online services. To monitor such transactions, Dotcom-Monitor will create a "custom script" that correctly answers the security questions. To get started with the creation of the custom script, kindly send the following information including: 1. A document describing the exact steps within the transaction 2. as welll as screenshots to match the steps in the document Include in the document all possible security questions (phrased exactly as they would be asked) as well as all possible corresponding security answers. There is one time fee for custom script development.
• • WEBLOAD STRESS TEST RANDOMIZING STEPS: Is there a way to randomize the steps within a Device for Webload Stress Testing?
  • The best way to randomize the steps within a Webload Stress Test using Dotcom-Monitor is to create one large Device that has all of the possible steps in it. It is OK to repeat steps more than once. To ensure randomization setup the Webload Stress Test by specifying at least 50 or more Cycles. Randomization occurs because the response time of each of the Virtual Users within the Webload Stress Test varies slightly. Therefore, randomization starts to occur within a few cycles of the Webload Stress Test. Dotcom-Monitor can only execute one stress test at a time. For additional assistance in setting up a randomized Webload Stress Test kindly contact sales@dotcom-monitor.com, or 1-888-479-0741 ext. 2.
• • WEBLOAD STRESS TEST INSTRUCTIONS AND PRICING: Where is information about the cost of a Dotcom-Monitor Webload Sress Test and setup instructions for a Webload Stress Test ?
  • For video and audio instructions go to the Dotcom-Monitor website Home page >click the Resources Tab >click Tutorials and >click Stress Test Overview. Additionally, a Web Load Stress Test pricing scenario calculator as well as written setup instructions are available as a .pdf and as webpage text at http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/web-load-stress-test.asp
• • WEBLOAD STRESS TEST: Is there a free trial and how do I ensure my web load stress test is properly set up?
  • Web load stress testing is a resource intensive process, therefore free trials are not available. If you have questions about how to properly conduct a webload stress test kindly review the extensive documentation and calculator located at http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/web-load-stress-test.asp For additional guidance from our webload stress test experts kindly contact us at 1-888-479-0741 ext. 1.
• • REPORTS: Where can I find detailed information on reports?
  • Go to http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/reporting.asp
• • DNS TRACE: How do I conduct and view a real time DNS trace?
  • Go to http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/trace.asp, click Trace Style dropdown and select "DNS".
• • FULLPAGE DOWNLOAD: What is the Fullpage Download option, how can I use it, and what is its cost?
  • The Fullpage Download option parses the returned HTML and all of the page elements within the HTML, such as: images, style sheets, applets etc...are also downloaded. (In contrast, the HTTP and HTTPS monitoring processes only download the HTML returned by the server in response to a GET or POST request.) The Fullpage Download monitoring approach is similar to a regular browser page download and rendering process. The Fullpage Download option is useful for monitoring: 1. Elements referenced within the HTML to ensure that page elements aren't missing from the webpage, 2. Slow page elements present on the webpage, which can slow down the end-user's browsing experience. Many organizations use the Fullpage Download service for monitoring webpages that have images or other webpage elements that a third-party server is providing. If a third-party server is slow or unavailable the Fullpage Download option will detect this problem. The Fullpage Download option is called “Plus” and is an additional 30% of the account package price.
• • DEVICES AND TASKS: What's the difference between a monitored Device and a monitoring Task?
  • A monitored Device is a virtual grouping of monitoring Tasks. A Task is any single monitoring action, such as monitor tageting a URL, Mail Server, FTP Server, etc.... NOTE: Monitoring Tasks within a Device execute sequentially in the order in which they were set up. The monitoring by Tasks in seperate Devices occcurs independently of other Devices.
• • PRICING: Where can I find pricing information?
  • Go to http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/pricing.asp. Under the pricing tab click on Overview. Or contact sales@dotcom-monitor.com or 1-888-479-0741 ext. 1
• • ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT ADDING/CHANGING USERS: How do I add additional users and user levels -- such as Super, Power, Viewer, or Inactive -- to my account?
  • The Super User, which is tied to the login and password initially created when the account is opened, can create additional users and manage User access and status by clicking the Users tab. The Super User can create and add Power Users who can interact with the account, but cannot create new users. The Super User can also create Viewer Users who cannot interact with the account, but can login for Viewing. The Super User can also set users in an Inactive User status. The Inactive User's information is retained, however Inactive Users cannot login until their status is changed back to a Power User, or Viewer User status.
• • CHANGING AN ACCOUNT PACKAGE: How do I change my account service package?
  • Please contact Dotcom-Monitor at 888-479-0741 ext. 1, sales@dotcom-monitor.com, or open a Support ticket (click Support tab and input information) to change the account service package.
• • FILTERS: What are Filters, or how do set up a Error Filter for a Device?
  • Filters, specifically determine when a detected problem is considered an "Error". For example, an Error Filter can be setup that only sends an Alert if an Error is confirmed by at least three monitoring locations; or only if two monitoring tasks within the same device fail. To create a Error Filter click the Filters tab>click Add New Response Filters button>and follow the input prompts. To add a new filter to a monitored Device go to Device List>"Device" Edit> and under "Notifications Options" select the new filter from the "Filters" dropdown menu.
• • OWNER DEVICE: What is an Owner Device and why should I associate a Device with an Owner Device?
  • An Owner Device is a "parent or owner" to another monitored device that is dependant on the Owner Device. For example, when monitoring both an Internet Router and a website, a Router often is "parent or owner" to the website. So, if the Internet Router goes down the website will also go down. Therefore, to prevent receiving multiple and redundant monitoring alerts from a dependent device (the website) because an Owner Device (the Internet Router) goes down the user should choose "Internet Router" as an Owner Device when setting up the website's monitoring. To set up an Owner Device for a dependent device 1. First setup the Owner Device's monitoring 2. Setup the dependent device 3. Click Device "Edit" 4. Under "Setup Device Options: Step 1 out of 3" area find "Owner Device" dropdown and select the specific Owner Device.
• • ONE TASK, ERROR FILTER: If there is only one Task within a Device, how will the Error Filter "Error detected in more then XXX task" effect my notifications?
  • When there is only one monitoring Task in a monitored Device, an error will always be generated if an error occurs -- regardless of the value set in the "Error detected in more than XXX task" filter setting.
• • MAX. DATA DOWNLOAD: What is the maximum amount of data that can be downloaded for monitoring purposes?
  • 2MB of data.
• • EMAIL SERVER MONITORING: What methods are used to monitor both incoming and outgoing email server status?
  • Dotcom-Monitor uses both SMTP and POP3. For details follow http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/network-monitoring.asp
• • REPORTS, REALTIME AND RAW DATA: What options are there for realtime and raw data for reporting purposes?
  • There are three realtime and raw data options for reports: 1. A dashboard-type realtime "Report Card". The Report Card does not require a login. Click this link for detailed info: http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/reporting-card.asp 2. An XML realtime feed is available to retrieve data. Click this link for more info. http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/XML-report-service.asp 3. A weekly .CSV file is available as a report option. Click on this link and scroll to the bottom of the page for details: http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/reporting.asp
• • DOWNTIME CALCULATION: How is downtime percentage calculated?
  • Follow this link for an explanation of the downtime percentage calculation: http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/docs/downtime_calculations.pdf
• • LENGTH OF DATA STORAGE: How long is the data available for reports?
  • Real Time detailed data is available for 60 days. Daily aggregated data is available for 36 months.
• • MONITORING LOCATION DATA CENTERS: What data center tier level are Dotcom-Monitor monitoring agents?
  • All Dotcom-Monitor agents are in Tier I data centers.
• • MONITORING LOCATIONS: Where are the Dotcom-Monitor monitoring agents locations and what worldwide Internet backbones do they monitor?
  • Peering information can be found http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/network-device-monitoring.asp
• • HTTP, IFRAME MONITORING: Can I setup monitoring that will fetch a webpage and also fetch the iFrame content and verify a keyword?
  • Yes, first set up the primary HTTP monitoring task within a Device. Then, add an HTTP task to that Device after the primary HTTP task and specify an Iframe URP and setup a keyword.
• • CLIENT CERTIFICATES: Can client certificates be installed for secure websites?
  • Yes, client certificates can be installed for an additional fee per location. Contact support@dotcom-monitor.com for installation and pricing.