Archive for the ‘Monitoring Tools’ Category

Monitoring Video Tips: HostName Test

Friday, April 6th, 2012

What is the main purpose of  a name server? It stores the DNS records for a given domain name and translates (resolves) domain names and hostnames into their corresponding IP addresses. But what if you want to make sure that the domain name you have chosen for your site points to the correct IP? Here’s what you can do – run a simple HostName test. With just three clicks you can check whether any given domain name is directed to its appropriate IP. If you want to see this test in action, check out the video below or try it out for yourself in our Test tools section.

This video is part of our Monitoring Video Tips series.

Free Website Test tools by WebSitePulse

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Monitoring Video Tips: Traceroute Test

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

The traceroute test is one of the most powerful tools you can ever use. In short, it shows the route and transit times of ICMP packets across a network from one destination to another. It can be used to get information about the network infrastructure and IP ranges around a given host or it can help you identify firewalls that may be blocking ICMP traffic. In case of connection issues this is the tool with which you can pinpoint exactly where the problems occur. To see this test in action, check out the video below.

This video is part of our Monitoring Video Tips series.

Liked this tool? Try it out!

Free Website Test tools by WebSitePulse

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Monitoring Video Tips: Web Page Test

Friday, March 16th, 2012

Do you know which component of your web page takes the longest to load?

If not, our Web Page Test tool can help you find out. With this test our monitoring agent shows how long it takes to download the complete HTML content, the images and all the other internal web page objects. Of course, it also measures the download speed of each of the components. The test results show the DNS time, connect time, first and last byte times for each of the web page objects.

In the video below you can see how this test works. And don’t forget that you can use this and more of our free tools and services by signing up for a 30-day full-service free-trial account with us.

This video is part of our Monitoring Video Tips series.

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Free Website Test tools by WebSitePulse

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Monitoring Video Tips: Blacklist Check

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

If you are searching for a suitable ISP for your business, it is a good idea to check if your IP address (or others hosted by this ISP) is listed on a DNS-based Blackhole list (DNSBL). The reason why you should do that is simple – if your ISP has given you an IP address which is listed, their mail server may also be on a blacklist and you may find yourself unable to reach your clients via e-mail. A simple test with our Test Tools will let you know if the domain name/IP address that you are testing is blacklisted. We query the major DNS Blacklists – Sorbs, Spamhaus, NJABL, DSBL, CBL and PSBL for specific IP address and return whether it is listed for sending spam, as an open proxy relay or for other possibly malicious activities. Check out the video below to see how this test works or give it a try now.

This video is part of our Monitoring Video Tips series.

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Free Website Test tools by WebSitePulse

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Monitoring Video Tips: PING Test

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

Whether you want to check that your website is reachable or just need to make sure that your server or router is online, the fastest way to do so is to run a simple PING test. With our Free Tools you can run this test any time you need it. You also have the option of saving or e-mailing the results so that you review them later. You can see how this simple test works in the video or run the check directly from the tools below.


This video is part of our Monitoring Video Tips series.

Liked this tool? Try it out!

Free Website Test tools by WebSitePulse

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DNS Tools

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

Sometimes the little things can get your online business in trouble. Each time someone comes to your website they go through a Domain Name Server, part of the Domain Name System. The Domain Name System makes it possible to assign domain names to groups of Internet resources and users in a meaningful way, independent of each entity’s physical location. Internet domain names are easier to remember than raw IPv4 and especially IPv6 addresses.

We provide several DNS Tools to help out with some important questions:

  • What’s the IP behind this domain name?
    • With the HostName test you immediately get the IP behind a domain. This is also a great way to verify that the DNS records are correct and specific domain points to the correct IP address.
  • Where did this email come from?
    • The MX Lookup test returns a list with servers responsible for delivering e-mail to that address and their priority relative to each other. You can now see where this nasty spam came from.
  • Who is in charge of this domain name?
    • If you are curious to know who owns a domain, you should use Whois. Nevertheless, you can also take advantage of the NS records lookup test. It will return the NS servers managing the domain name records for that certain domain. It is a great tool to verify DNS records when transferring a domain from registrar to another. Also if you are purchasing a domain it is good to double check on the name servers, once you set them.
  • What is the host behind this IP?
    • The Reverse DNS test is the exact opposite of the HostName test. You enter any IP and you get the host associated with it.
  • How can I trust that IP address?
    • Every now and then you will face a site you don’t actually trust. You can use the HostName tool to check the IP behind a website. You can then copy the IP and paste it in our Blacklist Check tool. We query the major DNS Blacklists – Sorbs, Spamhaus, NJABL, DSBL, CBL and PSBL for specific IP address and returns whether it is listed for sending spam, as an open proxy relay or for other possibly malicious activities.

These tools will help you troubleshoot common problems and find problems where you would rarely look. Even if your server is working perfectly and the sites are beautifully written, it would not mean a thing if something as simple as your DNS server goes down. In a world without DNS we would had to type in 69.20.11.136:80 just to reach www.websitepulse.com. Now, give the tools a try and let us know what you think about them. We hope you find the useful!

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Free Server Monitoring for Life

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

Someone once said that there is no such thing as small business. We believe this is true. Due to their nature, not all online businesses require the highest level of service we can offer. If your site is mostly driven by word of mouth and you have a strong offline presence, we might have just the thing for you. A free server monitoring service for life!

If your business depends on the company website to keep your clients informed about changes, share your office location and provide some basic interaction, we can offer you a free server monitoring service for life. We will check your server round the clock and inform you if it goes down.

While being one of our entry-level services, we assure you that it employs all the know-how we have gathered in the last decade. You will get free email notification each time we detect that your server is not running. We only have one simple rule – One account per customer.

We will monitor whether the server running behind your website is working properly. It makes no difference if you host your website on a free hosting provider, an in-house hosting solution or shared hosting. You will be able to choose one monitoring location. This is more than enough if your business is strictly local. If you provide service to people living in San Francisco, then your website really needs to be visible mostly to people in San Francisco.

We will not forward your details to third parties, and you will receive no emails from such. You can’t go wrong with a free service, can you? We won’t display any ads too. We would rather like it that you are happy with our service in the long run. So, let’s break it down.

We offer you:

 

What we won’t do is:

  • Let your server go offline unnoticed
  • Flood your inbox with emails about service upgrades options. (We might contact you every now and then with updates about services and new prices for regular service.)
  • Share your details with third parties.
  • Display advertisements of any kind

 

Our free lifetime monitoring is suitable for:

  • Local business owners
  • Hobby & personal websites
  • Small websites with informational purpose
  • Anyone not too sure to go ahead with the full service.
  • Anyone who would like to test our service

If you like to see how the system works before you register for the free service, then go right ahead and log in with our Demo account. Happy monitoring!

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