Way to Test if Site is Working?

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Aprelium Forum Index -> Networking Issues
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
wspollack
-


Joined: 28 Dec 2003
Posts: 108

PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2004 5:35 pm    Post subject: Way to Test if Site is Working? Reply with quote

For most of yesterday, my site wasn't working... because somehow my setting in ZoneAlarm Pro for Program Control --> Main --> Program Control was set at High instead of my usual Medium. Changing this back made my site available once again, but it took me most of the day to notice the problem and confirm it with an outside user (while I changed that setting back and forth).

This brings me to my question: is there a way for me to periodically check my site's availability somehow? If I enter my URL in a browser, it always works fine, but that is not a real test (i.e., it "worked" fine yesterday, too, but only for me). I'm running a cable modem with a Linksys hub/router to get in and out vis-a-vis the Internet.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Regards,

Bill
Back to top View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Anonymoose
-


Joined: 09 Sep 2003
Posts: 2192

PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2004 6:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Use a proxy server or web based proxy to check whether your site is working from outside your network.

Try http://www.proxyweb.net - be warned that if you're running on a non standard port, images don't seem to load. They're not broken on your site, just when viewed via their proxy.

I think there are a few programs that will sit in the tray and request a url regularly then show you if it's up or down but none of the names spring to mind at the moment. If you found a non anonymous proxy service that shows the full url you're visiting in the address bar, you could enter this url into one of those programs and have it check your site via proxy at intervals. I'll post the names if I remember them :)
Back to top View user's profile Send private message
wspollack
-


Joined: 28 Dec 2003
Posts: 108

PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2004 7:20 pm    Post subject: Thanks, just tried it>>> Reply with quote

Thanks, Anonymoose. I just tried it, and that's a start. Actually, about half of my images loaded, and then they disappeared, one at a time, after a few seconds each (and I'm using plain ol' port 80). This is a start -- thanks.

What I'm really interested in -- and this may be a pipe dream -- is some software running on my PC (I guess) that will check once an hour or so, and then send me mail if my site isn't visible to the outside world.

In the meantime, I'll bookmark http://www.proxyweb.net/ and see what I can come up with.

Regards,

Bill
Back to top View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Anonymoose
-


Joined: 09 Sep 2003
Posts: 2192

PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2004 7:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Do you have access to a PC outside the network you could leave a program running on, or are you wanting something you could leave running on the main server that will check itself ? There's plenty of free apps to run from remote locations, I'm just struggling to think of a way to do it locally...
Back to top View user's profile Send private message
wspollack
-


Joined: 28 Dec 2003
Posts: 108

PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2004 7:41 pm    Post subject: Preferably on my PC (WinXP Home) Reply with quote

Preferably on my main PC (WinXP Home), the same PC that's hosting my site. I have one other PC at home on the network, but it's for use by my son-in-law, and it's old (Window ME) and I'd rather not use it, don't trust it, etc.

Thanks for your continued help.

Bill
Back to top View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Anonymoose
-


Joined: 09 Sep 2003
Posts: 2192

PostPosted: Sat Mar 06, 2004 8:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm making progress :D Looking at using a CGI proxy to provide a direct link to your site which you can test from your own server...

http://www.slysurf.com/cgiproxy/nph-proxy.pl/010100A/http/www.yoursite.com

Should load up your site happily from inside your network ?

If your site goes down, it will return

CGIProxy Error
Couldn't connect to www.yoursite.com:80: Connection timed out

instead...

The reason I was asking if you had a machine *outside* your network you could run the monitor on is simple - if your DSL / cable goes down, your monitoring program won't be able to mail you to tell you your DSL's down, similarly if your machine crashes and doesn't reboot there'll be no way of finding out. If just the server goes offline, it will obviously be OK...

If you stuck a text file on your site called working.html with a simple line like "Server is up" in it, it would be relatively easy to script a simple program you could run at intervals to try and grab the page, check which result occurs and email you if it failed to get the working page... I'm looking for something already done though instead of giving you a quick and dirty batch file to do it.

HTH
Back to top View user's profile Send private message
Anonymoose
-


Joined: 09 Sep 2003
Posts: 2192

PostPosted: Sat Mar 06, 2004 8:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Remembered the name :D

Webmon - http://www.markwell.btinternet.co.uk/webmon/

This is actually intended to check a site for updates, however, if you know that it's either going to see your "Site is up page" or the proxy "Connection failed page" it will see either of those as an update from the previous one. Only downside I can see so far is that if the site is still down after X minutes it won't see a change so you wouldn't get a second alert. I guess you only need to be told once though :D

You'll have to find a simple command line emailer to use in the custom command section of webmon, but other than that, this looks perfect!
Back to top View user's profile Send private message
wspollack
-


Joined: 28 Dec 2003
Posts: 108

PostPosted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 12:02 am    Post subject: working.html Added Reply with quote

Anonymoose:

I added the page http://www.billanddot.com/working.html, with "Server is up" as text. Also, I downloaded and installed WebMon, but I'm not sure it will do the trick (after testing with a too-high security setting in ZoneAlarm, in which case it didn't notify me). I think I need to do some more playing around with WebMon. Thanks for your continued help.

Regards,

Bill
Back to top View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Anonymoose
-


Joined: 09 Sep 2003
Posts: 2192

PostPosted: Sun Mar 07, 2004 1:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In Webmon, add http://www.slysurf.com/cgiproxy/nph-proxy.pl/010100A/http/www.billanddot.com/working.html as the URL to be monitored. If your site goes offline, the page retrieved by Webmon will change from your server is up page to the proxy's error page, which Webmon will view as an update and should trigger an alert.

In the Preferences for Webmon, enable the Custom Command option and install a tool like Blat ( http://www.interlog.com/~tcharron/blat.html ) to enable you to send email from the command line. Write a simple batch file to use Blat to send you a mail saying "Site is Offline" and set the custom command in Webmon to run the .bat.

Going to test it with my site now but there's no reason why it shouldn't work :) Make sure you set up rules in ZoneAlarm to allow Webmon and Blat outgoing internet access...
Back to top View user's profile Send private message
wspollack
-


Joined: 28 Dec 2003
Posts: 108

PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 5:13 am    Post subject: Everything's Working Okay Now Reply with quote

Anonymoose, I have WebMon working okay now, checking both http://www.billanddot.com/working.html and http://www.slysurf.com/cgiproxy/nph-proxy.pl/010100A/http/www.billanddot.com/working.html once an hour. In the Command option of WebMon, I have it send mail -- via a standalone SMTP-sending program I just wrote -- to my regular account and to a Hotmail account I just created.

Thanks for your help.

Regards,

Bill
Back to top View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
iNaNimAtE
-


Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 2381
Location: Everywhere you're not.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 5:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like that website checker. It helps a lot!
_________________
Bienvenidos!
Back to top View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger ICQ Number
Dr_Michael
-


Joined: 12 Jul 2006
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Anonymoose wrote:

In the Preferences for Webmon, enable the Custom Command option and install a tool like Blat ( http://www.interlog.com/~tcharron/blat.html ) to enable you to send email from the command line. Write a simple batch file to use Blat to send you a mail saying "Site is Offline" and set the custom command in Webmon to run the .bat.


I would appreciate if somebody could give me detailed instructions on how to install and use blat.
I tried and failed :(
Thank you in advance
Back to top View user's profile Send private message
AbyssUnderground
-


Joined: 31 Dec 2004
Posts: 3855

PostPosted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 9:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dr_Michael wrote:
Anonymoose wrote:

In the Preferences for Webmon, enable the Custom Command option and install a tool like Blat ( http://www.interlog.com/~tcharron/blat.html ) to enable you to send email from the command line. Write a simple batch file to use Blat to send you a mail saying "Site is Offline" and set the custom command in Webmon to run the .bat.


I would appreciate if somebody could give me detailed instructions on how to install and use blat.
I tried and failed :(
Thank you in advance


Search the forum. Im almost positive there are tutorials available already. If not create a new topic and explain everything you have tried and any errors you get.
_________________
Andy (AbyssUnderground) (previously The Inquisitor)
www.abyssunderground.co.uk
Back to top View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Dr_Michael
-


Joined: 12 Jul 2006
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Anonymoose wrote:

http://www.slysurf.com/cgiproxy/nph-proxy.pl/010100A/http/www.yoursite.com



The link seems not to work. :cry:

http://www.slysurf.com/cgiproxy/nph-proxy.pl/010100A/http/www.dpgr.gr/working.html
Back to top View user's profile Send private message
loloyd
-


Joined: 03 Mar 2006
Posts: 435
Location: Philippines

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Alternatively, you can use WebXACT at http://webxact.watchfire.com/, which is a free online service that lets you test single pages of web content for quality, accessibility, and privacy issues. If you can make a script that can make WGET or CURL interface with WebXACT, you will achieve such a connection checker.

Edit: A simpler one would be the W3C validator http://validator.w3.org/ :-D.
_________________

http://home.loloyd.com/ is online if the logo graphic at left is showing.
Back to top View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Dr_Michael
-


Joined: 12 Jul 2006
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

loloyd wrote:
Alternatively, you can use WebXACT at http://webxact.watchfire.com/, which is a free online service that lets you test single pages of web content for quality, accessibility, and privacy issues. If you can make a script that can make WGET or CURL interface with WebXACT, you will achieve such a connection checker.

Edit: A simpler one would be the W3C validator http://validator.w3.org/ :-D.


None of the above works fine in webmon :(
Back to top View user's profile Send private message
loloyd
-


Joined: 03 Mar 2006
Posts: 435
Location: Philippines

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Are you sure? Can't you add http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yoursite.com%2F in webmon? I suggest that you give this a try.

By the way, I just used WebConCh from http://www.loloyd.com/ld_web_content_checker
and it appears that I can test if my website is visible from the internet by applying the following specs:

URI: http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yoursite.com%2F
Poll every (minutes): 15
Enabled Alert When Text Found: 500 Can& #39;t connect to
Important! There should be no space between & and #. HTML reasons prohibit me from joining the two together in this post. It gets translated into an apostrophe sign. Simply follow the guide in the image shown below.
Enabled Alert By Program: (possible command-line mailer program here)
Enabled Alert By Message Box: Enabled

Example implementation:

_________________

http://home.loloyd.com/ is online if the logo graphic at left is showing.


Last edited by loloyd on Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:17 pm; edited 2 times in total
Back to top View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Dr_Michael
-


Joined: 12 Jul 2006
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

loloyd wrote:
Are you sure? Can't you add http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yoursite.com%2F in webmon? I suggest that you give this a try.


I added this to my site and in every check it notifies for change! :?
Back to top View user's profile Send private message
loloyd
-


Joined: 03 Mar 2006
Posts: 435
Location: Philippines

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's because webmon checks for updates. And since the output of the w3c validator is always fresh, it will always appear new to webmon.

http://www.markwell.btinternet.co.uk/webmon/ wrote:
WebMon is a freeware web page update monitoring program - it saves you time and keeps you updated by automatically checking web pages to see if they have changed.


Try the WebConCh route. It's free and open-source. No spyware, no adware, no nags, no virus, no trojan! Yet it works.
_________________

http://home.loloyd.com/ is online if the logo graphic at left is showing.
Back to top View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Dr_Michael
-


Joined: 12 Jul 2006
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

loloyd wrote:
That's because webmon checks for updates. And since the output of the w3c validator is always fresh, it will always appear new to webmon.

http://www.markwell.btinternet.co.uk/webmon/ wrote:
WebMon is a freeware web page update monitoring program - it saves you time and keeps you updated by automatically checking web pages to see if they have changed.


Try the WebConCh route. It's free and open-source. No spyware, no adware, no nags, no virus, no trojan! Yet it works.


Ok I just installed your software. Any site which is down, so we can test it? :twisted:
Back to top View user's profile Send private message
loloyd
-


Joined: 03 Mar 2006
Posts: 435
Location: Philippines

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dr_Michael wrote:
Ok I just installed your software. Any site which is down, so we can test it? :twisted:


Yes, but only one at a time, though - unlike the approach in webmon. Hmm, this makes me want to modify the program to accomodate multiple websites and to have different profiles for each website. Thanks for the idea, Dr_Michael.
_________________

http://home.loloyd.com/ is online if the logo graphic at left is showing.
Back to top View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Dr_Michael
-


Joined: 12 Jul 2006
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

loloyd wrote:
Dr_Michael wrote:
Ok I just installed your software. Any site which is down, so we can test it? :twisted:


Yes, but only one at a time, though - unlike the approach in webmon. Hmm, this makes me want to modify the program to accomodate multiple websites and to have different profiles for each website. Thanks for the idea, Dr_Michael.


I have to thank you for your program as well. I will let you know if it works in my next downtime.
Back to top View user's profile Send private message
pkSML
-


Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 952
Location: Michigan, USA

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This information may be coming a little after the fact, but I use two sources to monitor my uptime/downtime.

1. Active Server Watcher (free) - from your computer, you can have it check your site every x minutes. It will immediately display a dialog box if it cannot find the URL. It can keep a logfile if set up to.
2. mralert.com (free) - This service will check your site about 90 times per day. You can see my site's uptime for the day at the bottom of my homepage. If you click on this graphic, it will take you to a page showing uptime history.

These are both very helpful services for me since I have a less-than-perfect computer. :)
_________________
Stephen
Need a LitlURL?


http://CodeBin.yi.org
Back to top View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
loloyd
-


Joined: 03 Mar 2006
Posts: 435
Location: Philippines

PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 6:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

1. Using Active Server Watcher at the same side as the server may not address the problem of trying to determine if your server is publicly visible or not as discussed above. It appears to be limited only to notify you if an Internet resource becomes unavailable. This can be effectively used outside the local realm of the server though.

2. http://mralert.com/ indeed addresses the problems as discussed above. No need for downloading programs, just register and wait. It looks great. I wonder who or what virtually anonymous entity provides such a free service? Anyways, thanks for this pkSML!
_________________

http://home.loloyd.com/ is online if the logo graphic at left is showing.
Back to top View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
mg66
-


Joined: 15 Aug 2004
Posts: 85
Location: USA, Illinois

PostPosted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Uptime Monitor may be an answer. http://uptime.openacs.org/uptime/about.adp
_________________
mg66

http://sv650.metromain.net
http://photography.metromain.net
http://weather.metromain.net
http://www.metromain.net
http://www.bghi.us


Abyss Web Server X2
Back to top View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Aprelium Forum Index -> Networking Issues All times are GMT + 1 Hour
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB phpBB Group