Every web-admin has experienced this problem at least once: The server is running and is reachable by PING, but the web-service is down and thus the server is not reachable for visitors. Or the webservice runs, but visitors read "ODBC-ERROR" on the homepage, because the database or sql-server is unreachable.
There are a couple of tools on the market which check servers using the PING-command and the better ones also try to connect to a server on port 80 to check the status of the service. Also there are some "big names" in IT-management-suites, but these are hardly affordable.
None of the tools we found on the internet used a complete HTTP-command and analyzed the results to check, if a specific server is still alive and in good condition. And none was also able to offer a broad range of notifying services.
So we decided to write our own software, because we did not find the features we wanted in a simple and affordable program.
IPCheck was designed to constantly watch all our servers and notify our staff when outages occur. Also all data gathered during monitoring can be viewed and analyzed.
So the Features of IPCheck can be devided into three categories:
Features for monitoring servers:
To check every aspect of a webserver IPCheck offers several possibilities to watch the machine:
- Run a simple PING comand
- Try to connect to a service on a specific port (e.g. HTTP=80)
- Send a HTTP-Request, analyze resultcodes and page contents
By using all three monitor types against a webserver the administrator knows exactly what has happened to a server.
Features for notifying:
As soon as IPCheck notices a change in your networks status, several notification mechanisms can be launched:
- Write a logfile entry
- Show a popup-window on the screen
- Issue a NET SEND Command (sends a message to all or specific users on the local network)
- Execute any EXE-File or BATCH-File
- Play a sound (WAV-File)
- Send a SMTP-Mail with the problems data to a mailbox, pager or mobile phone
- Reboot the machine (Remote reboot on NT networks)
- Print a message on a printer
- Hard-reset the server via a powerswitch that can be controlled via a RS-232 port
All these measures can be triggered at different times after a server went down. You might want to be notified by a POPUP, NETSEND and sound at once, but the email only if the machine does not come up for 5 minutes, or similar.
Features for analyzing:
All results are logged into a ASCII-logfile which can be analyzed:
- Show all errors for this server in the logfile
- Show a graph of all requesttimes for several days
With the second the administrator can take a look at the request times for a HTTP-Request over a period of days or weeks.
And even more features:
The internal Webserver: Another feature of IPCheck is a built in webserver, which can be accessed by a web browser in the local network. This webserver delivers a HTML-page with the latest status of the monitored servers. It can be accessed at the URL http://(name or ip of the machine that runs IPCheck).
unlimited number of servers can be monitored, organized into groups
unlimited number of ports per server can be monitored
convenient view of servers and monitored ports in an explorer-like tree
test intervall can be set independently for each monitored port
an ascii-logfile is generated for each server and can be viewed
the request times for each monitor can be viewed graphically
settings can be edited in the GUI or in INI-files
HTTP-requests can be done using a proxy server
using the port-monitor any IP-port can be checked for availability
IPCheck requires Microsoft « Windows 95, 98, NT or Windows 2000 to run and an IP-based network to check the servers, which is usually the case for machines connected to the internet.
IPCheck needs about 1 MB of diskspace to install. During usage of IPCheck the diskspace can get much bigger, because all requests are logged to a logfile (see File|Dump Logs for information how to shorten the logfiles).
How to install IPCheck on your machine
IPCheck is distributed in form of two files:
? ZIP: A standard zip-file containing the executable (EXE) and the helpfiles (HLP)
? EXE: A selfextracting windows-SETUP-program
Installing the ZIP-File
Simply unzip all the files from the ZIP into a directory of your choice, that you want IPCheck to run in. Afterwards drag the IPCheck-Icon to a folder in your startmenu or taskbar.
Installing the Setup-EXE
Double click the EXE file and a standard windows-setup programm appears. Please select the directory to install IPCheck into.
The icons for the startmenu are automatically created.
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Usage of Registered Version
One registered copy of IPCheck may either be used by a single person who uses the software personally on one or more computers, or installed on a single workstation used nonsimultaneously by multiple people, but not both.
Disclaimer of Warranty
THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. In particular, there is no warranty for a technical correct check of any servers and services. Because of the various hardware and software environments into which IPCheck may be put, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED.
Good data processing procedure dictates that any program be thoroughly tested with non-critical data before relying on it and to backup all critical data on a regular basis. The user must assume the entire risk of using the program. ANY LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE.
