HTTP/HTTPS Server Monitoring, Web Page Content and Deface Monitoring

The program allows you to monitor web servers and web pages using the HTTP/HTTPS protocol. It can also monitor the web page content and detect the web page and site defacing (when intruders change the web page content removing your texts and links).

The check allows monitoring the state of the HTTP/HTTPS web service on a remote host. Thus, you can constantly monitor the availability of the web server. The check consists in attempting to connect to the web service by sending the 'GET' or 'POST' requests. The application analyses the web server response and determines the state of the service.

Web page monitoring using POST requests with parameters

The POST requests with parameters are supported so you can run scripts on the web server. You can specify the parameters in a separate field where they will be listed with the "&"delimiter (for example, param1=1&param2=2).

Web page content monitoring

However, the check, except for merely accessing the Web server, can monitor the content of web pages on it. The application allows searching the web page for a string and alerting when it is found or not found. The most important is that it can respond to the change in the content of the page, promptly notifying the site owner on the occurrence of deface (unauthorized modification of the web page by a malefactor).

You can search for the current date or time stamp using the substitution keys. The check can even save the master copy of the page and compare the current web page with it notifying you on changes.

Checking the return status code of an HTTP request

The check can also monitor the result HTTP status code. You can specify the list of valid return codes and the program will raise an alert if some other code is received. The code list can be specified as an interval (with dash) or as an enumeration (with commas). For example: 100-226,302,308.

Authorization

The application allows entering login and password for authenticated access to a web server, and automatic web page authorization using the POST request. To do this, you need to perform some actions and specify the settings.

1. Find out what parameters are passed in the request when entering the username and password.

To do this, open the site authorization page in your web browser, enter your username, password, and press the login button. The data that the browser transmits to the server can be viewed in the browser's built-in debugger, which you can open with the F12 button (Chrome, Firefox) before the authorization process.

The request parameters with the login and password can be displayed either in the URL itself or in the debugger on the right (Firefox).

2. Substitute parameters into the program

You need to create a parameter string with the login and password for the program like login=username&password=pass123 (for example). This parameter will be substituted into the request and executed by the program. If everything is specified correctly in the web check's settings, the program should receive a page that is available after the successful authorization.

See also: FTP Server Monitoring, SQL Database Server Monitoring

Requirements: Windows XP/Vista/7/8.1/10/11, Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019/2022 supported.