WEBO Pulsar - check the availability of the site

I hasten to please fans of fast and affordable sites. Now check the server's response time and whether the site is accessible at all in fully automatic mode - using the WEBO Pulsar service.

In short, WEBO Pulsar is an analogy of Pingdom, only in the territory of the Russian Federation and giving the correct time for server (and not network) delays. If a little more detail, then the availability of the site can be checked using the HTTP / HTTPS protocols using HEAD / GET / POST protocols with a frequency from once a day to once a minute. And the cost of one check is about 0.3 kopecks.

What we think

Now the service calculates the exact time of server expenses for processing the request (if more than 10 ms, then the error is not more than 20%, if less - then how lucky, and on such numbers it is usually no longer critical). This is not a very trivial task (given network latency and packet loss). And of course, WEBO Pulsar looks at whether the specified resource is available at all. All this is displayed in the form of approximately such graphs.

Additionally, for each verified address, complete statistics are available in CSV format (the maximum one-time sample period is a month).

We also record all error codes (both at the curl level and at the HTTP level), in the interface they are displayed as readable errors, in the CSV logs as the numbers themselves. In general, everything that is needed to understand what is wrong with the checked site. And what happens to it in general (during the past beta testing, we learned a lot of interesting things about the DNS server of the registrar and the habit of data centers to increase the bandwidth of the channel, really :).
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As it is written a little below, very soon we plan to add a full diagnostics of inaccessibility, so that it becomes immediately clear: the network segment has fallen off, or the server is simply overloaded, or Apache has fallen there. Anything can happen. And you need to act in different ways. But now, with the error code, you can say a lot and prevent such errors in the future.

How often do we count

5 validation ranges are now available. Once a day checks can be carried out absolutely free of charge (most likely, we will do it soon and checks once a hour are free of charge). Also available once an hour, once every 30, 10, 5 minutes and once a minute. When a resource is unavailable, you can configure how many times (with a frequency of once a minute) you need to “tap” it before sending notifications.

And notifications are sent (so far only by e-mail, but soon there will be SMS too).

How much is all this fun worth

WEBO Pulsar billing system is built on the internal balance of the service, measured in . This balance can be replenished in so many ways (literally today or tomorrow, we connect the receipt of money through paid SMS). Therefore, the calculation of the actual cost of using the service may be somewhat difficult, but let's see.

If you need to check the availability of the address with a HEAD request every 10 minutes, it will cost 4 per day , it will be about 0.4 rubles. in a day. In a month - only 12 rubles.

SMS sending is now worth 8 (about 80 kopecks, we hope to soon be reduced to 50, the main problems are in the normal “white” turnover of funds and the volume of SMS sent).

Work with legal entities

We provide the ability to check resources with the provision of monthly reports (with our stamp / signature) on the actual state of accessibility of the site. The check can be made both from one point (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam can be chosen), or from three points at the same time. The number of addresses to be checked is unlimited. We work under the contract (a glimpse of legal issues raised here ).

We provide a full package of documents (acts / invoices). The rest of the details should be clarified directly from our managers .

Future plans

Plans a lot. First, we will add SMS notifications. It is almost there, it remains quite a bit. Add notifications via jabber / twitter.

Secondly, we will add all the necessary types and protocols of verification (mail and databases). On the approach of POP, SMTP, IMAP, DNS and so on. at about the same rates.

Third, we plan to provide a complete diagnosis of the error that will be available from the interface (traceroute / ping / response headers) to help solve the accessibility problem faster.

And of course, we have planned (already half a blackboard is written) many small improvements, for example, the time and days of sending SMS messages, adding user contacts to view statistics and notifications, accessibility pictures (uptime) for each site, optional following redirects, optional checking SSL certificate, various options for recording response time (with all network delays or the current calculated), and so on. etc. We will welcome additional ideas.

We also introduce additional verification points and will soon be ready to provide the choice of a server for verification and simultaneous verification from a variety of distributed (across Russia and neighboring countries) points.

Why is WEBO Pulsar better?

We analyzed a large number of similar services, ranging from ping-admin.ru, already covered on Habré, to pingdom.com itself, aremysitesup.com, site24x7.com and a couple of lesser-known services. Firstly, only the first one is located in the territory of the Russian Federation (and this is very important if we have a Russian-speaking audience of the checked site).

Secondly, only Pingdom shows the response time (but taking into account all network delays, which makes this number unsuitable in local conditions).

Thirdly, the cost of checks everywhere is very high (in our opinion, even unreasonably high), so the prices for WEBO Pulsar are not higher (and in some places and much lower than similar ones). For example, the cost of one check on ping-admin (using the GET method) is 0.9 kopecks , on aremysitesup.com - already 0.2-0.3 (if you fill in all 25 checks once every half hour), pingdom - 0.14 -0.2 (if you complete 5 checks once a minute). We offer absolutely flexible rates with the cost of one check from 0.28 kopecks .

Fourth, none of these services work with Russian legal entities to provide official reports on the availability of resources. WEBO Software works.

Naturally, it will be interesting to us to get user feedback and make the service even better. On it there are still a certain number of small jambs, which we eliminate as soon as possible.

UPD (thanks to AYShestakov ): user base with webo.in , if you are already registered there - feel free to use your login / password.