Non-standard use of the site monitoring service
There are often situations when the inventor scratches his head, realizing how his creation is used and comparing it with what was originally intended. Today we will talk about the unconventional use of the monitoring service. What other benefits can be gained from the functionality intended for checking sites? The answer is limited only by the imagination of our customers.
One customer set up monitoring ... a home plumbing pump.
Of course, the pump, equipped with a web interface, most likely, was attached to its special software with lots of features. However, it turned out to be convenient to use the monitoring service in order to make sure that the pump is always “online”, and if not, to find out exactly when it stopped working, which helps in finding the cause of the shutdown. Thus, he proved that everything that has access to the network and has a personal IP address can be subject to verification.
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Another user of the HostTracker service uses it to monitor changes in the site’s file system. Of course, there are other solutions - but our service does not require the installation of additional software, or juggling with its hoster. The task was quite simple. From the client's side, it was necessary only to insert a php script on your page, which, when loading the page, checks whether changes have occurred to the file system of the site in the last hour.
The principle of operation is the following: a system snapshot was taken once from the reference version. Then the client, using the “Check Content” monitoring system function, created a task, checking the page every hour (see figure below). As a result, every hour the service downloads the page, and the script at this time compares the number and size of files with the standard. The result of working out the script should be the appearance on the page of the phrase "There are no changes." If the changes have occurred, then a message is displayed that the files have been changed, deleted or new ones have appeared. This allows timely notice of malicious changes in the system and eliminate them. If HostTracker detects the absence of the phrase “No changes”, an SMS is sent to the client, a notification is sent via Skype or other methods defined by it, and it can respond to the incident in the shortest possible time.
It was initially clear that HostTracker is unlikely to be used solely for monitoring web sites. Therefore, we closely monitor the requests of our customers and how they use the service. For example, some clients used the keyword validation feature to monitor databases. But it took effort on their part - it was necessary to create a page with a script that would make a selection from the database when the page was loaded, and would return a certain keyword. This prompted us to create a separate function - a database check . Attempts by customers to check the availability of their sites in the DNS blacklist also contributed to the emergence of such a function . Many other features and improvements have been made by us thanks to our users.
If you have a special experience in using monitoring services, or just requests for functionality, we are always grateful for your suggestions!
One customer set up monitoring ... a home plumbing pump.
Of course, the pump, equipped with a web interface, most likely, was attached to its special software with lots of features. However, it turned out to be convenient to use the monitoring service in order to make sure that the pump is always “online”, and if not, to find out exactly when it stopped working, which helps in finding the cause of the shutdown. Thus, he proved that everything that has access to the network and has a personal IP address can be subject to verification.
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Setting cron tasks - increasing site security
Another user of the HostTracker service uses it to monitor changes in the site’s file system. Of course, there are other solutions - but our service does not require the installation of additional software, or juggling with its hoster. The task was quite simple. From the client's side, it was necessary only to insert a php script on your page, which, when loading the page, checks whether changes have occurred to the file system of the site in the last hour.
The principle of operation is the following: a system snapshot was taken once from the reference version. Then the client, using the “Check Content” monitoring system function, created a task, checking the page every hour (see figure below). As a result, every hour the service downloads the page, and the script at this time compares the number and size of files with the standard. The result of working out the script should be the appearance on the page of the phrase "There are no changes." If the changes have occurred, then a message is displayed that the files have been changed, deleted or new ones have appeared. This allows timely notice of malicious changes in the system and eliminate them. If HostTracker detects the absence of the phrase “No changes”, an SMS is sent to the client, a notification is sent via Skype or other methods defined by it, and it can respond to the incident in the shortest possible time.
Customer contribution to the development of the service
It was initially clear that HostTracker is unlikely to be used solely for monitoring web sites. Therefore, we closely monitor the requests of our customers and how they use the service. For example, some clients used the keyword validation feature to monitor databases. But it took effort on their part - it was necessary to create a page with a script that would make a selection from the database when the page was loaded, and would return a certain keyword. This prompted us to create a separate function - a database check . Attempts by customers to check the availability of their sites in the DNS blacklist also contributed to the emergence of such a function . Many other features and improvements have been made by us thanks to our users.
If you have a special experience in using monitoring services, or just requests for functionality, we are always grateful for your suggestions!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/253893/
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