If you’re a server admin, you know how unnerving it can be to spend the day unsure if your servers or sites are good to go. This is especially true then you’re not onsite. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to keep tabs on your servers and sites. One way is to use your Android device. However, you don’t want to have to spend the time to open up a browser and visit all of those sites and ping the servers. Instead, why not take advantage of a tool like Server & Website Monitor. With this handy app, you can keep tabs on those machines you administer so that you might retain a fragment of your sanity throughout the day.

Server & Website Manager features:

  • View all server and site status in one, easy-to-use interface
  • Check the server and site status details
  • View server and site status charts
  • Add contacts to servers and sites
  • Monitor web/email/DNS/FTP/VPN/etc servers
  • Monitor websites based on the domain name or IP address
  • Supports HTTP and HTTPS protocols
  • Manually add and modify HTTP return codes

Effectively, you can monitor a server or website with a single tap and immediately see if the site is normal or erroring out. On that same page, you can see a list of contacts for that server so that you know exactly who to contact if anything goes wrong.

Let’s install and use this handy app.

Installation

The app is free, but it has ads. If you want an ad-free version, you can purchase it either in-app or from the Google Play Store for $1.99 (USD).

As you’ve grown to expect with Android apps, the installation is simple. Just follow these steps:

  1. Open the Google Play Store on your Android device
  2. Search for server & website monitor
  3. Locate and tap the entry by Breet.Jia
  4. Tap Install
  5. Read the permissions listing
  6. If the permissions listing is acceptable, tap Accept
  7. Allow the installation to complete

You should now see a launcher on your home screen or your app drawer (or both). Tap it to launch the app.

Usage

The main window (Figure A) is really easy to figure out. You have a tile for each site (some are added by default) that displays the http status code and the time it took to return said code.

Figure A

Server & Website Monitor running on a Verizon-branded Droid Turbo.

If you tap any one of the tiles, you’ll see the report for that site or server (Figure B).

Figure B

Report for jackwallen.com.

As you can see, the app keeps a running history of reports to the site or server.

Let’s add a new server. To do this, tap the plus sign [+] on the main page. In the new window (Figure C), tap to add either a server or a website.

Figure C

Quickly disable a server/site (without deleting) by unchecking it.

It’s time to add the details for the server (Figure D).

Figure D

Adding a new server to monitor.

Enter the domain name or IP, a port (if necessary), and a name for the server. You can also add contacts for a server. If you tap the plus sign [+] associated with the contact section, you’ll be taken to a collection of contacts used only within this app (the app itself doesn’t have access to the device’s main contacts). Tap the plus sign [+] here (Figure E) to add a new contact, and then select that contact to add it to the server.

Figure E

Adding a contact for a server.

Once you’ve added the contact, tap OK to save the server.

If you add a website (the process is the same as for adding servers), you also have the option of adding status codes. Check here to get a full listing of http service codes.

From the main window, you can quickly refresh all added sites by tapping the refresh button. And if you swipe right from the left edge, you’ll reveal a sidebar (Figure F).

Figure F

The sidebar at your service.

From the sidebar, you can gain access to a few options and the Settings. Here are some of the settings you’ll find:

  • Request interval
  • Enable notifications
  • Connection time out
  • Reconnect tries

If you enable notifications, the app will notify you should a server request fail.

The Website & Server Monitor app is an outstanding tool to help you keep tabs on your servers and sites. Give it a try, and see if it doesn’t help you retain a modicum of sanity throughout the day.