Frequently Asked Questions


Please select a category and enter a phrase (optional) to Search the Frequently Asked Questions from our clients and users of the monitoring services we provide.

If you still do not find the answer, please contact our support team 24/7.

Select category:
Search for:  


What is the advantage for me of the WebSitePulse remote monitoring service?↑
It is very important that your website responds quickly and is accessible to your customers, users, and visitors all the time. A website that is frequently inaccessible or slow to respond is likely to lose your business and destroy customer loyalty.
WebSitePulse is a leading provider of global, independent and objective monitoring of the availability and performance of web sites, servers and network components, e-business transactions and web applications, email systems, and email round-trip transactions.
The advanced monitoring service ensures a reliable early problem and error detection with a multi-stage verification process, followed by real-time multimedia alerts. When there is a problem, you will be the first to know, so you can begin troubleshooting before your customers start calling you. Evaluate your Web Hosting company and require better service or select a better web-hosting provider.

    - 24x7 website and its key components monitoring
    - Immediate notification of problems
    - Web-based real-time reports of historical data
    - Quick and accurate diagnosis of problems when they do occur
    - Requires zero capital investment
    - Instant set-up and immediate results
    - No software to install or maintain
    - No integration issues and no technology risk
    - Measures end-user perspective
    - No technical experience or training necessary
    - Scalable to meet growing enterprise and e-business demands


Is your monitoring service guaranteed?↑
Yes! We stand behind our product and give you a 30-day trial period to test our services to the fullest completely free! If for any reason you are not completely satisfied with our services during that period and decide to cancel your account, no fees nor taxes will apply.

Do I have to download and install client software on my website to use your monitoring service?↑
Absolutely not. We monitor your website, server or web application remotely over the web, so WebSitePulse does not require any software at the client side.

Is there a set up fee to open a monitoring service account?↑
No. There is no setup fee for opening a monitoring service account.

Can I cancel my service account?↑
Yes. You can cancel your service account at any time. To cancel your account, log in, and select "Remove account." By confirming, your account will be canceled and all services will be terminated.

Is there a cancellation fee?↑
No. For whatever reason you decide to cancel your service account, there will be no cancellation fee.

What exactly is being checked and monitored?↑
We check and monitor the availability, response time, DNS lookup and relative performance of your website and its server protocols. We also check the file size of a particular page, the content and if predefined keywords are found. For more details please refer to the Features page.

My Website is hosted with an ISP. How would your monitoring services help me?↑
Your ISP cannot check if your website is accessible from outside, where your customers are. When WebSitePulse.com monitors your website, it does it remotely simulating your real customers’ experience.

What types of applications are monitored?↑
The WebSitePulse.com service monitors HTTP web servers; HTTPS secure web servers, SMTP and POP3 email servers, FTP, DNS, Telnet and any custom protocols. WebSitePulse.com is constantly adding new features and additional application types to keep up with our clients' changing needs.

What should I monitor?↑
To ensure that your website is working properly, all available servers need to be monitored. These are: the HTTP server which delivers you website pages, the HTTPS server if you have secure area on your website and use the Secure server, the FTP server if you provide files for download to your customers, SMTP and POP3 servers to make sure your incoming and outgoing email is moving, etc.

I can monitor my own servers locally. Why do I need WebSitePulse.com?↑
Often, your servers appear to be working just fine from within your office. You can retrieve web pages, ping the router, etc. WebSitePulse.com does more than monitoring the up/down status of your website and web server. Individual servers (SMTP, DNS, HTTP, etc) are checked with their respective protocols to ensure the server itself is responding properly. Most importantly, WebSitePulse.com tells you if your servers are really available to your customers and to the rest of the world, because we perform monitoring over the internet from different worldwide locations. You will always know with certainty that mail is deliverable, that your DNS server is resolving or that your website is returning requests and delivering content.

How often does WebSitePulse.com check my site?↑
Our service monitors and checks your specified Website protocols and pages you have specified every 1 min, 2 mins, 3 mins, 5 mins, 10 mins, 15 mins, 20 mins, 30 mins, 1 hour, 2 hours, 6h ours, 12 hours, 1 day, based on your selections.

What happens if your system detects a problem with my monitored website and web server?↑
Every time we detect that there is a problem with your website and web server, we verify the problem from several other locations to make sure that the problem exists and to reduce the number of false alerts. Once we verify the problem, we notify all your contacts via email, phone, pager, instant messenger, contact URL, or SNMP trap. Also you can configure Takeover rules. Messages can be customized to reach specific recipients at specified times, specific number of times, during specific hours, and after a problem is detected a specific number of consequent times.

What happens if the problem with my website persists?↑
We continue checking your Website availability and response times at regular or increased intervals depending on your configuration. In the meantime, you continue receiving downtime messages until the problem is solved. When your website resumes its regular activity, you receive a notification that it is functioning normally again.

What does it mean when my contacts are notified that my system is down?↑
Whether it is a router, web server, or other web device or protocol, a "down" notification means that WebSitePulse.com is unable to reach your system via the internet. This may happen for several reasons - your web server is down, the internet connection is down, your Web Hosting provider is having network problems, etc. Our alerts allow troubleshooting before your customers, and visitors even notice that something is wrong with your website or part of it.

How do I know my website is operating correctly again?↑
When your website resumes its regular activity and ability to serve your customers and visitors, you and your contacts receive a notification that it is functioning properly again.

Can WebSitePulse.com notify multiple contacts upon a failure?↑
Yes. You can add, set up, and we will notify an unlimited number of contacts. In addition, we support alert escalation, which means that you can configure contacts to be notified after a certain period of downtime.

Is it possible that some of the alerts I receive are false?↑
Very rarely you can receive false alerts. Our location correlated notification system makes sure that all errors are verified from other monitoring stations and only if they confirm the error, an alert is being sent. We constantly monitor and optimize the system, so you do not get alerted with no reason.

Does it matter what my Website and Web server technical platform is (example: NT, Apache, Linux, UNIX, MAC)?↑
No, WebSitePulse.com and your clients don't need to know what your technical platform is to use your website and buy products or use the services you offer. In fact, our service simulates user experience, and users do not care about platforms. Visitors and users are interested in the content of your web pages, and they want to have a trouble-free visit to your website. We help you make sure they do consistently.

Can I monitor more than one Website with WebSitePulse.com?↑
Absolutely yes. WebSitePulse.com can monitor as many web sites as you wish with your service account and you will just need to set up the Web domains and addresses of the sites you would like to monitor.

I'm concerned about someone hacking my website. Can you help?↑
Yes! We can detect changes to your website's pages, to the size of the file and to the MD5 string, which is unique for every web page. If anything that we monitor changes, you will be notified immediately.

I have a user name/password protected page. Can your service verify it is working?↑
Yes, WebSitePulse.com can verify that your user name and password protected page is working correctly. You need to enter the user name and password information in the appropriate screen, and we will perform the check.

Does your service support Secure Socket Layer for ecommerce transactions?↑
Yes, WebSitePulse.com capabilities include the monitoring of Web pages that require Secure Socket Layer connections. This will enable you to monitor all your "https" sites for performance, response time and downtime.

Why do you support multiple geographic monitoring stations?↑
When one of our monitoring stations detects a problem with your website and web server, it triggers one of the other monitoring stations to confirm that it is detecting the same problem. This multiple confirmations of a problem help to reduce false alerts. You are notified only if the problem is confirmed by at least one independent monitoring location. You can increase this level when you define "Strict" location correlated notification level. Second, using multiple servers gives you an idea of the performance seen by users in different geographic locations.

How do I Manage my account?↑
With every service account, we provide you with an online control panel, which is protected with your unique login ID and password. From the control panel, you have total control over all settings, management tools, contacts, and real-time report and graphics. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact our 24/7 customer support.

What happens if your monitoring server goes down?↑
We monitor from multiple stations at diverse data centers. If a primary server fails, one of the remaining servers will immediately take on primary service with a synchronized copy of all data. Our servers monitor each other as well as your site.

Will the traffic on my website increase by performing the Monitoring Service?↑
No. The packets of information we send are extremely small, and the Service will not affect the traffic of your website.

Will your service affect the performance of my site?↑
No. Our engine looks like any other website visitor to your site.

Does WebSitePulse.com service work through a firewall?↑
Yes. You need to set up your firewall to accept traffic from our IP addresses. For more information, please contact us and we will provide you with all the details.

How do I use the e-mail gateway on my cell phone to receive notifications?↑
Each digital phone within the US has an e-mail address attached to it, and all e-mail sent to that email address gets forwarded to that cell phone. This is the email address that is used to send notifications to wireless devices as well as alphanumeric pagers.

How do I know that your service works?↑
Try it! We stand behind our product and give you a 30-day trial period to test our services to the fullest completely free! If for any reason you are not completely satisfied with our services during that period and decide to cancel your account, no fees nor taxes will apply.

What is a Ping?↑
'Ping' is a network utility that monitors the time delay and reliability of messages sent across the network. A small message is sent, and the receiving computer immediately sends a response message. By monitoring the time delay and percentage of responses that are received, we can estimate the network reliability and latency.

To see how it works, try our free Ping Test Tool.

Do you provide technical support?↑
Yes. All Service Plans come with free unlimited technical support by phone, live chat and email - 24x7x365.
E-mail: support@websitepulse.com
Toll Free: 1-888-WSPULSE (977-8573), option 2
Phone: 1-407-380-1600, option 2

Is your website secure?↑
Yes. The WebSitePulse.com website uses a "Secure Socket Layer" (SSL) to protect all data provided by our customers. Only authorized personnel have access to this data for the sole purpose of processing service orders. As a result of our efforts to protect your Security and Privacy, we do not keep any of your financial information on our servers. We accept responsibility for your information while in our direct possession.

Does WebSitePulse.com guarantee my privacy?↑
All data you provide with our service - personal, billing, site information - will be kept strictly confidential and will not be sold, rented, or made available to any third party for any reason. Only authorized personnel have access to this data for the sole purpose of processing service orders. As a result of our efforts to protect your Security and Privacy, we do not keep any of your financial information on our servers. We accept responsibility for your data while in our direct possession.

What is the billing cycle and when do you bill me for your services?↑
Our billing cycle is at the end of each month for the current month. We will bill you at the end of each month for services rendered the current month. You will need to provide billing information when creating an account (except for the 30 free trial, we do not ask for payment information there), but we do not charge your credit card at this time. Your credit card is charged at the end of each billing period.

If I open my account in the middle of the month, how much will you charge me for the current month?↑
For the current month, we will charge only for the days you used the Service.

If I cancel my account in the middle of the month, are you going to charge me for the whole month?↑
No. If you cancel your account in the middle of the month, we will prorate the amount based on the days you used the Services for the month.

Do you accept credit cards?↑
Yes, we accept VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and Diners Club. You can enter your card number through our secure server during sign up (except for the 30 days free trial, we do not ask for payment information there). As a result of our efforts to protect your Security and Privacy, we do not keep any of your financial information on our servers. If sometimes in the future you need to update your billing information, just log in your account, select "Billing Information" from the Account section, and submit your updated information. We will update our records.

If I am paying by a credit card, do I need to enter it every month?↑
No, you do not. Your credit card information is kept offline and secure by our billing department. Only limited personnel has access to it to perform billing once every month.

Can I pay for the Service by check?↑
Yes. To pay by check, please mail your check and note your username on the check. For mailing details, please visit the Contact us page.

Beyond the standard options, can you provide additional Customization?↑
WebSitePulse.com is dedicated to meeting customer needs. Therefore we can customize the system to fit your needs.

I have more questions before I decide to use your services. How do I get answers?↑
You can call us at 1-888-WSPULSE (977-8573), available 24/7, email us at support@websitepulse.com or just use the live chat at www.websitepulse.com and one of our service representatives will gladly assist you. If your question is more complicated, someone else will call you back with the right answer.

Is it possible to monitor dynamically assigned IP addresses?↑
Unfortunately, there is no way to monitor IP addresses that are dynamically assigned unless there is DNS record that is dynamically updated to resolve to the last IP assigned to your device.

How to prevent web browsers from caching?↑
The problem is that sometimes web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox show old pages of WebSitePulse's Current Status page, etc.

Solution 1: While hitting the refresh web button of the browser, hold the Shift key (or press Shift+F5). This must tell the browser to fetch the page from the server even if the page is already in the browser's cache.

Solution 2: Force the browser to check not to use cached pages:
For IE go to menu, click on Tools/ Internet options / Settings (at Temporary Internet files block) / Check for new pages: ->each visit to the page.
For Google Chrome go to menu, click on Settings / Show advanced settings / Network / General tab / Settings (at Temporary Internet files block) / Check for new pages: ->every time I visit web pages

What is WSDL / Web Service Definition Language?↑
This option gives you real-time access to our server. You can retrieve statistics from our database using SOAP and WSDL (Web Service Definition Language), which can be easily implemented in different applications.
There are some simple examples and some sample SOAP request/response pairs in the WSDL package (https://www.websitepulse.com/wsdl/wsdl.zip) which you might want to check.
If you tell us what technology you are planning to use the WSDL with, our developers will send you some additional information on how to implement it. Also you can find the detailed WSDL specification at www.w3.org/TR/wsdl
You'll also need an access key to be able to use the API (Application Programming Interface), by which an application program can access the computer's operating system), which must be requested.
Currently, the API provides the following data:
- current status
- monthly uptime statistics

Please notice that you can not make more than 100 requests for a given day.

What is the purpose of Traceroute information and how to activate it?↑
The purpose of traceroute is to identify the problematic server that is causing the error, and that is why we send traceroute info only if there is an error before reaching your servers. Traceroute is a very resource-consuming operation, and it will slow down your servers a lot if we do it all the time. If you need to execute a single traceroute, go to the “support” section and in the “Test Tools” subsection choose a location, go to the Traceroute test tool and enter the IP of your server.

To activate the Traceroute Information option, enter the “target” section, and click on the “Edit target” icon next to the target you need to configure. In the basic configuration, you need to enable the traceroute feature and save the changes.

Can I use WebSitePulse public statistics without the WebSitePulse logo being displayed on my page?↑
Yes, you can, and there are two ways to achieve this. First, while you create or edit a public report, you can select one of your logos to be displayed on the report, which can be uploaded at any time. Second, you can create and host your own style sheet and provide us with the URL of the CSS file containing your customized style sheet. We also provide a sample style sheet, which should be used as a sample, can be modified and uploaded to your server.

I cancelled my account last month. Why am I being charged again this month?↑
We are charging at the beginning of every month for the services used in the previous month. You are charged exactly for the days you had used our services.

Can WebSitePulse monitor Javascript?↑
Currently our monitoring agent will parse and execute JavaScript code only if you are using our inbrowser levels of monitoring. If you are having any problems setting the targets up just send us the URLs and we will create the monitoring targets for you.

Can WebSitePulse monitor SFTP?↑
Currently, we can monitor if the SSH port on your server is opened and working and this could be sufficient.

Does WebSitePulse offer DNS monitoring?↑
Yes, we offer DNS server monitoring. To start monitoring your DNS server create a new target using the DNS advanced target type.
The monitoring agent tries to open an UDP connection to port 53 of the monitored host. If unsuccessful, a connection error is recorded. “NS IN” query is sent to the monitored DNS server. If the server responds with a valid response, a successful status is recorded, and the connection is closed.
If you just want to test whether the UDP port of your DNS server is opened without sending any request, you could also use our "Custom port monitoring" feature.
Here you can read an article about using our services to monitor DNS server.

How can I monitor a secure IMAP?↑
To monitor secure IMAP choose IMAP from the Advanced Target types in the “create new target” area and follow the instructions. Later in the configuration, you will be asked for the authentication details.

How can I prevent monitoring from throwing off my website statistics?↑
You can exclude our monitoring agent's visits from your statistics by filtering out our IPs or user-agent string.
You can find the IPs for each monitoring location in the “Show all monitoring locations” section in each target's settings section or here.

Do you monitor free space in /var or zombies?↑
Unfortunately, we do not monitor free space in /var. We do not monitor Zombies either.
To monitor that we have to provide a special program to be installed at your side which we do not offer.

How to monitor a SQL server?↑
You can use our SQL monitoring levels to monitor MySQL and MS SQL database servers. Also, you can check if your SQL server is up by setting URL as HTTP performance monitoring target type and configure it to alert you if any of the words "ERROR" or "SQL server" are found in the page content.

Can you monitor wireless routers?↑
Our service allows you to monitor routers and other devices, which are not listening on a specific port, using the "PING basic" target monitoring type - our monitoring agent will try to ping the device on a regular basis and will alert you if the device is unreachable (a 100% packet loss is reported). We are also offering the so called "Custom port" monitoring which allows you to specify a non-standard port to be monitored.

Do you provide WAP monitoring?↑
You can monitor your WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) page using our standard HTTP monitoring. You can also view your Current status at our m.websitepulse.com.

How to set Android and iOS notification contacts↑
Here you can read a detailed article about setting up an Android and iOS notification contacts.