RWT Webmaster Tools Blog

Simple Server Monitor Review

Is your server down? How would you know?

Would you like to know when it goes down?

Simple Server Monitor offers a desktop tool that allows users the ability to monitor their servers.

Simple Server Monitor offers more than just a simple ping utility to test the status of a server. It has the ability to actually login to a service and logout thus testing to see if an application is actually up and running.

The possibilities with Simple Server Monitor are mainly for the intermediate to advanced user. While SSM can be used to tell if a website is up or down, it maybe overkill for beginners to use it for this purpose especially at a price of $50. However, if you host applications on shared web hosts, then this tool will be worth the small investment. SSM is ideal for those who host their own websites on their own machines or who are in charge of maintaining a series of servers. I would hesitate to say whether it is ideal in an enterprise environment. It seems more geared towards the individual and/or small business. Though as a secondary form of alert, SSM seems like it could serve in the enterprise environment as well.

You will have to adjust your firewall accordingly to let SSM reach the servers you have set it to test. When I first fired SSM up, it tested my website and told me it was down. I went out and checked and it was most definitely up. The problem was my firewall. The firewall had kept SSM from sending out it’s test ping and when SSM did not receive any packets back it assumed the server was down. I am not a network expert by any means, but if there was a way for SSM to detect the presence if not the blockage of a firewall, this would help users immensely.

The interface is clean and easy to use. Setup (other than the firewall issue) was very easy as well. If you have a small business and manage multiple servers or websites, SSM may be the right tool for you.

Disclosure: Paid Review