Having optimized the page loading times of quite a few websites, I can say that the benefit is not as visible as many webmasters believe it to be.

Tools are needed to monitor page loading times over time to measure and analyze the optimizations and changes made to the web code and hardware.

Services like GMetrix, YSlow, Google Page Speed or Which Loads Faster.

All have in common that they test the speed at a specific point in time only.

Website Load Tool on the other hand is a Windows program that monitors the page loading time of websites regularly. The initial interval is set to five seconds, which many webmasters may want to increase considering that the default setting will generate quite a few hits and some load otherwise.

The first thing that new users need to do after installing Website Load Tool is to click the options button in the menu bar and in that context menu the Settings link.

Here they can add multiple websites that they want monitored. A switch to the Generic tab displays options to change the monitoring interval in seconds, the use of a logfile and the maximum number of results.

In the example above I have added the three websites Ghacks, Gameokratie and Windows 8.

A click on the Start button in the main interface starts the monitoring of the domains that have been added in the program settings.

The program displays a log in a left sidebar. Selecting a domain from the list displays all logged connection and retrieval attempts.

Success or failure are indicate with colored lights and a status message. The duration and downloaded bytes are displayed here as well.

It needs to be noted that the load time is faster than the load time in a web browser. This is due to the fact that the pages are not rendered. It also appears as if only the HTML document is retrieved from the website, not images and other elements posted on it.

This limits the use of the website monitoring tool somewhat, as it does not replicate the actual page loading times of visitors of the site. Still, it can make sense to run the tool in the system background to analyze the page loading time over days, weeks or months.

The developer has not integrated notifications or alerts which would make sense in a monitoring software.

Windows users can download the latest version of Website Load Tool from Codeplex. The program requires the Microsoft .NET Framework. The version that is required is unfortunately not listed on the page. (via)

Big companies usually have IT staff that is monitoring the server infrastructure 24/7, something that most website and server owners cannot (and do not have the desire to) afford. Some webhosting companies provide 24/7 monitoring of their dedicated servers, virtual servers and web hosting packages but the effectiveness varies a lot and the account owner is usually not informed at once if something goes down (and back up again).

A third alternative are so called web monitoring services. These services are web based and offer a set of tools to monitor web servers and websites. Most of these services offer email, sms and even phone notifications as soon as the server goes down.

Pingdom is one of those services. The web monitoring service offers various http, network and email checks that can be configured easily. The number of services that are monitored depends on the user’s account level. Pingdom offers a free account that is good for monitoring one web service on one domain. The basic and business accounts raise those limits to 5 respectively 30 checks with the option to buy extra checks if needed.

Website Monitoring Setup

Pingdom does not require any installations or configurations on the web server or website that the user wants to monitor. All monitoring services are setup on the Pingdom website.

It starts by selecting one of the available check types.

This ranges from http checks over network checks that test the DNS, TCP port or UDP to email checks that can check Pop3, SMTP and IMAP connections. The check resolution, that is the interval in which the check is performed can be selected in this step as well. The interval ranges from every minute to every 60 minutes.

The next options differ depending on the choice in the first step. A http check for instance requires only the url of the website that should be checked. Entering the url completes this step which does provide optional settings which can help a user in performing specific tasks.

The Check For String On Page parameter for instance can easily be used to check if a database is up and running. To do that the webmaster needs to write (or copy and paste) a small script that displays certain text on a custom url if the website is up or down. This can for instance be UP if it is up and DOWN if it is down. The string check can be configured to report downtime if the DOWN string appeared on the page of the website or server.

Other optional settings in this step include configuring a username and password for websites that require authentication and changing the user-agent of the Pingdom service (which might make sense if third-party websites are monitored).

The final step of the process configured the notification options. Pingdom uses a contact database that can be filled with contacts that should be notified if a check fails. This can always be the same user or individual webmasters or system administrators depending on the website or even check that is performed.

Pingdom supports four types of notifications: SMS, Email, Twitter and iPhone. The number of available SMS depends on the account type. The free account comes with 20 SMS with the option to buy additional SMS if needed. An option that is missing is phone support which is offered by some other website monitoring services.

Reporting

Pingdom starts monitoring the configured services as soon as they have been created by the user. Reporting is one of the strengths of Pingdom.

The overview displays the most important data at a glance including the uptime, downtime and response time. This report can be filtered by data to provide an overview of a specific time frame.

Detailed reports are available for each website that is listed in the overview and from the sidebar menu.

Pingdom operates servers in many countries in the world that are used to monitor the configured websites, servers and services. Successful and failed attempts to connect will be written to an extensive log file that provides error analysis for some failed attempts. This includes information like the date and time of the operation, the datacenter used to perform the check and a traceroute which can be very helpful for the error analysis.

Pingdom Review Verdict

Pingdom offers a sophisticated web monitoring service with excellent reporting. The service is aimed at webmasters, system administrators and professionals mainly which is reflected in the interface which could use additional help overlays to guide the user through the creation. It would also be nice if they would add an option to receive phone notifications and if they would provide basic scripts to test specific services like MySQL databases.

But those are marginal and the overall experience and service lives up to its promises. The free basic account should be enough for many users who only run one website. Professionals on the other hand can use the basic and business account along with the optional services to monitor all their servers and websites.

Christmas Giveaway

We are giving away 10 Pingdom Basic Accounts that are paid for for one year. Please let us know if you currently use a website monitoring service and if so which to enter the draw for the accounts.

Raju is giving away two programs today: Corel Digital Studio 2010 and Corel Painter Essentials 4.

Beecher is giving away a copy of Team Fortress 2, best online fps game since UT99.

The following list contains five tools for monitoring websites. Three of the tools are Firefox add-ons, one is a online service and the last a software program for the Windows operating system. We encourage readers to add additional tools (should be a free website monitor software, service or add-on) in the comments.

Check 4 Change

Check 4 Change is a Firefox add-on. It is probably the most basic tools to monitor websites that are reviewed in this article. The user can select text on websites and open the Check 4 Change context menu after right-clicking. It is there possible to define the interval for monitoring the website changes. Website Updates are then displayed in the tab of the website that is being monitored. This outlines one of the biggest weaknesses of this add-on. The website has to be open to be monitored by the Firefox add-on.

A few options are provided by the add-on. It is possible to change the intervals and configure several notification options that include playing sounds, popups or bringing the window to the front. The add-on is best used for monitoring websites that require authentication. It could for example be interesting for monitoring web email accounts.

Update Scanner

Update Scanner uses a different approach than Check 4 Change. The program will automatically monitor the complete website for changes with the option to ignore numbers and minor changes. Another benefit of using this website monitor is that the websites that are monitored do not have to be open for it to perform the update checks.

The interval of the checks for website changes is set to once a day by default. This value can be changed to a minimum of every 5 minutes or set to manual scan on the other end of the scale. The add-on will place an icon in the Firefox status bar. A left-click on that icon will open a sidebar that is displaying all websites that are monitored by the add-on. This sidebar contains buttons to perform a manual scan, open one of the monitored websites and to access the preferences of the add-on that allow the user to configure notifications.

Available are sound and popup notifications.

Site Delta

Site Delta is the third (and last) Firefox add-on for monitoring websites. The add-on is a little bit confusing at the beginning as there is no apparent way to add websites that should be monitored to it. The add-on begins to monitor websites for changes if the user presses its icon in the Firefox status bar. The active url will then be added to the list of pages that are monitored by the add-on. The icon will glow green if the active website is monitored by it. A right-click opens a context menu that can be used to configure the monitoring in detail.

Users can configure the scan options in two tabs. The add-on will by default check for text and image changes. It is furthermore possible to ignore case or numbers and to create a backup copy of the page whenever changes are recognized.

The when to scan tab can be used to configure the intervals of the scans. It is possible to set a specific frequency or let the add-on handle it. It seems to use an algorithm that reduces the checks if the website that is monitored is not updated frequently.

Change Detection

Change Detection is a free online service that can monitor websites for changes. An account is required before websites can be monitored by the service. The website url and an email address are provided in the first step of the process. The service will then try to scan the website. If the scan is successful step 2 is displayed.

The notifications and type of changes to trigger notifications can be configured in the second step. Notifications can either be provided by sending emails to an email account or by offering an RSS feed that is being updated with website changes.

It is possible to configure the online monitoring service to only send out notifications if sizable changes have happened on the monitored websites. It is furthermore possible to define text that should trigger notifications (either if it is added or removed from the page which could be interesting for link building purposes).

WebMon

WebMon is the only software program in this review that can be used to monitor websites. The website monitoring software has a few advantages over the Firefox add-ons. It can be run in the background even if all web browser windows are closed. The Firefox add-ons can only perform checks for updated websites if the web browser is running.

The program comes with an easy to use interface. It begins by adding an url to the program. Any url that is currently in the Windows clipboard will automatically be pasted into the form right away. It is then possible to configure the intervals of the checks using the minutes, hours and days slider in the interface. The process is complete if everything on the page should be monitored. Users who want to specify certain text or elements on a website can do so by clicking on the “specify content for check” button in the configuration window.

It basically allows the user to specify the range of content on a website that should be included in the checks. The website monitoring software notifies the user with popup alerts or sounds. It can furthermore run a command if an update is found.

Many additional options are provided that include proxy server support, logging or to import and export the list of monitored websites.

Verdict

The right website monitoring software, add-on or service depends highly on the usage scenario. Users who work with their web browser all the time might prefer the add-on solution to monitor website changes. The online service on the other hand will monitor websites remotely so that the computer system of the user does not need to be turned on at all to monitor changes (could be send to a smartphone per example).

The website monitoring software on the other hand is the most flexible tool that provides options to execute commands if changes have been detected.

Which do you prefer?

IT Service View is probably the server monitoring software with the broadest range of monitoring possibilities. They range from monitoring websites to Linux and Windows Server 2003 / 2008 servers to Microsoft Exchange Servers to Oracle servers and log files. The server monitoring is compatible with Microsoft Windows XP, Vista and Server 2003. It will display a wizard after installation that is walking the user through the configuration of the program.

The less complex monitoring services take only a few seconds to setup. Setting up a website monitoring service in the software that monitored the Ghacks database did not take longer than a minute. It has to be noted that the script that checks the database is already installed on the Ghacks server, the implementation itself was straightforward.

Several parameters can be configured in the setup phase. It is for example possible to define a maximum response time, time out, expected http codes, error texts and text that the website has to contain.

The even responses are highly configurable as well. They are divided into the possible scenarios “no response”, “error”, “error text”, “text not found”, “time out” and “slow web page” when configuring the website monitoring service.

Each of these can launch a series of responses including sending emails, running local programs, shutting down or rebooting windows, managing a Windows service and launching a Windows process.

Some or all of these event responses are displayed whenever configuring a new monitoring service in the server monitoring software.

The monitoring software displays various statistics about each configured job including graphs, log entries and script outputs.

The server monitoring services can monitor key variables on the servers including free computer memory, cpu utilization, service and process statuses and free disk space. Some of the services require that a script is running on the server so that the information can be analyzed. A Linux server has to run the net-snmp suite for example for It Service View to receive the data.

IT Service View is a sophisticated server monitoring software for IT professionals and small businesses who want to monitor their websites and servers.

Not everyone wants to pay to monitor websites though. The free portable software program SiteMonitor provides a local solution for the Windows operating system. It requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 and can be configured to monitor selected websites and notify the user if they become unreachable. It is a good alternative as long as it is run on a computer system that is online 24/7.

New urls can be added easily to SiteMonitor. All that it takes is to add a descriptive name, an url and HTML to match which is simply content that should appear on the website. The website monitoring software will check every 30 minutes by default; To much for important websites. The interval can be changed in the options. The options are also the place where the notification preferences can be edited. The website monitor provides two different types of reactions to website connection problems:

• Run a script or executable, e.g. a script that will restart a server or service
• Send email to notify a user about the connection problem

The amount of failures before either one of the reactions will be initiated can be configured in the same menu as well.

Below is the small php script that we use to check if the database is up and running on Ghacks:

<?php
$dbhost = 'localhost';
$dbuser = 'username';
$dbpass = 'password';

$conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass) or die ('Error');

$dbname = 'databasename';
mysql_select_db($dbname);

if ($conn) {echo "ok";}
else {echo "error";}

?>

replace username with the database username, password with the password of the username and databasename with the name of the database. Save it as database.php, upload it to your website and load the new file. It should display ok if the database is up and error if it is down. The url that points to the script can then be added to the website monitoring software to check if it returns ok. If it does the website is up, if it does not it is down.

Alternatives are the Website Monitor and Downloader Wysigot, Montastic or the Server Monitor Observu.

The last step in the configuration configures the capturing depths which can be set to first page, first page plus links or whole site. The same menu contains options to allow popups and to set the scanning to be careful which deactivates certain scripts and other potentially malicious contents. The download will start immediately after the last step. The program will display the download progress of all objects on the website.

Experienced users can define objects that should not be downloaded. Among them files like videos, cookies or scripts. Once the website or page has been downloaded it can be browsed in the program interface up to the level it was downloaded from the server.

The website downloader will display all pages that have been downloaded in the sidebar sorted by project name. A download will be initiated for every link pointing to a page that has not been downloaded before. The download speed depends on several factors including the connection speed of the computer system the application runs on.

Different view modes are available that differ from the default html view mode. It is possible to take a look at the contents, attached files (e.g. videos or images) or information (modification date, allowed objects, site and so on). Properties can be accessed for each downloaded website differently or combined for a project. They make it possible to set very specific rules for downloading contents including the number of page revisions to keep or the contents that should be downloaded.

Wysigot is not only a website downloader but also a website monitor. It can be set to monitor websites for changes and notify the user about those changes. Change verifications can be automatic, periodical or manual depending on the user’s choice. Alarms can be set to notify the user if a website has been updated.

The website monitor and downloader uses the rendering engine of Internet Explorer to display the website’s contents. It contains options to import Internet Explorer favorites which is convenient if several of those should be downloaded.

An alternative is the excellent Httrack which runs on Windows, Linux and OSX

I have already covered the server monitoring service that I’m using to monitor sites like Ghacks and other websites which offered various packages depending on the amount of servers / websites and response times that you demanded.

Observu is another server monitoring service and it is probably the most basic one that I have ever seen. Users register by entering an email address and password and can log into the website immediately.

The only interaction that is offered is to add a new server to monitor or edit / delete previous entries that are already monitored.

Adding a new website for server monitoring requires minimal user input. Just enter the url of the site and a text that usually appears on it. If that text does not appear during checks an email will be send to the email account of the user.

This limits Observu obviously. It can only detect if a text on a website is not shown anymore. You could write your own script that checks the various services running on your server but that’s probably not what this basic server monitoring service is all about.

It’s great for webmasters who run static pages or pages that rely on MySQL but anything beyond that is more or less out of reach of the server monitoring service.