Monitor Types Overview
Pick the right check for each service.
Every monitor type in SurePing — HTTP, keyword, ping, port, SSL, and heartbeat — and when to use each one.
Available monitor types
HTTP(S) — Sends a real HTTP request and checks status code, response time, and timeouts. Use for websites, APIs, and login pages.
Keyword — Like HTTP, but also searches the response body for a required string (or absence of an error phrase).
Ping — ICMP reachability for servers, routers, and devices that do not expose HTTP.
Port — TCP connection test on a specific port (databases, mail, Redis, SSH, game servers).
SSL — Tracks certificate expiry and warns before certificates expire.
Heartbeat — Dead-man's switch for cron jobs: your job pings a unique URL on success; SurePing alerts if the ping stops arriving.
Combining monitor types
Production setups often stack checks: ping for host reachability, port for the database, HTTP for the user-facing app, and SSL for certificate health. Heartbeat monitors scheduled tasks that HTTP cannot see.
User agent and firewall rules
HTTP and Keyword monitors send requests with the user agent: Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; SurePing/1.0; +https://sureping.cc). If your infrastructure uses a WAF, bot protection, or strict firewall rules, whitelist this user agent to avoid false-positive alerts. See HTTP & HTTPS Monitors for full details.