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The HostTracker glossary explains the words used in website monitoring, in plain language.

  • 20 terms, from uptime and response time to DNS, SSL certificates, DNSBL blacklists and HTTP status codes.
  • Each entry gives a short definition, says why the term matters when you monitor a site, and links to the related terms.
  • Use the search box below to look up a word you met in an alert, a report or a status page.
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Glossary

Active Monitoring

Active Monitoring is the way to check the site performance by simulation of visiting by real users.

Add Telegram Contact

How to add a Telegram contact to HostTracker so that Up, Down and other alerts arrive as instant Telegram messages, with step-by-step setup.

Availability

Availability of a site shows if a site is accessible from the Internet.

Content Check

Content check is a way to check the presence of specific info on the page.

Database Monitoring

Database monitoring - DB check for access and regular execution of the specified query.

DNS

DNS (Domain Name System) translates a domain name into the IP address browsers connect to; when DNS fails, a healthy website is unreachable.

Downtime

Downtime is any period when a website or service is unavailable or not responding correctly; monitoring checks measure it and report it as lost availability.

HTTP

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the request-response protocol browsers and servers use to exchange web pages; HTTP checks verify a site answers correctly.

HTTP methods

HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, HEAD) tell a web server which action to perform on a resource; monitors use them to test real requests, not just page loads.

Passive Monitoring

Passive Monitoring is the way to check the site performance by server-side software.

Ping (ICMP)

Ping (ICMP echo) sends a small packet to a host and waits for the reply; it measures reachability and round-trip latency independently of the web server.

POST method example

A worked example of monitoring a web form with an HTTP POST check: sending the form fields in the request body and validating the server's response.

Quick Start Guide

Set up HostTracker in five minutes: add your first website monitor, choose checkpoint locations, connect alert contacts and read your first uptime report.

Response Time Monitoring

Response time monitoring measures how long a server takes to answer a request from many locations, exposing slowdowns before they turn into outages.

Uptime

Uptime is the share of time a website or service is available and working correctly, usually expressed as a percentage such as 99.9% over a month.

Web Hosting

Web Hosting is a service which makes a site available from the Internet.

Website

A website is a set of related web pages served under one domain name; monitoring treats it as the unit whose availability, speed and content are checked.