Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here we list those most Frequently Asked Questions surrounding the delivery of the SMART service. Please read these FAQ responses in conjunction with our terms of service.

1. How does SMART monitoring work ?
   SMART operates on a central web service we call the 'AMP' (Alert Monitoring Panel), it collects the packets issued by your server and checks the information issued is within set parameters, if not, then it issues Alerts, which are delivered by Email, SMS Text message and direct Voice Calls to those people you have set up in the control panel, only critical alerts result in a phone call.
2. What do I use the Control Panel for ?
   In the control panel you set up your company details, then the details of each of those recipients who will receive alerts, and then some basic info about each server so that we can build the agent for installation by yourself.
   You submit each server when you have completed the 'Alert Matrix' - which tells us how you wish to be alerted per service, and then we build the agent and upload it to the Control Panel for you to down load and install.
   If Recipient or Server details change, then you use the Control Panel to advise us 12 hours in advance (for example if someone is going to be off and alerts needs sending to someone else).
3. What happens if we install the server Agent - and our server develops a problem ?
   In our experience there is no risk to your server by installing the monitoring Agent, however, the responsibility for this decision is with yourself. If you would rather an Engineer installs the Agent, then we can arrange this for you
4. What happens if the control panel becomes unavailable for some reason for some period of time ?
   The SMART control panel operates completely separately to the AMP monitoring service, so alerts will continue to operate. We will return any loss of the control panel within 4 hours
5. How quickly are changes in the control panel implemented in the AMP ?
   We will ensure that any changes to a server status or any detail notified to us in the control panel are reflected into the monitoring service within 12 hours.
6. If my staff go on holiday, they don't want to get alerts, how quickly will a change to the recipient status in the control panel be made ?
   You will need to let us know if Alerts need to be suspended to a support role or Engineer 12 hours in advance.
7. How can the monitoring service tell the difference between a server fault and a network link failure ?
   SMART issues alerts for service failure - the alert issued will indicate it is a network error - but you will have to determine exactly what.
8. What if I open up the required Firewall port to enable monitoring - and someone tries to use this to break into my network ?
   This is highly unlikely, however, it is the responsibility of the client to take this decision. If this is an area of concern, we can implement a Bridge Appliance which avoids this problem.
9. How secure are my details recorded in the control panel ?
   We take all normal industry standard precautions to prevent loss of your details. However, any loss would be limited to easily obtained public data in any case, so none of this is would be critical to a companies security
10. I don't want my internal staff names to be passed onto our third party support company ?
    SMART issues alerts discreetly, that is the recipient is not aware of who else has been alerted
11. What if my server develops a problem for s service that is not monitored by SMART ?
    The standard service monitors a specific list of server services, see the AMP metrics to see what these are. SMART can be configured to check for almost any type of service failure, this would be a bespoke build. If your server has a problem that SMART is not monitoring, no alerts will be issued
12. What if I fail to notice the alerts issued because my mobiles are all switched off ?
    SMART issues alerts for up to 3 different people, to their Email account and mobile number. It is up to you to ensure that at least one of these 3 people keep their mobile switched on and within signal. SMART will issue voice call alerts to 3 mobiles at the same time, this should guarantee some one is alerted. They will need to be able to review Emails to determine what the actual detail of the alert is, or have access to the AMP
13. How will I know if I have correctly recorded the mobile numbers in to the control panel ?
    SMART issues a series of test alerts to all recipients when the service is activated
14. What if my alerts are issued to our third party engineers - and they fail to respond ?
    SMART is ignorant of the status of the recipients of alerts, only you know what action they should take. You will need to hold a support contract with your maintainer which covers them responding to SMART alerts
15. What if I install the wrong Agent into the wrong server ... ?
    The Agent is provided as a download in the control panel against each named server. The Agent is also named as per the server HOST ID, so there should be no confusion. It is your responsibility to ensure you install the correct Agent into the correct server
16. What if I download the Agent code and then find this contains a virus ?
    We take every precaution to ensure that any upload is checked for Virus contamination. As is well known, this can never be fully guaranteed, so it is your responsibility to run your own virus checks
17. Can SMART be used to monitor a PC ?
    YES, SMART can monitor a PC as standard, or any network device - by implementing a non standard build
18. What if I lose my account details or change email address ?
    Please email us, or call support for any changes that cannot be completed via the control panel
19. What if someone breaks into my control panel account ?
    Any changes to the details in the control panel do not directly update the AMP. Any changes made will always be notified to your email account, so you will know if someone makes malicious changes
20. What if a voice alert is issued to an Engineer which cannot be accepted as they are driving at the time ?
    SMART Voice Alerts are a standard message, these are backed up by text and Email detail. Any missed voice alert can be checked into when the recipient is next able to access email or text messages
21. Does SMART monitor that all the links and pages in my web site are working correctly ?
    NO, SMART is a server monitoring service, not a Web site checking service.
22. What if I upgrade my server, will I need a new Agent ?
    YES, you should record any changes to your server build in the control panel ideally 12 hours in advance. SMART will retain the last download available against each server in the control panel in case you need to re-install for any reason
23. What if I take my server down for planned maintenance ?
    You should advise us by deselecting the recipients in the control panel (probably just the third party engineers). You could also just change the alert type to Email only, this would suspend mobile alerts. You then reverse the changes upon restore of service
24. How often are my servers checked ?
    All server services are checked every three minutes, including an external ping response.
25. What happens if my server goes off line ?
    As long as you have not de-configured ping - we will issue an alert(s) to those recipients set up in the control panel, they will get Email, text. and voice alerts.
26. Does the monitoring Agent install Operating System Updates ?
    No - the agent does nothing other than collect op.sys stats and pass these via packets to the web monitor.
27. Is there any impact on the performance of my Server ?
    There should be no observable impact on the performance of the server, it uses minimum resources.
28. What resources does the agent use ?
    When loaded the agent uses 2.6MB of RAM, it will work on any CPU and applies very little load.
29. Are performance reports included ?
    SMART is an alerting only service, however, you can see the most recent metrics for each service monitored on the AMP, if you click on the server host ID and then the metrics link you will find that you can 'drill down' to look at each service and its most recently collected statistics, if you click the right hand side 'clock' icon, this tells you the time packets were last received.
30. Does the Control Panel hold a history of Service Alerts ?
    A history of Alerts are logged in the control panel against the server name in CP release v.1.2+
31. Will the Agent cause a Reboot of my server at any time ?
    The agent will not reboot the server under any circumstances, nor is there any need to reboot during install, if you force a reboot then the agent is included in the start up file, so monitoring will be restarted after a reboot.
32. What happens if the SMART monitoring service fails - for what ever reason ?
    SMART is run on a dual server platform, this allows us to re-start the service very quickly, we guarantee that any loss of service will be returned within 2 hours.
33. What happens if my server develops a failure during this downtime period ?
    SMART will detect the error when it returns, but we will not be able to issue alerts during periods of down time.

If you have any questions not answered here, please email us and we will update this page.