HTTP Monitor

Monitor HTTP/HTTPS endpoints with advanced validation, custom headers, request bodies, and SSL certificate checking.

Creating an HTTP Monitor

Configuration Options

Advanced Features

Custom Headers

Add custom headers to your HTTP requests for authentication, content-type, or API keys:

{
  "Authorization": "Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...",
  "Content-Type": "application/json",
  "X-API-Key": "your-api-key-here",
  "User-Agent": "BlackTide-Monitor/1.0"
}

Request Body (POST/PUT)

For POST or PUT requests, you can send a JSON or plain text body:

{
  "action": "health_check",
  "timestamp": "2024-02-14T10:00:00Z",
  "source": "blacktide_monitor"
}

Response Validation

Validate the response beyond just the status code:

• Expected Status - Check specific status code (200, 201, etc.)
• Response Body Contains - Verify response includes specific text
• JSON Schema Validation - Validate response structure
• Response Time - Alert if latency exceeds threshold

{
  "expectedStatus": 200,
  "bodyContains": ""status":"healthy"",
  "maxResponseTime": 2000
}

SSL/TLS Validation

By default, BlackTide validates SSL certificates and alerts you before they expire. You can optionally disable SSL validation for self-signed certificates in development.

Multi-Location Checks

Run checks from multiple geographic locations to ensure global availability:

• US East (Virginia)
• US West (California)
• EU West (Ireland)
• EU Central (Frankfurt)
• Asia Pacific (Singapore)
• South America (São Paulo)

Example Configurations

Simple GET Request

{
  "name": "API Health Check",
  "url": "https://api.example.com/health",
  "method": "GET",
  "interval": 60,
  "timeout": 30,
  "expectedStatus": 200,
  "locations": ["us-east-1", "eu-west-1"]
}

Authenticated POST Request

{
  "name": "Create User Test",
  "url": "https://api.example.com/users",
  "method": "POST",
  "interval": 300,
  "timeout": 30,
  "headers": {
    "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  },
  "body": "{\"email\":\"test@example.com\"}",
  "expectedStatus": 201
}

GraphQL Endpoint

{
  "name": "GraphQL API",
  "url": "https://api.example.com/graphql",
  "method": "POST",
  "headers": {
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  },
  "body": "{"query":"{health{status}}"}"
  "expectedStatus": 200,
  "bodyContains": ""status":"ok""
}

Common Use Cases

REST API Monitoring

• Monitor /health or /status endpoints
• Validate response structure with JSON schema
• Track response time trends

Website Uptime

• Monitor homepage or critical pages
• Check for specific content (logo, text, etc.)
• Verify SSL certificate validity

Third-Party API Dependency

• Monitor external APIs your app depends on
• Track availability of payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal)
• Alert before third-party rate limits

Troubleshooting

Timeouts

If your monitor is timing out:

• Increase the timeout setting (default: 30s)
• Check if the endpoint is slow in production
• Verify network connectivity from our check locations

False Positives

To reduce false alarms:

• Set consecutiveFailures: 3 in alert rules
• Enable multi-location checks (fail only if all locations fail)
• Increase timeout for slow endpoints

SSL Validation Errors

If you're getting SSL errors:

• Verify certificate is valid and not expired
• Check intermediate certificate chain
• Disable SSL validation for self-signed certs (dev only)

Best Practices

Next Steps

• Configure Alert Rules - Get notified when monitors fail
• TCP Monitor - Monitor port connectivity
• TLS Monitor - Dedicated SSL certificate monitoring