Monitoring servers

GoneWithTheWindows

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Hi Guys,

A couple of years ago I vaguely remember one of my clients having a USB "Dongle" attached to their servers that had a SIM card in it, all it did was send an SMS if the server went down.

Had a look around the interwebs and haven't found anything relating to this.

Do you guys perhaps know of anything similar?
 
Most people serious about security wouldn't have USB dongles with network connectivity attached to their servers. Why not use something like WhatsUp Gold?
 
Most people serious about security wouldn't have USB dongles with network connectivity attached to their servers. Why not use something like WhatsUp Gold?

We currently use GFI monitoring, I just need something to SMS me when the servers go down as I can't always monitor the dashboard on weekends, etc.
 
We currently use GFI monitoring, I just need something to SMS me when the servers go down as I can't always monitor the dashboard on weekends, etc.

What platform (OS) is used by the servers? You get simple solutions (that you could in fact roll yourself) that will send a simple AT+CGMS PDU to an attached USB dongle that will send the SMS. Even if it is a GSM 3G modem, the connection needs to be initiated before the server is exposed. As it just sits there, the thing can quite safely send an SMS.
 
The follow AT command will tell a connected 3G modem

Code:
AT+CMGS=71
0011000AA1700422080600000F42547419342FCBED6539284C07C57232570C0773C15C31103A3C07CDE96F38BC4C06C9CB73F8DB4D4EBBCF20FA1B84A452A12079395E2FCFE97317

to send a message to a cell number (made-up 0704228060) that...

The server at 192.180.0.1 has stopped responding to HTTP requests.
 
The follow AT command will tell a connected 3G modem

Code:
AT+CMGS=71
0011000AA1700422080600000F42547419342FCBED6539284C07C57232570C0773C15C31103A3C07CDE96F38BC4C06C9CB73F8DB4D4EBBCF20FA1B84A452A12079395E2FCFE97317

to send a message to a cell number (made-up 0704228060) that...

That would assist with notifying us if say the fishbone fails, is there anyway to monitor if the power fails?
 
I just use something called Uptime Robot for all our servers. It just pings the server at specified intervals and then emails you if the server is not found.

Nice and simple. :)
 
That would assist with notifying us if say the fishbone fails, is there anyway to monitor if the power fails?

I had a machine on UPS that pinged on a machine off clean - if that ping failed, it likely knew that the power was out. A system like that would be according to your unique setup.
 
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