Tech guys: Site monitoring, change, etc.
 

Do any of you tech guys know of a free service that will:

1) Monitor website, SMTP availability?
2) Monitor a blog or other site and check for an update/occurrence of a keyword?

I've seen some paid services, but wondering if you know of any tools/service that does this. I want to know that one of my sites is live and that the mailserver is running; and there are some blog sites that I want to be notified if a keyword is used.

Thanks,

Don

Depending on the level of control you have on the server, ie: is it a dedicated box, you can use webmin.

It has the MON module. Linux only.

http://mon.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page

Thanks - I'm looking for something simpler: type in the URL and it will send you an email if it pings the server and finds it down.

Similar with the other feature: type in a keyword, and it will tell if you if a php forum or blog has the keyword posted.

Don, probably you know this but having the server up (reply to a ping) does not means that the SMTP (or any other service) is up. Telnet on port 25 will reply with the SMTP header (meaning the service is up). Check this --> http://www.activexperts.com/activmonitor/functions/smtp/rfc821/ seems to be free (links on top)