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1.4Discover monitors for your site

Discovery tests your site and suggests monitors you can keep. You enter a host, and obsrvly sends real requests to it. You do not need an account or an API key to try it.

Open discovery#

  • On the obsrvly home page, enter your site in the field and select Watch it. The buttons Start free and Start with your URL → open the same page.
  • If your workspace has no monitors yet, the dashboard opens discovery for you once. To skip it, select skip to the dashboard.

Run discovery#

  1. Enter a host after the fixed https://, for example api.acme.io. A host is a name or address, without a path.
  2. Wait for the check under the field. It shows ✓ resolves when the name exists on the internet. If it shows does not resolve — probing will fail, check the spelling.
  3. Select probe →. You see Probing <host>…. The probe takes about ten seconds.
  4. Review the results. Everything starts selected. Clear the checkbox of anything you do not want.
  5. In Region, choose one region for all the monitors you keep.
  6. Select Save these monitors (or Save this monitor for one).

If you are not signed in, obsrvly asks you to create an account first. Then it creates your monitors on your first visit to the dashboard. If you are signed in, it adds them and opens the dashboard.

obsrvly creates nothing until you save. You can edit every saved monitor later. Your plan's minimum check interval still applies.

What discovery suggests#

SuggestionHow it is set up
Pages and endpoints on your siteA URL monitor with method GET and the assertion status_code equals 200. Each row shows where it came from, such as homepage, health-path or sitemap, and the probe result.
TCP servicesA TCP monitor for each open service found, shown as host:port.
DNS recordsA DNS monitor for your address (A) record. Also one for your MX, SPF and DMARC records, if your domain has them.
CertificateA certificate monitor, checked hourly. The row shows the issuer and the days until it expires.
Domain expiryA domain monitor for your domain's registration date.

A probe result shows the status code and response time, or an error. These errors can appear on a row:

ErrorWhat to check
err: could not resolve hostThe name does not exist on the internet, or it is only reachable inside your network.
err: timed outThe site did not answer in time.
err: connection refusedNothing is listening at that address.
err: TLS certificate is not validThe site's certificate has a problem. Fix it before you add the monitor.
err: request failedThe request could not complete. Try again or check the address.

If nothing on your site answers, you see We couldn't reach that URL. Try a different one.

Public sites only#

  • Discovery works only for sites that anyone on the internet can reach.
  • You cannot enter localhost or a private address, such as 192.168.1.10. The request is refused with private/loopback hosts not allowed.
  • If your site is only reachable inside your network, discovery cannot see it. Add monitors by hand with + new monitor.
  • The address must use http or https. If you leave it out, obsrvly adds https://.
  • If you probe many times in a row and it stops working, wait a minute and try again.

Scan for subdomains#

When signed in, you can find many subdomains at once. A subdomain is a name under your domain, such as shop.acme.io.

  1. Select secrets → subdomain scan.
  2. Enter your domain, for example acme.io. The whole domain is scanned.
  3. Select Scan.
  4. Choose the subdomains to monitor. Use Select all or Deselect all to speed this up.
  5. Choose a Region, then select Add N monitor(s).

Use discovery from the API#

Discovery needs no API key:

Discover monitors
bash
export OBSRVLY=https://www.obsrvly.com/api/gw

curl -s "$OBSRVLY/monitor/obsrvly.v1.MonitorConfigService/DiscoverMonitors" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "acme.io"}'

The reply lists proposals in proposed (web pages), proposedTcp, proposedDns, proposedCert and proposedDomain. A certWarning appears when the certificate has expired. The API creates nothing. To keep a proposal, create the monitor yourself with an API key, for example with CreateUrlMonitor. In the dashboard, you just tick the ones you want.

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