A check is a foundational building block of the monitoring system. The check defines what to monitor and how to monitor. When you define a check, you specify attributes like the following:
- the parts or pieces of the entity that you want to monitor,
- monitoring frequency
- number of monitoring zones originating the check
You can create up to 1000 checks.
After you create a check, you must create an alarm so that the check sends notifications when it is triggered. Alarms operate on a single check, and you can configure multiple alarms for a single check. For example, you might set up a check with two alarms to ensure that an HTTPS server is responding and that it has a valid certificatej.
Note
For more information, see the Check types reference.
Checks are associated with a parent entity, therefore the REST URLs for checks are underneath the entity with which they are associated.
Attributes used for all checks
Name | Description | Validation |
---|---|---|
type | The type of check | Immutable String between 1 and 64 characters long |
details | Details specific to the check type. | Optional Hash [String,String between 1 and 255 characters long: Optional] * Array or object with number of items between 0 and 256 |
disabled | Disables the check. | Optional Boolean |
label | A friendly label for a check. | Optional String between 1 and 255 characters long |
metadata | Arbitrary key/value pairs. | Optional Hash [String,String between 1 and 255 characters long: Optional] * Array or object with number of items between 0 and 256 |
period | The period in seconds for a check. The value must be greater than the minimum period set on your account. | Optional Integer * Value (30..1800) |
timeout | The timeout in seconds for a check. This has to be less than the period. | Optional Integer * Value (2..1800) |
Attributes used for remote checks
Name | Description | Validation |
---|---|---|
monitoring_zones_poll | List of monitoring zones to poll from. Note: This argument is only required for remote (non-agent) checks. | Optional Array [String] |
target_alias | A key in the entity’s ip_addresses hash used to resolve this check to an IP address. This parameter is mutually exclusive with target_hostname. | Optional String between 1 and 64 characters long |
target_hostname | The hostname this check should target. This parameter is mutually exclusive with target_alias. | Optional Valid FQDN, IPv4, or IPv6 address |
target_resolver | Determines how to resolve the check target. | Optional IPv4 or IPv6 |
Use the following Check API operations to create, test, and manage checks and check configuration.
- Create a check
- Test a check
- Test a check with debug
- Test an existing check
- List checks for an entity
- Get a check by ID
- Update a check by ID
- Delete a check by ID
Create a check
POST /entities/{entityId}/checks
Create a new check in the monitoring system by using a valid set of attributes from the checks attributes table. For an example of creating some basic checks, see Creating a check in the Rackspace Cloud Monitoring Getting Started Guide.
A newly-created check does not trigger notifications until you create an alarm to generate notifications. You associate alarms with a single check. You can have multiple alarms for a check, for example “alert if an HTTPS server is not responding and if it has an invalid certificate,” but you cannot create a single alarm and associate it with multiple checks.
The following table shows the possible response codes for this operation:
Response Code | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
201 | Created | ‘Location’ header contains a link to the newly created check. |
400 | Bad request | The system received an invalid value in a request. |
401 | Unauthorized | The system received a request from a user that is not authenticated. |
403 | Forbidden | The system received a request that the user is not authorized to make. |
500 | Internal Server Error | An unexpected condition was encountered. |
503 | Service Unavailable | The system is experiencing heavy load or another system failure. |
The following table shows the header parameters for the request:
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
X-Auth-Token | String (Required) | A valid authentication token with administrative access. For details, see Get your credentials |
Example Create check: JSON request
{
"label": "Website check 1",
"type": "remote.http",
"details": {
"url": "http://www.foo.com",
"method": "GET"
},
"monitoring_zones_poll": [
"mzA"
],
"timeout": 30,
"period": 100,
"target_alias": "entity_ip_addresses_hash_key"
}
This operation does not return a response body.
Test a check
POST /entities/{entityId}/test-check
This operation causes Rackspace Cloud Monitoring to attempt to run the check on the specified monitoring zones and return the results. This operation enables you to test the check parameters in a single step before the check is actually created in the system.
Note
You can copy the results of a test check response and paste it directly into a test alarm.
The following table shows the possible response codes for this operation:
Response Code | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
200 | OK | Request completed. |
400 | Bad request | The system received an invalid value in a request. |
401 | Unauthorized | The system received a request from a user that is not authenticated. |
403 | Forbidden | The system received a request that the user is not authorized to make. |
404 | Not Found | The URL, entity, or account requested is not found in the system. |
500 | Internal Server Error | An unexpected condition was encountered. |
503 | Service Unavailable | The system is experiencing heavy load or another system failure. |
The following table shows the header parameters for the request:
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
entityId | String (Required) | The ID for the monitoring zone. Use the List entities operation to find the entityId if you don’t know it. |
X-Auth-Token | String (Required) | A valid authentication token with administrative access. For details, see Get your credentials |
Example Test check: JSON request
{
"type": "remote.http",
"details": {
"url": "http://www.foo.com",
"method": "GET"
},
"monitoring_zones_poll": [
"mzA"
],
"timeout": 30,
"target_alias": "default"
}
Example Test check: JSON response
[
{
"timestamp": 1319222001982,
"monitoring_zone_id": "mzxJ4L2IU",
"available": true,
"status": "code=200,rt=0.257s,bytes=0",
"metrics": {
"bytes": {
"type": "i",
"data": "0"
},
"tt_firstbyte": {
"type": "I",
"data": "257"
},
"tt_connect": {
"type": "I",
"data": "128"
},
"code": {
"type": "s",
"data": "200"
},
"duration": {
"type": "I",
"data": "257"
}
}
}
]
Test a check with debug
POST /entities/{entityId}/test-check
Test a check and include extra check type-specific debugging information, if available.
This operation causes Rackspace Cloud Monitoring to attempt to run the check on the specified monitoring zones and return the results. This enables you to test the check parameters in a single step before the check is actually created in the system. This call also includes debug information. Currently debug information is only available for the remote.http check and includes the response body.
Note
Only the first 512 KB of the response body is read. If the response body is longer, it is truncated to 512KB.
The following table shows the possible response codes for this operation:
Response Code | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
200 | OK | Request completed. |
400 | Bad request | The system received an invalid value in a request. |
401 | Unauthorized | The system received a request from a user that is not authenticated. |
403 | Forbidden | The system received a request that the user is not authorized to make. |
404 | Not Found | The URL, entity, or account requested is not found in the system. |
500 | Internal Server Error | An unexpected condition was encountered. |
503 | Service Unavailable | The system is experiencing heavy load or another system failure. |
Example Test a check: JSON request
{
"type": "remote.http",
"details": {
"url": "http://www.foo.com",
"method": "GET"
},
"monitoring_zones_poll": [
"mzA"
],
"timeout": 30,
"target_alias": "default"
}
Example Test check with debug: JSON response
[
{
"timestamp": 1319222001982,
"monitoring_zone_id": "mzxJ4L2IU",
"available": true,
"status": "code=200,rt=0.257s,bytes=0",
"metrics": {
"bytes": {
"type": "i",
"data": "0"
},
"tt_firstbyte": {
"type": "I",
"data": "257"
},
"tt_connect": {
"type": "I",
"data": "128"
},
"code": {
"type": "s",
"data": "200"
},
"duration": {
"type": "I",
"data": "257"
}
},
"debug_info": {
"body": "My shiny website"
}
}
]
Test an existing check
POST /entities/{entityId}/checks/{checkId}/test
Test an existing check inline.
This operation causes Rackspace Cloud Monitoring to attempt to run a duplicate check on the specified monitoring zones and return the results. This enables you to test the check parameters.
Note
This operation does NOT cause the already-created check to be run, but rather creates a duplicate check with the same parameters as the original, and performs the test using that. You can copy the results of a test check response and paste it directly into a test alarm.
There is no request body, just posting to the URL executes the request.
The following table shows the possible response codes for this operation:
Response Code | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
200 | OK | Request completed. |
400 | Bad request | The system received an invalid value in a request. |
401 | Unauthorized | The system received a request from a user that is not authenticated. |
403 | Forbidden | The system received a request that the user is not authorized to make. |
404 | Not Found | The URL, entity, or account requested is not found in the system. |
500 | Internal Server Error | An unexpected condition was encountered. |
503 | Service Unavailable | The system is experiencing heavy load or another system failure. |
The following table shows the header parameters for the request:
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
X-Auth-Token | String (Required) | A valid authentication token with administrative access. For details, see Get your credentials |
Note
This operation does not accept a request body.
Example Test existing check: JSON response
[
{
"timestamp": 1319222001982,
"monitoring_zone_id": "mzxJ4L2IU",
"available": true,
"status": "code=200,rt=0.257s,bytes=0",
"metrics": {
"bytes": {
"type": "i",
"data": "0"
},
"tt_firstbyte": {
"type": "I",
"data": "257"
},
"tt_connect": {
"type": "I",
"data": "128"
},
"code": {
"type": "s",
"data": "200"
},
"duration": {
"type": "I",
"data": "257"
}
}
}
]
List checks for an entity
GET /entities/{entityId}/checks
Lists the checks associated with a given entityId
.
Use /checks?id=checkOneId & id=checkTwoId
to filter the results to only include information about the specified checks.
This operation can be paginated. For information, see Paginated collections
The following table shows the possible response codes for this operation:
Response Code | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
200 | OK | The request completed. |
401 | Unauthorized | The system received a request from a user that is not authenticated. |
403 | Forbidden | The system received a request that the user is not authorized to make. |
500 | Internal Server Error | An unexpected condition was encountered. |
503 | Service Unavailable | The system is experiencing heavy load or another system failure. |
The following table shows the header parameters for the request:
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
X-Auth-Token | String (Required) | A valid authentication token with administrative access. For details, see Get your credentials |
Note
This operation does not accept a request body.
Example List checks for entity: JSON response
{
"values": [
{
"id": "chAAAA",
"label": "Website check 1",
"type": "remote.http",
"details": {
"url": "http://www.foo.com",
"method": "GET",
"follow_redirects": true,
"include_body": false
},
"monitoring_zones_poll": [
"mzA"
],
"timeout": 30,
"period": 100,
"target_alias": "entity_ip_addresses_hash_key"
}
],
"metadata": {
"count": 1,
"limit": 50,
"marker": null,
"next_marker": null,
"next_href": null
}
}
Get a check by ID
GET /entities/{entityId}/checks/{checkId}
Use this operation to retrieve the current state of a check.
The following table shows the possible response codes for this operation:
Response Code | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
200 | OK | The request completed. |
401 | Unauthorized | The system received a request from a user that is not authenticated. |
403 | Forbidden | The system received a request that the user is not authorized to make. |
404 | Not Found | The URL, entity, or account requested is not found in the system. |
413 | Over Limit | The response body is too large. |
500 | Internal Server Error | An unexpected condition was encountered. |
503 | Service Unavailable | The system is experiencing heavy load or another system failure. |
The following table shows the header parameters for the request:
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
X-Auth-Token | String (Required) | A valid authentication token with administrative access. For details, see Get your credentials |
Note
This operation does not accept a request body.
Example Get check by ID: JSON response
{
"id": "chAAAA",
"label": "Website check 1",
"type": "remote.http",
"details": {
"url": "http://www.foo.com",
"method": "GET",
"follow_redirects": true,
"include_body": false
},
"monitoring_zones_poll": [
"mzA"
],
"timeout": 30,
"period": 100,
"target_alias": "entity_ip_addresses_hash_key"
}
Update a check by ID
PUT /entities/{entityId}/checks/{checkId}
Updates the specified check with the attribute values included in the request body. You only have to specify the attributes that you want to update. Refer to the Check attributes table.
The following table shows the possible response codes for this operation:
Response Code | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
204 | OK | The server has fulfilled the request but does not need to return an entity- body. |
400 | Bad request | The system received an invalid value in a request. |
401 | Unauthorized | The system received a request from a user that is not authenticated. |
403 | Forbidden | The system received a request that the user is not authorized to make. |
404 | Not Found | The URL, entity, or account requested is not found in the system. |
500 | Internal Server Error | An unexpected condition was encountered. |
503 | Service Unavailable | The system is experiencing heavy load or another system failure. |
The following table shows the header parameters for the request:
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
X-Auth-Token | String (Required) | A valid authentication token with administrative access. For details, see Get your credentials |
Example Update check by ID: JSON request
{
"label": "New check label",
"timeout": 10
}
This operation does not return a response body.
Delete a check by ID
DELETE /entities/{entityId}/checks/{checkId}
Deletes a check from your account.
The following table shows the possible response codes for this operation:
Response Code | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
204 | OK | The server has fulfilled the request. Does not return a response body. |
401 | Unauthorized | The system received a request from a user that is not authenticated. |
403 | Forbidden | The system received a request that the user is not authorized to make. |
404 | Not Found | The URL, entity, or account requested is not found in the system. |
500 | Internal Server Error | An unexpected condition was encountered. |
503 | Service Unavailable | The system is experiencing heavy load or another system failure. |
The following table shows the header parameters for the request:
Name | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
X-Auth-Token | String (Required) | A valid authentication token with administrative access. For details, see Get your credentials |
Note
This operation does not accept a request body.
This operation does not return a response body.