Monitor Server Uptime from Your iPhone with Host Profiles

The Problem with Server Monitoring

Full-featured monitoring solutions like Datadog, New Relic, or even self-hosted Uptime Kuma are great — but they're overkill for many use cases. If you just need to check on a handful of servers, verify uptime, and track basic performance trends, you don't need a dashboard running 24/7.

You need something in your pocket.

Host Profiles: Your Server Rolodex

Host Profiles in NetKit Pro let you save the servers and services you care about. Instead of typing hostnames and IP addresses every time you want to run a check, save them once and access them with a tap.

Setting Up a Profile

1. Open NetKit Pro and go to Profiles
2. Tap Add to create a new profile
3. Enter the host details:
4. Name: A friendly label (e.g., "Production Web Server")
5. Host: The hostname or IP address
6. Save the profile

Organizing Your Infrastructure

Create profiles for each piece of your infrastructure:

• Web servers
• Database servers
• API endpoints
• DNS servers
• Routers and switches
• IoT devices

Running Multi-Tool Checks

The real power of Host Profiles is running multiple tools against a saved host. With a single profile selected, you can quickly:

• Ping — Check if the host is reachable and measure latency
• Port Scan — Verify expected services are running
• DNS Lookup — Confirm DNS records are correct
• SSL Inspector — Check certificate validity and expiry
• Traceroute — Diagnose routing issues

This gives you a comprehensive health check without retyping the hostname for each tool.

History: Your Lightweight Monitoring Dashboard

Every test you run in NetKit Pro is automatically saved in History. This creates a timeline of your infrastructure checks that you can review anytime.

What History Tracks

• Test type: Which tool was used (Ping, Port Scan, SSL check, etc.)
• Target host: The hostname or IP that was tested
• Results: The full output of each test
• Timestamp: When the test was run

Spotting Trends

By reviewing History regularly, you can spot:

• Increasing latency: Ping times slowly creeping up may indicate network congestion or server load issues
• Port changes: A port that was open last week but is now closed could signal a crashed service
• Certificate expiry: Track how your SSL certificate validity period decreases over time
• DNS changes: Catch unexpected DNS record changes

Building a Monitoring Routine

Here's a practical approach to lightweight server monitoring with NetKit Pro:

Daily Quick Check (2 minutes)

1. Open Host Profiles
2. Run a Ping against each critical server
3. Glance at latency numbers — anything unusual?

Weekly Deep Check (10 minutes)

1. Ping all servers — check for packet loss
2. Port scan critical servers — verify expected services
3. SSL check all HTTPS endpoints — note expiry dates
4. Review History for any anomalies

When Something Feels Off

1. Run a Traceroute to identify where delays are occurring
2. DNS Lookup to verify records haven't changed
3. Port scan with a wider range to check for unexpected open ports
4. Compare current results with History to see what changed

Real-World Example

Say you manage a small web application with:

• A web server at web.example.com
• An API server at api.example.com
• A database at db.example.com (internal IP)

Set up three Host Profiles, one for each. Your morning check becomes:

1. Tap the web server profile → Ping → 12ms, 0% loss
2. Tap the API server profile → Ping → 18ms, 0% loss
3. Tap the database profile → Ping → 2ms, 0% loss

Total time: under a minute. If anything looks wrong, you're already in the app with the right tools at hand.

When to Upgrade to Full Monitoring

NetKit Pro is ideal for manual, on-demand monitoring. But if you need:

• Automated checks on a schedule
• Alerts when something goes down
• Uptime percentage calculations
• Multi-user dashboards

Then it's time for a dedicated monitoring solution. NetKit Pro complements these tools — use it for quick ad-hoc checks when you're away from your desk, and let your monitoring platform handle the automation.

Get Started

Host Profiles and History are included in NetKit Pro. Download it from the App Store — one-time purchase, no subscriptions, no data collection.