Scope of Monitoring
What is Server Monitoring?
Liquid Web offers server monitoring for both Managed and Self-Managed hosting plans by proactively tracking service availability from outside the server. Monitoring coverage depends on your management level:
- Managed: Includes monitoring for services like HTTP, DNS, Mail, MySQL/MSSQL, SSH/RDP, in addition to your control panel (e.g., cPanel, Interworx, Plesk). In the event of an alert, a technician will respond and address the needs of your server.
- Self-Managed: Limited to basic checks (Ping and SSH) with no remediation.
Below is a breakdown of what’s included, and what is considered out of scope:
| Service | Monitored For | Out of Scope |
| cPanel / InterWorx / Plesk | Service availability, web panel access | Login errors, UI issues, plugin/module errors |
| DNS | Resolver availability, response failures | Zone misconfigurations, missing records, propagation delays |
| FTP | Service reachability | Authentication errors, user permission issues |
| HTTP / HTTPS | Website up/down status (HTTP 200 check), apache configuration issues. | Broken websites, application errors, 404/500 errors |
| MySQL / MSSQL | Service running status, basic port response | Query-level errors, database schema or performance optimization |
| Ping | ICMP-based host reachability | Latency issues, partial packet loss diagnostics |
| POP3 / IMAP | Service reachability, port listening status | Mailbox size issues, email client misconfigurations |
| SMTP | Port availability, service listening | Spam filtering, authentication rejections, queue analysis |
| RDP | Port availability (for Windows servers) | Windows login issues, desktop UI errors |
| SSH | Port open, daemon availability | Key mismatches, command access issues, user lockouts |
What are our Monitoring Service Levels?
The services we monitor on a server varies by what type of management they have and what operating system is installed.
| Linux | Windows | |||
| Service | Managed 1 | Self-managed 2 | Managed | Self-managed 2 |
| cPanel / Interworx | Yes | No | N/A | N/A |
| Plesk | Yes | N/A | Yes | N/A |
| DNS | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| FTP | Yes | No | Yes 3 | No |
| HTTP | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| MySQL | Yes | No | Yes 3 | No |
| MSSQL | No | No | Yes 3 | No |
| Ping | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| POP3/IMAP | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| SMTP | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| RDP | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes |
| SSH | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
1 Linux server monitoring includes control panel service monitoring for a single instance of cPanel, Plesk, or InterWorx. Multiple installations are not supported.
2 The Monitoring team’s alert response for self-managed servers is limited. We’ll only notify you if the SSH/RDP or Ping service is down and may suggest actions to take. We won’t react to other alerts on these servers.
3 For Windows servers, we include service monitoring. However, we recommend you enable monitoring for the specific services you’re using on your server to avoid false positives.
What Server Monitoring Is Not
- ❌ Monitoring does not detect application errors (e.g., broken code, plugin issues, CMS failures).
- ❌ It does not monitor CPU, memory, or disk usage on servers
- ❌ It does not validate website functionality, appearance, or business logic.
- ❌ It does not check third-party services, APIs, or external integrations.
- ❌ It is not a substitute for security assessments, vulnerability scans, or penetration testing.
- ❌ Our monitoring team is not a substitute for your own dedicated operations team.
Understanding Server vs. Application Issues
| Issue Type | Responsibility | Examples |
| Server Issue | Liquid Web (Managed Plans) | SSH/HTTP service down, server unreachable |
| Application Issue | Customer or Developer | CMS errors, plugin failures, 404 pages, login issues |
Monitoring Across Management Levels
Managed Hosting
| Category | Details |
| Monitoring Provided | ✅ 24/7 active service and health checks (per OS/service matrix). |
| Response Actions | ✅ Technicians will respond to alerts, attempting supported remediation methods where possible. |
| Customer Notification | ✅ We will notify you via a case in the event of a prolonged outage or critical issue. |
| Scope of Support | ✅ Monitoring support is limited to OS-level investigation, service restarts, configuration review, and resolution of issues directly related to triggered monitoring alerts. |
| Service Coverage | ✅ See our Monitoring Service table for more information. |
Self-Managed Hosting
| Category | Details |
| Monitoring Provided | ⚠️ 24/7 basic infrastructure monitoring (Ping and SSH only). |
| Response Actions | ⚠️ Technicians respond to Ping and SSH alerts ensuring the server is reachable. |
| Customer Notification | ⚠️ We will only notify you in the event of a prolonged outage. |
| Scope of Support / Service Coverage | ❌ Direct access, monitoring or intervention limited to Ping and SSH only. |
| Tools Access | ❌ You cannot modify or disable our core system checks. |
Monitoring Noise Threshold & Temporary Suspension Policy
To maintain meaningful and actionable alerting, Liquid Web monitors for excessive alerts volume (“noise”) caused by unresolved server issues—such as full disks, resource exhaustion, or recurring application-level failures. In the event of recurring or unresolved issues that require your involvement, we may temporarily suspend server monitoring after appropriate notice is provided..
Notification Process
Customers will receive the following before alert suspension:
- ⚠️ 3 warning notifications as the alert count increases without any action taken on your part..
- ❌ Final notification confirming that monitoring has been suspended.
How to Restore Monitoring
Monitoring can be re-enabled by:
- Resolving the issue and toggling monitoring back on via the Liquid Web Portal. See Changing Your Server Monitoring Settings for detailed instructions.
This policy ensures our monitoring remains reliable, useful, and focused on actionable events.
Summary
Liquid Web provides monitoring to help ensure server uptime and infrastructure stability:
- ✅ Managed customers receive Liquid Web provided service monitoring and technician response.
- ⚠️ Self-Managed customers receive basic reachability checks; all remediation is customer-managed.
- ❌ Application-level issues (e.g., website errors, plugin failures) are outside the scope of monitoring and require developer intervention.
- Monitoring may be temporarily disabled if repeated alerts exceed a defined threshold over 7 days, to maintain alert quality. Customers must resolve the issue and re-enable monitoring via the portal or support.