Monitor Your Bot's Uptime 24/7

Why Monitor Your Bot?

Without monitoring, you won't know when your bot goes offline until users complain. Proper monitoring helps you:

• Get instant alerts when the bot goes down
• Track uptime percentage
• Identify performance issues before they escalate
• Maintain user trust with high availability

Monitoring Options

| Tool | Cost | Features | |------|------|----------| | UptimeRobot | Free | Basic HTTP monitoring | | BetterStack | Free tier | Logs + monitoring | | PM2 Plus | $14/mo | Process monitoring | | Self-hosted | Free | Full control |

Method 1: PM2 Built-in Monitoring

PM2 includes basic monitoring out of the box.

Real-time Dashboard

pm2 monit

This shows CPU, memory, and logs in real-time.

Process Status

pm2 status
pm2 list

Log Monitoring

pm2 logs your-bot --lines 100

Auto-restart on Crash

PM2 automatically restarts crashed processes. Configure limits:

pm2 start index.js --name your-bot --max-restarts 10 --restart-delay 5000

Method 2: UptimeRobot (Free)

UptimeRobot can monitor a health endpoint on your bot.

Step 1: Add Health Endpoint

Add to your bot code:

const http = require('http');

http.createServer((req, res) => {
  if (req.url === '/health') {
    res.writeHead(200);
    res.end('OK');
  }
}).listen(3001);

Step 2: Configure Firewall

sudo ufw allow 3001/tcp

Step 3: Set Up UptimeRobot

1. Sign up at uptimerobot.com
2. Click Add New Monitor
3. Select HTTP(s)
4. Enter: http://your-server-ip:3001/health
5. Set check interval (5 minutes for free)
6. Add alert contacts (email, Telegram, Discord webhook)

Method 3: BetterStack (Recommended)

BetterStack combines uptime monitoring with log management.

Setup

1. Sign up at betterstack.com
2. Create a new monitor
3. Install the agent:

curl -fsSL https://logs.betterstack.com/setup/linux | sudo bash

Features

• 30-second check intervals
• Status pages
• Incident management
• Log aggregation

Method 4: Discord Webhook Alerts

Get alerts directly in Discord when your bot has issues.

Create Webhook

1. In Discord, go to Server Settings → Integrations
2. Click Webhooks → New Webhook
3. Copy the webhook URL

PM2 Alert Script

Create /opt/scripts/alert.sh:

#!/bin/bash
WEBHOOK_URL="your-discord-webhook-url"

curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"content\": \"⚠️ Bot Alert: $1\"}" \
  $WEBHOOK_URL

Make it executable:

chmod +x /opt/scripts/alert.sh

Integrate with PM2

pm2 set pm2:webhook:url "your-discord-webhook-url"

Method 5: Custom Health Checks

Create a comprehensive health check script:

#!/bin/bash
# /opt/scripts/health-check.sh

BOT_NAME="your-bot"
WEBHOOK_URL="your-discord-webhook-url"

# Check if PM2 process is running
if ! pm2 pid $BOT_NAME > /dev/null 2>&1; then
    curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
        -d '{"content": "🔴 Bot is DOWN! Attempting restart..."}' \
        $WEBHOOK_URL
    pm2 restart $BOT_NAME
    exit 1
fi

# Check memory usage
MEM=$(pm2 jlist | jq ".[] | select(.name==\"$BOT_NAME\") | .monit.memory")
MEM_MB=$((MEM / 1024 / 1024))

if [ $MEM_MB -gt 500 ]; then
    curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
        -d "{\"content\": \"⚠️ High memory usage: ${MEM_MB}MB\"}" \
        $WEBHOOK_URL
fi

echo "Health check passed"

Schedule with cron:

crontab -e
# Add:
*/5 * * * * /opt/scripts/health-check.sh

Setting Up Alerts

Email Alerts

Most monitoring services include email alerts. Configure:

1. Primary email
2. Backup email
3. SMS for critical alerts (if available)

Discord Alerts

Use webhooks for instant Discord notifications:

# Example alert payload
{
  "embeds": [{
    "title": "Bot Status Alert",
    "description": "Your bot went offline",
    "color": 15158332,
    "timestamp": "2025-01-27T12:00:00Z"
  }]
}

Telegram Alerts

Create a Telegram bot for alerts:

1. Message @BotFather to create a bot
2. Get your chat ID
3. Send alerts via API:

curl "https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/sendMessage?chat_id=<CHAT_ID>&text=Bot%20is%20down!"

Dashboard Setup

PM2 Web Dashboard

pm2 install pm2-server-monit
pm2 web

Access at http://your-server:9615

Grafana Dashboard (Advanced)

For detailed metrics:

1. Install Prometheus
2. Add PM2 exporter
3. Connect Grafana
4. Import bot monitoring dashboard

Best Practices

1. Multiple alert channels - Don't rely on just email
2. Escalation policy - Alert phone if not acknowledged
3. Check intervals - 1-5 minutes for production
4. Log retention - Keep 7-30 days of logs
5. Regular testing - Test alerts monthly

Related Guides

• VPS Security Hardening
• Troubleshooting crashes
• PM2 process errors

Managed Monitoring

Our maintenance plans include 24/7 monitoring with:

• Instant alerts
• Automatic restarts
• Monthly uptime reports
• UK-based support