monitoring-optimization

Monitoring optimization

Workflow for reviewing existing monitoring, identifying gaps, optimizing configuration, and managing checks.

Audit workflow

Step 1: inventory

Gather the full picture:

1. get_account_usage: plan limits and current consumption (check slots, per-type limits).
2. list_checks: all checks with types, targets, and status.
3. list_tags: how checks are grouped.
4. list_contacts: verify notification routing exists.

All four calls are independent and can run in parallel.

Step 2: group by domain

Organize checks by target domain:

• Extract the registered domain from each check's address
• Group checks under their domain
• Note which check types exist per domain

Step 3: gap analysis

For each domain, compare against recommended coverage:

Critical gaps (should almost always exist):

• No HTTP check: service availability not monitored
• No SSL check: certificate expiry not monitored
• No DNS A check: name resolution not monitored

Important gaps:

• No DNS NS check: nameserver health not monitored (cascading risk)
• No WHOIS/RDAP: domain registration expiry not monitored
• Mail-sending domain without SMTP check: delivery not monitored
• Mail-sending domain without Blacklist check: IP reputation not monitored

Nice-to-have gaps:

• No Page Speed: performance regression not tracked
• No Malware check: compromise detection missing
• Single DNS record type: limited DNS coverage
• No Group check: no aggregate view of domain health (standard for production domains)

Step 4: configuration review

Check for suboptimal configurations:

Issue	Detection	Recommendation
Sensitivity = 1	sensitivity field on location-based checks	Increase to >= 2 to reduce false positives
Very long intervals	interval > 10 for HTTP checks	Consider 1-5 min for critical services
No contact group	Empty contact_groups	Assign a contact group or checks alert silently
No escalation rules	Missing escalations on critical checks	Add escalation so unacknowledged alerts intensify
All checks same locations	Same locations array everywhere	Diversify to catch regional issues
Paused checks	is_paused: true	Verify if intentional or forgotten
No tags	Empty tags	Add domain-based tags for organization
No Group check per domain	Checks exist but no aggregate	Create Group with tag-based auto-selection
No maintenance windows	Critical checks with no scheduled maintenance	Set up windows for known maintenance periods
IPv4-only on dual-stack	use_ip_version = IPv4 on IPv6-capable targets	Consider ANY or explicit IPv6 checks

Step 5: upstream dependency audit

Scan existing check addresses for known third-party domains (e.g. api.stripe.com, *.auth0.com). These are dependencies that should have CloudStatus monitoring.

For each detected dependency without a CloudStatus check, recommend adding one.

Step 6: report

Structure the audit report as:

1. Account usage: plan limits vs. current consumption, remaining capacity, any types at >80% utilization
2. Inventory summary: N checks across M domains, K tags
3. Coverage by domain: table showing which check types exist per domain
4. Gaps found: prioritized list of missing checks with severity
5. Upstream dependencies: detected providers, which have status monitoring
6. Configuration issues: suboptimal settings that should be adjusted
7. Recommendations: specific checks to create, ordered by priority (flagging any that would exceed plan limits)

Modifying existing checks

Use update_check to modify check properties in place. Only specified fields change; omitted fields retain current values.

Update workflow

1. Get current state: get_check to see existing configuration.
2. Apply changes: update_check with only the fields that need to change.
3. Verify: get_check again to confirm.

Commonly updated fields

Field	Notes
interval	Minutes between checks. Some types have minimums (e.g. Page Speed >= 1440).
locations	Probe locations. Only for location-based checks; never set on auto-located types.
sensitivity	Number of confirming locations before alerting. Use >= 2.
contact_groups	Array of contact group names/IDs.
is_paused	true to pause, false to resume.
tags	Replaces the full tag list. Include existing tags you want to keep.

Batch updates

1. list_checks with tag filter to get the target set.
2. Issue update_check calls in parallel.
3. Verify a sample with get_check.

Maintenance windows

Scheduled maintenance is preferred over manual pausing:

• Define recurring windows (e.g. every Sunday 02:00-04:00 UTC)
• Checks pause and resume automatically
• Better audit trail than manual pause/resume

Use manual pausing only for unplanned, one-off situations.

Escalations

Escalations are separate from contact groups. They define how alerts intensify:

• Contact groups receive the initial alert
• Escalation rules trigger if the alert is not acknowledged within a configured window
• Can notify different contacts or use different channels (e.g. phone call after SMS)

Verify critical checks have both a contact group and escalation rules.

Tag hygiene

Common issues:

• Ungrouped checks: no tags, hard to manage at scale
• Stale tags: tags with no checks (orphaned after deletions)
• Inconsistent naming: mix of example.com, Example.com, example

Recommend: one tag per registered domain, optional tags for environment and team.

Interval recommendations

Service tier	HTTP interval	DNS interval	Other intervals
Critical (revenue-generating)	1 min	5 min	5-10 min
Standard (internal tools)	5 min	10 min	10-30 min
Low priority (informational)	10 min	30 min	60 min
Auto-located (SSL, WHOIS, etc.)	-	-	60-1440 min

Deleting checks

Use delete_check only for permanent removal. Deletion is irreversible; check history is lost. Prefer pausing for temporary deactivation.

Known MCP server issues

• get_contact type parsing: may fail with integer/string type mismatch on the id parameter. Use list_contacts as a workaround.