Switch on monitoring for a server

Turning monitoring on tells InfraNest to start watching a server; this guide is for anyone adding a server to their monitoring without touching the machine itself.

#Overview

• Monitoring is switched on per server. A server you haven't switched on still shows up in your inventory and keeps working exactly as before — InfraNest just doesn't collect data or alert on it.
• Each server you switch on counts as one monitored server on your plan.
• If a server already has the agent installed, turning monitoring on or off doesn't touch the machine — the agent just resumes or pauses sending.

#Switch one on

1. Go to Monitoring → Servers.
2. Find the server in the list. If it isn't being watched, it says Not monitored under its name.
3. Open the ⋯ menu at the end of its row and choose Switch monitoring on.

You can also open the server from that list and use the button on its monitoring page.

Readings usually start appearing within a few minutes. If the server has the agent installed, it resumes on its own — nobody needs to log into the machine.

#What you get once it is on

The server gets its own monitoring page with four tabs:

• Overview — the headline numbers, disk space per mount, and what the machine says about itself.
• Metrics — the charts, over any range you pick.
• Processes & services — what is actually running, as of the latest reading.
• Alerts & rules — the thresholds this server is judged on.

How much you see depends on how the server is reached, shown in the Status column:

• Agent — CPU, memory, disk space, load and processes. This needs the agent installed.
• API only — what your provider's API reports, usually CPU and network.
• Reachable only — your provider has no metrics API. Uptime checks and alerts that don't need measurements still work; the numbers simply don't exist to be collected.

#Switch one off

1. Open the same ⋯ menu for the server.
2. Choose Switch monitoring off.

Collection and alerting stop, and the server stops counting towards your plan straight away.

Readings already collected are kept and reappear if you switch it back on later, subject to the usual retention.

If the agent is installed on that server, it keeps running and keeps trying — it can't be stopped from InfraNest. It backs off to roughly one attempt an hour and reports the reason if anyone checks its status on the machine, which reads:

NOT SENDING — monitoring is switched off for this server in InfraNest.

That is expected, and not a sign of a broken agent or a bad token.

WarningDo not reinstall the agent to fix this — switch the server back on here instead. To remove the agent from the machine for good, delete its token in the Agent panel on the server's monitoring Overview, and uninstall it on the machine.

#If you have run out

Switching a server on when you're at your plan's limit is refused, and the message names the limit. Either switch a different server off first, or move to a plan with more monitored servers.

NoteServers you were already monitoring are never switched off to enforce a limit — including if a plan change puts you over it. You keep what you had; you just can't add more until you are back under.