Uptime Monitoring

MainWP Dashboard Monitoring Settings include built-in Uptime Monitoring and Site Health Monitoring for connected child sites.

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What You’ll Learn

• Access the Monitoring Settings page
• Configure Site Health Monitoring options
• Configure global uptime monitoring options
• Set data retention for monitoring history
• Review status code details in monitoring views
• Configure uptime email notifications, including recovery alerts
• Use the [uptime.status] token in uptime monitoring emails
• Override settings per site and add sub-monitors

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Prerequisites

• MainWP Dashboard plugin installed and activated
• MainWP Child plugin connected on the sites you want to monitor
• WP Cron or server cron configured for scheduled checks
• Access to MainWP Dashboard settings and email settings

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Access Monitoring Settings

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Monitoring Settings Reference

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HTTP Response Check Settings

Check site HTTP response after update and Check site HTTP response method are global-only settings. Configure them under top-right user menu > MainWP Settings > Monitoring Settings (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=MonitoringSettings); they do not appear when editing an individual site’s Uptime Monitoring settings. The status-code list is shared with Uptime Monitoring and can still be overridden per site.

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Uptime Monitoring Settings

Enable Attempt to bypass page cache when a caching layer may return a stored response instead of the current site response. Cache bypass is best effort and does not guarantee that a CDN, proxy, or page cache will forward the request to the origin server. Monitoring Data Retention options:

• Keep forever (no automatic cleanup)
• 30 days
• 90 days (3 months)
• 180 days (6 months)
• 365 days (1 year)

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Site Health Monitoring Settings

WordPress Site Health is a WordPress core feature that evaluates the site’s configuration and reports whether the site is in good condition or needs attention. It combines checks for areas such as performance, security, and recommended configuration, then presents the results in the built-in Site Health screen. On each child site, you can review the same information directly in the site wp-admin under Tools > Site Health. The child site’s Site Health screen includes the native WordPress Status and Info tabs. Site Health Monitoring uses cached WordPress Site Health test counts collected by MainWP Child during synchronization. MainWP Dashboard calculates a health score from those counts, compares it against your configured threshold, and uses it for notifications. It does not run a fresh Site Health test with each uptime check, so its data can lag behind the child site. Site Health Monitoring notification templates support the [site.name] token for dynamic site name insertion. Use [site.name] in the email subject, heading, or template content for individual-site notifications. A combined administrator summary has no single child-site context for template token replacement.

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Monitoring Views and Status Codes

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Monitoring Table

Go to MainWP > Sites > Monitoring (admin.php?page=MonitoringSites) to review monitor status across sites. The Monitoring table includes a Status code column so you can quickly see the latest HTTP response code for each monitor.

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Individual Site Uptime Widget

On the individual site Overview tab (admin.php?page=managesites&dashboard=SITE_ID), the Uptime Monitoring widget shows:

• Current status (UP, DOWN, PENDING, or DISABLED)
• Current HTTP status code
• Incidents and uptime ratio
• Response time history

Use Check Now from the Monitoring page actions for immediate checks on selected sites. If the widget shows Failed to create the primary monitor for this site, open its Settings link and click Save Settings to retry creating the monitor.

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Site Health in Monitoring Views

When Site Health Monitoring is enabled, the Monitoring page includes a Site Health column so you can review health state alongside uptime data. These indicators use the Site Health counts from the last synchronization. MainWP displays Good when its calculated score is at least 80 and there are no critical issues; otherwise, it displays Should be improved. To investigate, open Tools > Site Health (site-health.php) on the child site and synchronize again after refreshing its results.

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Uptime Monitoring Email Notifications

Go to top-right user menu > MainWP Settings > Email Settings (/wp-admin/admin.php?page=SettingsEmail) and select Uptime Monitoring Email. Uptime notifications are sent on important status changes, including when a site goes down and when it comes back online. Emails include the monitor URL, status code, and event timestamp.

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[uptime.status] Token Support

You can use [uptime.status] in the email subject and heading, and in template content for individual-site uptime emails. In a combined administrator summary, the subject and heading use the first included event’s status; a token in the template body is not replaced for each listed monitor. Supported values include:

• UP
• DOWN
• PENDING
• DISABLED

These are token values, not four separate alert types. Automatic uptime alerts are triggered by confirmed downtime and recovery; PENDING and DISABLED do not trigger their own alerts.

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Per-Site Uptime Settings

You can override global settings for specific sites. In MainWP Dashboard, open the child site’s Settings tab (admin.php?page=managesites&id=SITE_ID) and expand Site Monitoring Settings. Replace SITE_ID with the child site’s MainWP ID. Click Save Settings after making changes. Per-site options support Use global setting for applicable fields. When adding a sub-monitor, enter only the path segment (excluding the main site URL).

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Related Resources

• Manage Sites - Manage child site connections and operations
• MainWP Dashboard Settings - Reference for all Dashboard settings
• Disable WP Cron - Configure server cron for reliable schedules
• Advanced Uptime Monitor Add-on - Third-party API-based uptime monitoring