--- title: "How to use the Heartbeat feature" date: "2021-11-18T12:10:08+00:00" summary: "Monitor your website and get real-time alerts for downtime and slow response." image: type: "page" url: "/web-governance/how-use-heartbeat-feature" id: "4f9340f5-0fb3-4456-aecc-3155721ef2ea" ---        Table of contents will be added     Prerequisite ------------ The Heartbeat feature uses different IP addresses than the other Web Governance modules and features. Allowlist the IP for your region to ensure that it functions properly. For the list of Heartbeat IP addresses, visit [Data hosting and security](/node/58411). Introduction ------------ The Heartbeat feature lets you monitor your website in real-time 24/7 for slow response time or downtime. You can schedule reports or automated alerts, to be sent to assigned users when your site is down or takes too long to respond. Web Governance measures the response time of your site and provides details about any incidents of downtime, which gives your team the opportunity to quickly respond to problems and avoid any potential loss of business. You can also use Heartbeat to set up exemptions for instances of planned downtime, such as server maintenance. This collection provides instructions on how to use the Heartbeat feature. * Heartbeat uses random IP addresses. Heartbeat does not use JavaScript on the page so there is no analytics data that could alter your statistics values. Setup ----- The _Heartbeat_ feature is included in all packages, there is nothing that needs to be set up. Note For best results, use **Heartbeat** on your Homepage only. Configuration ------------- This section provides instructions on how to configure or disable the Heartbeat feature. 1. Click **Heartbeat** (the heart icon), on the main dashboard toolbar. ![The location of the Heartbeat button on the domain toolbar.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/b048219d-bcc4-4ece-851d-4484ea602a1e/web/Mon_Opt_Dashboard-Heartbeat.png) 2. Click the **Configuration** button (a gear icon) on the upper right side of the page. ![The location of the Configure button on the top right of the window; below the page toolbar and the window toolbar.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/4949cbe9-3013-4bf1-9cd5-9b6056b18b8e/web/Mon_Heartbeat-Dashboard-ConfigureButton.png) The **Heartbeat Configuration** page opens. ![The Checkpoint Exemption page.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/9486715d-3463-4f12-a962-fe8f7ef4174f/web/Mon_Heartbeat-CheckpointInformation.png) 3. Fill in the fields: * **Status**: Toggle the switch **ON** to enable this feature. By default, this feature is **ON**. * **URL**: Enter the full URL, be sure to include all address elements  (http : // www. your domain name.com). * **Ping Intervals**: The default setting is 5 minutes. * Click **Save** to save the changes. Notifications ------------- This section provides information on the notices that Heartbeat provides. * **Response time notification**: Toggle the switch **ON** to receive an email if the site has a slow response time. Note If there are no incidents registered for the page in the selected date range, the export file will be empty. ![The Heartbeat configuration page.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/e80ae063-c044-4aee-9fa6-ab0b4e8036e4/web/Mon_Heartbeat-ConfigurationPage.png) Fill in the following fields: * **Response time**: Click the drop-down arrow and select a response time notification threshold. * **Response time notification**: Click the drop-down arrow and select the number of minutes of slow response time that should pass before the system sends an email. * **Email receiver**: Enter the email address for the alert to be sent to. Add as many as needed, and separate them with a space. * Click **Save** to save the changes. * **Downtime notification**: Toggle the switch **ON** to receive an email if the site is down. Note If there are no incidents registered for the page in the selected date range, the export file will be empty. ![The Heartbeat configuration page.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/e80ae063-c044-4aee-9fa6-ab0b4e8036e4/web/Mon_Heartbeat-ConfigurationPage.png) * Fill in the following fields: * **Time to Warning**: Click the drop-down arrow and select the amount of time the site should be down before a notification is sent. * **Email receiver**: Enter the email address for the alert to be sent to. Add as many as needed, and separate them with a space. * **Notification when the downtime ends**: Turn the switch **ON** to receive an email when the system is back up. The service message is sent to the same email. * Click **Save** to save the changes. Heartbeat dashboard ------------------- This section provides instructions on how to use and understand the information shown on the Heartbeat dashboard. 1. Navigate to the domain dashboard. 2. Click **Heartbeat** (the heart icon), on the toolbar. ![The location of the Heartbeat button on the domain toolbar.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/b048219d-bcc4-4ece-851d-4484ea602a1e/web/Mon_Opt_Dashboard-Heartbeat.png) 3. The _Heartbeat_ landing page opens. 4. **Toolbar buttons**: On the top right side of the page, select: * **Exports**: Click the export icon. The current page is downloaded locally in CSV format. * **+Add new check**: The _Heartbeat Checkpoint Information_ pane slides open. Provide the following information to create a new check: * **Status**: Toggle the switch **OFF** or **ON** to disable or enable this feature. * **URL**: Enter the full URL, be sure to include all elements of the address (http: // www. domain name.com). * **Ping Intervals**: Click the drop-down arrow and select the ping intervals for the website status. * 1 minute * 5 minutes * **Response time notification**: Toggle the switch **ON** to receive an email if the site has a slow response time. Note The export file is empty if there are no incidents registered for the page in the selected date range. * **Downtime notification**: Toggle the switch **ON** to receive an email if the site is down. Note If there are no incidents registered for the page in the selected date range, the export file will be empty. * **Save**: Click **Save** to save the configuration and close the configuration pane. * **Exemption**: See the _Exemption_ section of this document for instructions. * **Configuration**: See the _Configuration_ section of this document for instructions. 5. **Average response time across all checkpoints** * A graph identifies any performance incidents experienced by the domain over a selected timeframe. The graph also shows domain response time and average response time as measured in milliseconds. * Under the graph is a breakdown of domain outages during the selected time frame. The breakdown displays the start time, end time, and duration of outages. Exemptions ---------- This section provides instructions on how to add exemptions for instances of planned downtime, for example, server maintenance. ### Add an exemption 1. Navigate to the domain dashboard. 2. Click **Heartbeat** (the heart icon) on the toolbar to open the Heartbeat landing page. 3. Click **Exemption** on the top right side of the page. 4. Click **Add new exemption** on the top right side of the Checkpoint Exemptions page. ![The location of the Add New Exemption button on the top right corner of the page in line with the page name.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/cb061add-8be8-46b8-bcd4-2b7f6101ac11/web/Mon_Heartbeat-AddNewExemptionButton.png) 5. The _Add Exemption_ page opens. ![The Add Exemption page.](https://acquia.widen.net/content/af875321-bd1c-4408-8875-58c1c4df0535/web/Mon_Heartbeat-AddExemptionPage.png) 6. Fill in the fields: * **Repeat**: Click the drop-down arrow and select a repeat frequency. * None * Daily * Weekly * Monthly. * **Start date**: Use the date-picker to select a start date and time. * **End date**: Use the date-picker to select an end date and time. * **Exemption options**: Tick to select an exemption option: * Exemption time is not part of the downtime calculation. * Exemption time is part of the downtime calculation (if you have 1 hour exemption time and no other downtimes in one day, your uptime will be shown as 95.83% uptime). * **Description**: Enter a free-text description of this exemption. 7. Click **Save** to save the changes. The pane closes and the new exemption is on the list. ### Edit an exemption 1. On the same row as an exemption, click the gear icon. The _Details_ pane opens for the exemption. 2. Edit as needed. 3. Click **Save** to save the changes. ### Remove an exemption This section provides instructions on how to remove an exemption. 1. On the same row as an exemption, click **Delete** (the trashcan icon). 2. A dialog opens asking, _Are you sure you want to delete this exemption?_ Click **Cancel** to cancel the action or **OK** to delete the exemption. 3. The dialog closes and the exemption is gone from the list.