How to Monitor Your Linode (Akamai Cloud) VPS with Vigilmon

Linode (now Akamai Cloud) is a popular choice for affordable, performant VPS hosting. This guide shows how to monitor your Linode VPS with Vigilmon for external uptime monitoring.

Why External Monitoring Matters

Linode's built-in monitoring shows CPU, RAM, and disk graphs — but it can't tell you if your application is actually responding to user requests. Vigilmon monitors from outside your server, so you know if nginx goes down, your app crashes, or the firewall blocks traffic.

Step 1: Create a Health Endpoint on Your Linode

Nginx + Static Health File

The simplest approach:

# Create health check file
echo '{"status":"ok"}' > /var/www/html/health.json

Configure nginx:

# /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.com;

    location /health {
        alias /var/www/html/health.json;
        add_header Content-Type application/json;
    }

    # Rest of your config...
}

Dynamic Health Check Script

For more thorough checks:

#!/bin/bash
# /usr/local/bin/health-check.sh

status="ok"

# Check nginx
if ! systemctl is-active --quiet nginx; then
    status="nginx_down"
fi

# Check disk space (alert if >90% full)
DISK=$(df / | awk 'NR==2 {print $5}' | tr -d '%')
if [ "$DISK" -gt 90 ]; then
    status="disk_critical"
fi

echo "{\"status\":\"$status\",\"disk_pct\":$DISK}"

Serve it with a simple Python HTTP server or as a CGI script.

Step 2: Open Firewall Port

# UFW
ufw allow 80/tcp
ufw allow 443/tcp

# Or with iptables
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT

Step 3: Add to Vigilmon

1. Go to vigilmon.online
2. Click Add Monitor
3. Enter: http://your-linode-ip/health or https://your-domain.com/health
4. Set interval: 1 minute
5. Add email or Slack alert

Vigilmon will ping your Linode every minute from external servers and alert you within 30 seconds if it stops responding.

Step 4: Set Up SSL (Recommended)

# Install Certbot
apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx

# Get certificate
certbot --nginx -d your-domain.com

Vigilmon also monitors your SSL certificate expiry and alerts before it expires.

Combine with Linode's Built-in Alerts

• Linode alerts: CPU >90%, transfer quota warnings
• Vigilmon: App-level uptime, health endpoint, SSL expiry

Use both for full coverage.

Multiple Linodes?

Add each server as a separate monitor in Vigilmon. Tag them by environment (staging, production) to organize your dashboard.

Start free at vigilmon.online — 5 monitors, no credit card.