ServiceMon

Everything that's running on a computer can be tracked and traced, which is one of the main tasks of testing scenarios. A similar approach is found when working with websites, and administrators need to monitor activities for security and analysis. With applications like ServiceMon you'll be able to achieve a little bit of both and save log files to see whether or not your projects need tweaking.

In terms of design, the application sports a simple interface, with different tabs letting you quickly access different analysis areas like script, summary, responses and statistics, while all work is done in the center area. A few examples want to make sure you know your way around, with the built-in documentation displaying all functions you can use.

Unless you're at least a little familiar with programming, there's a high chance the application is of no use to you. Based on scripts, the whole process relies on series of requests and responses, with values that need to be defined so the program knows what and how to do it.

You can monitor running services and websites by using different text strings to gather info, such as ping, service status or trace route, with responses that shape the delivered result. As mentioned above, there are a few scripts you can use as templates, but custom ones can be saved as well. There's no limit to the number of operations you can write in a single script, but there's no option to import or export at least TXT files as a means of backup.

Results are delivered pretty fast by default, with the possibility to increase response time by adjusting poll interval in milliseconds. Statistics are displayed in a graph for each operation, again with no export options, with info showing success rate and requests handled. The only thing you can pull from the application is the log, but only to your clipboard so you need to have a text editor at hand.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that ServiceMon is a straightforward analysis tool that aims to keep an eye on websites and services status with little effort. However, even though the list of commands is put at your disposal, as well as a few examples to get you up and running, the level of gathered info is shallow and carefully defining scripts might take some time, for which the result doesn't quite make up, especially because of the complete absence of export options. If you do happen to find the set of features helpful enough, there's also a portable edition to use on the go.