Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

12. How do I monitor password-protected websites?

There are 2 types of authentication used on the web: HTTP-based and form-based, we support both methods.

A web site uses HTTP-based authentication if your browser pops up a dialog for you to enter the username and password. To monitor this type of website:

  1. Login to your account
  2. Go to Monitor -> Add a Test
  3. Select "Monitor a website"
  4. Fill in the username and password fields and complete other details

The second type of authentication is form-based. Websites using this method have a login prompt on the website itself, examples are web-based emails like Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and GMail. This authentication method works by posting your credentials via the form to the website for verification. To monitor these websites:

  1. Login to your account
  2. Go to Monitor -> Add a Test
  3. Select "Monitor a website"
  4. View the HTML source of the login page to identify the URL the form posts to. eg: <form method="POST" action="http://somewhere.com/checkpassword">. Monitor this URL. Next, determine the parameters to be posted by checking <input> and <select> tags. Compose the POST data using the format parameter1=value1&parameter2=value2... and fill in the "POST data" field
  5. Add keywords that signify a successful login (eg. Login successful, or Your last login was on...) into the required keywords field
  6. Optionally, add keywords that signify a failed login (eg. Bad username or password) into the excluded keywords field
  7. Complete other details (but NOT the username and password fields)

Setting up monitoring for websites with form-based authentication can be challenging. We will be glad to assist if you are unsure how to set this up. Simply send us the URL, username and password.

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