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โ“ FAQ

Frequently asked questions about Monitron SaaS.

๐Ÿ’พ Installationโ€‹

Q: What PHP version do I need?โ€‹

A: PHP 8.2 or higher. PHP 8.3 and 8.4 are fully supported and recommended.

Q: Can I use shared hosting?โ€‹

A: Monitron requires cron access and ideally queue workers (Supervisor), which most shared hosts don't provide. A VPS ($5/month from DigitalOcean, Vultr, or Hetzner) is strongly recommended.

Q: Can I use SQLite in production?โ€‹

A: We don't recommend it for more than 10 monitors. SQLite doesn't handle concurrent writes well, which can cause issues with high-frequency checks. Use MySQL or PostgreSQL for production.

Q: Do I need Redis?โ€‹

A: No, but it helps. Monitron works with the database queue driver and file cache driver. Redis improves performance, especially for caching and queue processing.

๐Ÿ“ก Monitoringโ€‹

Q: What's the fastest check interval?โ€‹

A: 10 seconds. Note that very fast intervals generate more data and require more queue workers to keep up.

Q: Why does my ping monitor always show "down"?โ€‹

A: Your hosting provider likely blocks outbound ICMP packets. Use a TCP monitor on port 80 or 443 as an alternative.

Q: Can I monitor services behind a firewall?โ€‹

A: Monitron needs to reach your services. Options:

  • Open specific firewall rules for your Monitron server's IP
  • Use Heartbeat monitoring (your service pings Monitron instead)
  • Use Server Agents (installed on the internal network)

Q: How many monitors can I run?โ€‹

A: There's no hard limit. The practical limit depends on your server resources and queue workers. A $10/month VPS can easily handle 200+ monitors at 1-minute intervals.

๐Ÿ”” Notificationsโ€‹

Q: I'm not receiving notifications!โ€‹

A: Check these in order:

  1. Email settings configured? โ†’ Admin โ†’ Settings โ†’ Email
  2. Contacts created? โ†’ Do they have channels with correct config?
  3. Alert rules set? โ†’ Are contacts linked to monitors?
  4. Queue workers running? โ†’ supervisorctl status
  5. Notification logs โ†’ Check for errors in the Notification Logs page
  6. Laravel log โ†’ storage/logs/laravel.log

Q: Can I get SMS/voice alerts on a budget?โ€‹

A: Use ntfy (free, self-hosted push notifications) or Telegram (free) instead of SMS. For SMS, Twilio's trial account gives you free credits to start.

๐Ÿค– AI Featuresโ€‹

Q: Which AI provider should I use?โ€‹

A:

  • Best quality: OpenAI GPT-4o or Anthropic Claude
  • Best value: Google Gemini (has a free tier)
  • Free/self-hosted: Ollama with Llama 3.1

Q: How much will AI features cost?โ€‹

A: Typically $2-5/month for a moderate setup. See the AI Features Overview for detailed cost estimates.

Q: Can I use AI features without an internet connection?โ€‹

A: Yes! Use Ollama running on your server or local network. It runs AI models locally with no external API calls.

๐Ÿ”ง Generalโ€‹

Q: How do I reset my admin password?โ€‹

A:

php artisan tinker
>>> User::where('email', '[email protected]')->first()->update(['password' => Hash::make('new-password')]);

Q: How do I completely reset Monitron?โ€‹

A:

php artisan migrate:fresh     # Drops and recreates all tables
rm storage/installed.lock     # Re-enables the install wizard

Q: Can I run Monitron in Docker?โ€‹

A: Yes! Create a Dockerfile with PHP-FPM, Nginx, and Supervisor. The application is a standard Laravel app and works in any containerized environment.

Q: Is Monitron compatible with Laravel Forge/Ploi/Envoyer?โ€‹

A: Yes! It's a standard Laravel application. Deploy it like any other Laravel app.