What to Monitor Before a Launch
A short launch checklist for uptime, SSL, domain, and server health signals that should be visible before traffic arrives.
Start with the user path
The first monitor should follow the path a real customer uses. For a marketing site that might be the homepage, pricing page, and registration flow. For an API it might be a health endpoint plus one authenticated workflow that proves the app is connected to its dependencies.
The goal is not to monitor every URL. The goal is to know when the promise your service makes to customers has stopped being true.
Watch expiration dates early
SSL certificates and domains usually fail on a calendar, not because the code changed. Add expiration checks before launch so renewal mistakes are visible while there is still time to fix them.
- SSL certificate expiration
- SSL certificate authenticity
- Domain expiration
- Nameserver changes
Pair uptime with server signals
An endpoint can still answer while the host is quietly running out of disk, memory, or CPU headroom. Pair public uptime checks with agent-based server monitoring so alerts tell you both what customers see and what the machine is experiencing.
Publish status before you need it
A status page is easiest to trust when it already exists before an incident. Link the important monitors, confirm the public page loads on mobile, and keep the wording plain enough for customers to understand under stress.