I'm seeing a lot of PowerShell scripts out there which checks the status of the IIS App Pools in a server, and sends an email if it is in a Stopped state. Although the script is useful, it would need to be run at a frequent interval to check the App pool states. Is there a way to enable this monitoring in IIS level, such that an email is sent the instant an App pool is stopped? I'm using both Windows Server 2012 and 2016
2 Answers
An event should occurs when an App pool stops. Check this answers if it help: https://forums.iis.net/post/2143450.aspx
"As a workaround, you could try to go to Event Viewer->Custom Views->Server Roles->Web Server(IIS). Here is the logs for Web Server. While an application pool stopped, it will create a record with Event ID 5186. You could select a record and choose Attach Task To This Event and then in the action, you could send a mail alert."
You can use monitor tools to monitor such service crashes instantly. I recommend Zabbix, one of the most preferred monitor tools in this regard. You can download and install for free. Zabbix requires multiple configuration steps as it is capable of pulling data from almost any system. If you are just getting started with Zabbix, you should do some research on the internet.
With the triggers you will define on Zabbix, you can receive notifications via e-mail, Mobile Push and many other notification channels in case of any mishaps. There are many examples of Zabbix triggers for applications on the Internet.
Zabbix installs an agent program on the computer where you will create a trigger and transfers the data to Zabbix and if it meets the conditions you specify, Less important, Very important, Disaster, etc. alert you in the category. You can also see the annual uptime of your services by keeping SLA time. Zabbix Server can only be installed on Linux based servers. It is also useful to install Zabbix Server on only one machine. The Zabbix server should not crash in order to notify you if your services crash. You can use Amazon AWS's Free EC2s for this.
Zabbix documentation for IIS is here.
