Some questions came up in the other thread, so I prepared documentation to put on the website about the “states” shown on the server pages:
There are two main state systems: your monitor’s overall status (which we call “global states”) and the relationship between specific monitors and servers they’re testing. Understanding both helps explain what you’re seeing on your server and monitor pages.
Monitor Global States
Every monitoring agent has a global state that determines whether it’s actively working. These are the states you’ll see:
Active means your monitor is fully operational and running all its assigned tests. This is the normal working state for a healthy monitor that’s been approved and is functioning properly.
Testing indicates your monitor is operational but still being evaluated by the system. New monitors typically start in this state while the system verifies they’re working correctly and determines optimal assignments.
Pending indicates your monitor is newly added and waiting to be activated. This state is rarely used in practice—most monitors are added directly as “testing” to begin evaluation immediately.
Paused means your monitor has been stopped and isn’t running any tests. This can happen due to technical issues, constraint violations, or administrative decisions. A paused monitor won’t contribute any data to the pool.
Deleted indicates the monitor has been removed from the system entirely.
Server-Monitor Relationship States
Separate from the global monitor state, each server-monitor relationship has its own status. These appear on individual server detail pages and show how the monitoring assignment is progressing:
Candidate means a monitor is being considered for assignment to test your server. Candidates also help validate the monitoring setup and serve as backups for testing monitors, ensuring ample coverage is available as conditions and monitoring needs change. The system evaluates factors like network location, existing monitor coverage, and constraint rules before making assignments.
Testing shows a monitor is actively testing your server and collecting performance data. Testing monitors check your server less frequently than active monitors while the system evaluates their suitability.
Active indicates a monitor is confirmed for regular monitoring of your server. Active monitors test your server more frequently, and their results typically contribute to your server’s overall performance score calculation.
State Transitions and System Optimization
The system continuously optimizes monitor assignments through automatic state transitions. Monitors typically progress through the flow: candidate → testing → active. However, the system also regularly reevaluates assignments and may move monitors in the opposite direction or try different monitor-server combinations to maintain optimal coverage.
Candidate to Testing: When the system needs more monitoring coverage for a server, it promotes candidates to testing status to begin collecting performance data.
Testing to Active: Monitors that demonstrate good performance and reliability in testing status get promoted to active for more frequent monitoring.
Backwards Transitions: The system may demote active monitors back to testing or testing monitors back to candidate status as part of ongoing optimization. This isn’t necessarily a sign of poor performance—it often reflects the system balancing coverage across the monitoring network or trying different combinations for better overall results.