BetterStack Setup

BetterStack Uptime Monitoring Setup Guide

Last updated: 2026-02-20 Related: MONITORING.md, health-check.sh Purpose: External uptime monitoring for Drop production environment

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Why BetterStack?

BetterStack provides external uptime monitoring independent of Drop's infrastructure:

• Detects infrastructure failures (AWS App Runner crashes, network issues)
• Alerts when the entire application is unreachable
• Provides uptime SLA tracking and historical reports
• Multiple notification channels (Slack, Email, SMS)
• Status page for client transparency

Key difference from internal health checks: Internal checks (Docker, Fly.io) only work when the container is running. BetterStack catches total outages.

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Free Tier Limits

Plan: Free tier (no credit card required) Limits:

• 10 monitors (enough for Drop production)
• 3-minute check interval (paid plan: 30s minimum)
• 1 status page
• Unlimited team members
• Unlimited integrations (Slack, email, webhooks)

Upgrade required for:

• Faster check intervals (<3 minutes)
• More than 10 monitors (e.g., multi-region checks)
• Advanced features (maintenance windows, custom headers)

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Account Setup

Step 1: Create Account

1. Go to https://betterstack.com/uptime
2. Click "Start free trial" (becomes free tier after trial)
3. Sign up with Alem's email: alem@alai.no
4. Verify email address
5. Create workspace name: "ALAI Products" (shared across Drop, BasicFakta)

Step 2: Configure Team

1. Navigate to Settings > Team
2. Add team members:
   • alem@alai.no (Owner)
   • john@basicconsulting.no (Admin)
3. Set Default timezone: Europe/Oslo (UTC+1)

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Monitor Configuration

Monitor 1: Health Endpoint (Primary)

Purpose: Verify API health and database connectivity

1. Go to Monitors > Create Monitor

2. Configure:

   • Monitor name: Drop Health Check
   • Monitor type: HTTP
   • URL: https://drop.alai.no/api/health
   • Check interval: 3 minutes (free tier)
   • Request timeout: 5 seconds
   • Method: GET
   • Confirmation period: 30 seconds (1 retry before alerting)

3. Expected Response:

   • Status code: 200
   • Keyword check: Enable
     • Response body contains: "status":"ok"
     • Why: Ensures health endpoint returns valid JSON, not just HTTP 200

4. Advanced settings:

   • Follow redirects: Enabled (default)
   • Verify SSL certificate: Enabled
   • SSL expiry warning: 14 days before expiration

5. Click Create Monitor

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Monitor 2: Landing Page

Purpose: Verify public website availability

1. Go to Monitors > Create Monitor

2. Configure:

   • Monitor name: Drop Landing Page
   • Monitor type: HTTP
   • URL: https://drop.alai.no
   • Check interval: 3 minutes
   • Request timeout: 10 seconds (landing page has more assets)
   • Method: GET
   • Confirmation period: 30 seconds

3. Expected Response:

   • Status code: 200
   • Keyword check: Enable
     • Response body contains: Send penger (tagline verification)

4. Click Create Monitor

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Monitor 3: Multi-Region Health Check

Purpose: Detect regional networking issues

1. Go to Monitors > Create Monitor

2. Configure:

   • Monitor name: Drop Health (US East)
   • Monitor type: HTTP
   • URL: https://drop.alai.no/api/health
   • Check interval: 3 minutes
   • Request timeout: 5 seconds
   • Method: GET
   • Confirmation period: 30 seconds

3. Expected Response:

   • Status code: 200
   • Keyword check: Response body contains "status":"ok"

4. Advanced settings:

   • Region: US East (different from default EU region)
   • Why: Detects if Drop is unreachable from specific geographies

5. Click Create Monitor

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Slack Integration

Step 1: Create Slack Incoming Webhook

1. Go to your Slack workspace: alai-talk.slack.com
2. Navigate to Slack App Directory > Incoming Webhooks
3. Click Add to Slack
4. Select channel: #drop-ops (create if doesn't exist)
5. Click Add Incoming Webhooks Integration
6. Copy webhook URL (format: https://hooks.slack.com/services/T.../B.../XXX)
7. Save this URL securely (needed for BetterStack)

Step 2: Add Slack Integration in BetterStack

1. In BetterStack, go to Integrations
2. Click Add Integration > Slack
3. Paste webhook URL from Step 1
4. Configure:
   • Integration name: Drop Ops Slack
   • Notification channel: #drop-ops
5. Test integration: Click Send test message
   • Verify message appears in #drop-ops channel
6. Click Save Integration

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On-Call Team Setup

Step 1: Create On-Call Schedule

1. Go to On-Call > Create Schedule
2. Configure:
   • Schedule name: Drop Primary On-Call
   • Timezone: Europe/Oslo
3. Add rotation:
   • Team member: alem@alai.no
   • Schedule type: 24/7 (always on-call for now)
4. Click Create Schedule

Step 2: Configure Escalation Policy

1. Go to Escalation Policies > Create Policy

2. Configure:

   • Policy name: Drop Production Incidents

3. Add escalation steps:

   Step 1 (Immediate):

   • Who: Drop Ops Slack integration
   • Delay: 0 minutes

   Step 2 (If still down after 5 minutes):

   • Who: alem@alai.no (Email)
   • Delay: 5 minutes

   Step 3 (If still down after 15 minutes):

   • Who: alem@alai.no (SMS) — Requires phone number
   • Delay: 15 minutes
   • Note: SMS requires paid plan or verified phone number

4. Click Create Policy

Step 3: Assign Policy to Monitors

1. Go to Monitors
2. For each monitor (Drop Health Check, Drop Landing Page, Drop Health (US East)):
   • Click monitor name
   • Go to Settings > Escalation Policy
   • Select: Drop Production Incidents
   • Click Save

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Status Page Setup

Purpose

Public status page allows clients and stakeholders to check Drop availability without contacting support.

Step 1: Create Status Page

1. Go to Status Pages > Create Status Page

2. Configure:

   • Page name: Drop Status
   • Subdomain: drop-status (URL: https://drop-status.betteruptime.com)
   • Custom domain (optional): status.drop.alai.no (requires DNS setup)

3. Design settings:

   • Logo: Upload Drop logo (green rounded rectangle)
   • Brand color: #0B6E35 (Drop primary green)
   • Header text: Drop Status
   • Tagline: Real-time service status and incident updates

4. Visibility:

   • Public: Yes (anyone can view)
   • Search engine indexing: No (prevent Google indexing)

5. Click Create Status Page

Step 2: Add Components

1. In the status page settings, go to Components

2. Click Add Component

3. Add three components:

   Component 1:

   • Name: API & Health Endpoint
   • Linked monitor: Drop Health Check
   • Description: Core API functionality and database connectivity

   Component 2:

   • Name: Landing Page
   • Linked monitor: Drop Landing Page
   • Description: Public website and marketing content

   Component 3:

   • Name: Global Network
   • Linked monitor: Drop Health (US East)
   • Description: International access and routing

4. Click Save Components

Step 3: Configure Incident Communication

1. Go to Status Pages > Settings > Incident Updates
2. Enable:
   • Auto-create incidents: Yes (when monitor goes down)
   • Auto-resolve incidents: Yes (when monitor recovers)
3. Notification subscribers:
   • Email subscriptions: Enabled (users can subscribe to updates)
   • Webhook notifications: Disabled (optional for future)

Step 4: Share Status Page

Once created, share the status page URL:

• Internal: Add to #drop-ops Slack channel description
• External: Link from Drop landing page footer (optional)
• Clients: Include in onboarding emails

Status Page URL: https://drop-status.betteruptime.com

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Verification Checklist

After completing setup, verify:

• Monitors running: All 3 monitors show green status
• Slack alerts working: Test by pausing a monitor (triggers down alert)
• Email notifications working: Verify Alem receives email on test alert
• Status page public: Open status page URL in incognito mode
• Escalation policy assigned: All monitors use Drop Production Incidents policy
• SSL expiry alerts: Monitors configured to warn 14 days before cert expiration

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Testing the Setup

Test 1: Manual Down Alert

1. Go to Monitors > Drop Health Check
2. Click Pause Monitor (simulates downtime)
3. Expected behavior:
   • Slack alert in #drop-ops within 30 seconds
   • Email to alem@alai.no after 5 minutes (if still paused)
4. Click Resume Monitor to clear alert

Test 2: Actual Downtime

1. SSH into production server (or use AWS App Runner console)
2. Stop the Drop application container temporarily
3. Wait for BetterStack to detect downtime (max 3 minutes + 30s confirmation)
4. Expected behavior:
   • Monitor shows red status
   • Slack alert in #drop-ops
   • Status page component shows "Down"
5. Restart application and verify recovery alert

Test 3: SSL Expiry Warning

1. Go to Monitors > Drop Health Check
2. Verify SSL expiry warning is enabled (14 days)
3. Expected behavior:
   • Alert sent 14 days before SSL certificate expiration
   • Action required: Renew certificate before expiry

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Alert Examples

Downtime Alert (Slack)

🚨 Drop Health Check is DOWN

Monitor: Drop Health Check
Status: DOWN
Response: Connection timeout
Region: EU West
Time: 2026-02-20 10:30 UTC

View incident: https://betterstack.com/incidents/...

Recovery Alert (Slack)

✅ Drop Health Check is UP

Monitor: Drop Health Check
Status: UP
Response: 200 OK (2ms)
Downtime duration: 3 minutes
Time: 2026-02-20 10:33 UTC

Incident closed: https://betterstack.com/incidents/...

SSL Expiry Warning (Email)

Subject: [BetterStack] SSL certificate expiring in 14 days

Monitor: Drop Health Check
Domain: drop.alai.no
Certificate expiry: 2026-03-06 23:59 UTC

Action required: Renew SSL certificate before expiration.

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Maintenance Mode

When performing planned maintenance (deployments, infrastructure upgrades):

1. Go to Maintenance Windows > Create Window
2. Configure:
   • Name: Drop Deployment
   • Start time: 2026-02-20 22:00 UTC
   • Duration: 1 hour
   • Affected monitors: Select all Drop monitors
3. Notification:
   • Status page update: Yes (shows maintenance banner)
   • Alert suppression: Yes (no downtime alerts during window)
4. Click Create Maintenance Window

Effect: During maintenance, downtime alerts are suppressed and status page shows "Scheduled Maintenance" instead of "Down".

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Best Practices

Do's

• ✅ Test alerts monthly — Pause a monitor to verify escalation works
• ✅ Update on-call schedule — Rotate on-call duty if team grows
• ✅ Monitor SSL expiry — Enable 14-day warnings to prevent outages
• ✅ Use maintenance windows — Prevent false alerts during deployments
• ✅ Review incident history — Monthly review of downtime patterns

Don'ts

• ❌ Don't ignore degraded status — Investigate even if not fully down
• ❌ Don't disable monitors — Use pause for temporary suppression only
• ❌ Don't skip keyword checks — HTTP 200 alone doesn't guarantee working API
• ❌ Don't forget to update URLs — When domain changes, update all monitors
• ❌ Don't rely solely on external monitoring — Combine with internal health checks

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Troubleshooting

Monitor shows false positives (frequent up/down)

Cause: Network instability or slow response times Fix:

1. Increase Request timeout from 5s to 10s
2. Increase Confirmation period from 30s to 60s
3. Check Drop API latency in logs

Slack alerts not received

Cause: Webhook URL incorrect or channel archived Fix:

1. Go to Integrations > Drop Ops Slack
2. Click Send test message
3. If fails, regenerate webhook in Slack and update BetterStack

Email alerts delayed

Cause: Email provider spam filtering Fix:

1. Whitelist notifications@betterstack.com in email settings
2. Check spam/junk folder
3. Verify email address in BetterStack team settings

Status page not updating

Cause: Monitor not linked to status page component Fix:

1. Go to Status Pages > Drop Status > Components
2. Ensure each component has a Linked monitor assigned
3. Save changes and trigger test alert

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Related Documentation

• MONITORING.md — Full monitoring stack overview
• health-check.sh — Internal health check script
• alerts.ts — Slack alerting implementation
• /api/health route — Health endpoint source code

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Support

BetterStack Support:

• Documentation: https://betterstack.com/docs
• Email: support@betterstack.com
• Status: https://status.betterstack.com

Internal Contact:

• Slack: #drop-ops
• Email: alem@alai.no