AlwaysUp Monitor

If you see requests with the user agent AlwaysUp-Monitor/… in your logs, they come from AlwaysUp, a service that keeps WordPress websites available during outages. The site's owner connected the website to AlwaysUp, and these requests check that it is working, so AlwaysUp can step in if it stops responding.

What the requests are

• Ordinary GET requests for the home page, and for websites running the AlwaysUp plugin, a small signed health check that answers in a few bytes. When something looks wrong, one request to the site's own WordPress REST address may follow.
• They never submit forms, log in, or change anything on the website.
• A few requests per minute per website in normal operation. If a request is refused (for example with 401, 403 or 429), the checks from that address pause and back off automatically, for up to 30 minutes at a time.

Where they come from

• The AlwaysUp edge network that serves the website's visitors.
• Independent checkers, currently including 2.29.44.120 (Helsinki) and a checker in Amsterdam whose address can change.

Allowing the requests

If a firewall or bot protection challenges these requests, AlwaysUp can still protect the website, but less precisely. To allow them, permit the user agent AlwaysUp-Monitor and the address above in your security settings, or ask your host to do so.

Contact

Questions or concerns about these requests: team@alwaysupwp.com.