Keep SSL certificate expiry from becoming an outage.
SSL monitoring helps you keep track of the certificate used by your website or service, including its validity and expiration information.
An expired or invalid certificate can cause browser security warnings and prevent users or applications from connecting normally. Monitoring gives you visibility before certificate expiry is forgotten.
1. Create an SSL monitor
Open your dashboard
Sign in to PingBeacons and choose the option to create a new monitor.
Select SSL monitoring
Choose the SSL monitor type for the website or service whose certificate you want to track.
Give the monitor a clear name
Use a recognizable name such as Production Website SSL, Customer Portal SSL, or API SSL.
Enter the HTTPS target
Enter the public HTTPS address for the service whose certificate you want PingBeacons to inspect.
https://example.com/Save the monitor
PingBeacons can then perform SSL checks and display certificate information for the monitor.
2. What PingBeacons checks
Certificate validity
See whether PingBeacons considers the certificate valid based on the latest SSL check.
Expiration
Keep the certificate expiration date and remaining validity visible from the monitor.
Last checked
See when PingBeacons most recently performed the SSL monitoring check.
Certificate information
SSL-specific information is kept separate from normal website response-time monitoring so you can focus on certificate health.
3. Use the production HTTPS address
Monitor the certificate your real users or applications connect to. The target should be publicly reachable over HTTPS.
Website certificate
https://example.com/API certificate
https://api.example.com/If your main website and API use different hostnames or certificates, consider monitoring each important HTTPS service separately.
4. Understanding certificate expiry
SSL certificates are issued for a limited validity period. The expiration date tells you when the current certificate stops being valid.
Certificate is currently valid
Your HTTPS service is using a certificate that has not yet reached its expiration date.
Expiry gets closer
PingBeacons keeps the certificate expiry information visible so you can see that renewal is approaching.
Renew the certificate
Renew or replace the certificate through your hosting provider, certificate authority, server configuration, or automated renewal system.
PingBeacons checks the new certificate
A later SSL check can detect the certificate currently being served by the monitored hostname.
5. SSL expiry notifications
PingBeacons includes SSL expiry notification preferences so you can choose how you want certificate expiry alerts handled.
Open notification preferences
Go to your PingBeacons account settings and open the notification preferences.
Review SSL expiry options
Choose the available email and in-app SSL expiry notification options according to your preference.
Keep notifications actionable
When you receive an expiry warning, verify that certificate renewal is working instead of assuming automatic renewal will always succeed.
6. Automatic renewal and monitoring
Many hosting platforms and tools automatically renew certificates. SSL monitoring is still useful because renewal automation itself can fail.
PingBeacons monitors the certificate being served by your service. Certificate installation and renewal remain the responsibility of your hosting or server setup.
7. SSL monitoring vs website monitoring
They answer different questions, so using both can give you better visibility into an important production website.
Website monitoring
Is the website responding? How long did it take to respond? Has an availability incident occurred?
SSL monitoring
Is the certificate valid, when does it expire, and does its certificate state require attention?
8. If an SSL check shows a problem
Open the website manually
Check the HTTPS service from a browser or another trusted client.
Check the certificate being served
Verify that the server is presenting the certificate you expect for the monitored hostname.
Check your renewal system
Review your hosting provider, certificate manager, or automated renewal process for failures.
Confirm the next PingBeacons check
After fixing the certificate, use the later monitoring result to confirm that the expected certificate is now being served.