Are your remote conferencing tools in working order?

Nowadays, many people, even those far from IT industry, depend on remote conferencing services, either on premises, or global ones. Unless the status of those services is watched, its unexpected absence can disrupt upcoming meetings, causing all kinds of negative consequences.

Let us provide a brief list of several remote conference services along with means to monitor their status and availability. Note that we only cover a small set of most popular technologies; please contact us if you need to watch a specific service absent from the below list.

Skype

Skype is convenient enough to run small-sized meeting rooms, even without switching to its commercial counterpart, Skype for Business.

Skype status page provides basic health checks results; the simplest check is to download the mentioned page and do straightforward check for “Normal service” string; its absence means some of Skype’s services are not functioning properly.

Skype no longer provides REST API to do simple checks without building a Web applications first; the above mentioned status page is the simplest way to do the health checks.

Zoom

Zoom is another popular conferencing platform. Apart from status page, it provides its easy to use API; by means of “Script or Program” or “Python script” monitors, one can do quick health checks for specific Zoom services and capabilities.

Cisco Webex

Cisco Webex is another well-known conferencing service, providing screen sharing and other common features. It also has its status page (suitable for simple checks via “HTTP(S) monitor”) and a set of APIs, allowing to check services/devices status. For example, it is possible to query a specific meeting (“room”) status and details.

GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is a Web-based conference service with all typical features available. One can load its status page for quick checks. Its APIs collections does no direct status checks, but it can get information on specific meetings and participants, among other features.

NextCloud

NextCloud is a self-hosted collaboration platform (calendars, file sharing, working on documents and so on) that provides, via one of its modules, simple conferencing feature.

Although there’s no status check by itself, NextCloud’s Client API provides a set of tools to do simple health checks (such as attempt to login to verify service availability). NextCloud installation is technically a Web site, thus it can be monitored via “HTTP(S) Monitor” and “Web Transaction Monitor’.

Conclusion

If you need assistance with setting up a monitor for a service mentioned above, feel free to contact us and/or post to a comment form below.