Your website runs on a server. A server is a powerful computer that stores your website and shows it to visitors. Like any computer, a server has limits.
If it uses too much memory, processing power or storage, your website can become slow or stop working.
Monitoring is a set of pages in your Cloudways dashboard. These pages show how much of your resources you use. You do not need technical knowledge to read them. Most pages show simple numbers, tables and graphs.
With Monitoring on Cloudways Flexible, you can:
See your server’s health: memory (RAM), processor (CPU), storage (disk) and data use (bandwidth).
See how your website performs: visits, pages, database activity, automatic tasks and storage use.
Read logs: a written record of events, which helps you find the cause of errors.
Decide when to upgrade: you can see when your server is too small for your website.
Find problems faster: you can give this information to your developer or to Cloudways Support.
This guide explains every Monitoring page, step by step, with screenshots.
Tip:
Monitoring only shows information. It does not change anything on your server. You can open and read every page safely.
Important:
If a page shows No data available, this is normal. It means there was no activity in the selected time period. It is not an error.
What can you monitor?
Cloudways Flexible has two levels of monitoring.
A server is the computer that hosts your website.
An application is your website or web program on that server. One server can host more than one application.
Questions | Server monitoring | Application monitoring |
Question it answers | “Is my server healthy?” | “How is my website performing?” |
What you can see | RAM, CPU, disk, bandwidth, graphs over time, New Relic | Traffic, PHP, MySQL (database), running cron jobs, disk usage, logs |
Where to find it | Flexible → My Servers → your server → Monitoring | Flexible → My Applications → your application → Monitoring |
Best for | Checking if your server is too small or too busy | Finding which page, visitor, task or query causes a problem |
Which section should you choose?
Use this table to go to the right place quickly.
If you see this problem… | Go to… |
Website is slow | Server → Summary (check RAM and CPU), then Application → PHP → Slow Pages and MySQL → Slow Queries |
Not sure if you need a bigger server | Server → Details → CPU Consumption |
Too much data (bandwidth) used | Server → Summary → Application Wise Details, then Application → Traffic → Bandwidth |
Many strange visits | Application → Traffic → IP Requests and Bot Traffic |
Disk is almost full | Server → Summary → Disk Usage, then Application → Disk Usage |
Pages show errors | Application → Logs → Error Logs |
Need a record of visits | Application → Logs → Access Logs |
Something runs by itself and uses resources | Application → Running Crons |
Monitoring pages are empty | Troubleshooting section |
Server Monitoring
Step #1 - Open the server list:
Log in to the Cloudways Platform.
In the left menu, click Flexible.
A small menu opens. Click My Servers.
Step #2 - Select your server:
On the Servers page, find your server in the list.
Each server shows its name, plan, IP address, location and creation date.
Click your server name.
Step #3 - Open Monitoring:
In the left menu of the server page, click Monitoring. (Screenshot S3)
Step 4: Check server health on the Summary tab
Make sure the Summary tab is selected.
Look at the Server Health section. It has four parts:
Item | How to read it |
RAM Usage | Shows memory used out of the total, for example “549 MB used out of 961 MB”. The bar fills as more memory is used. |
CPU Usage | Shows the processor use as a percentage, for example “35%”. A higher number means the server is busier. |
Disk Usage | Shows storage used out of the total, for example “9.90 GB used out of 24.44 GB”. |
Bandwidth Usage | Shows the data used this month, for example “4847 MB”. It also shows when the number was last updated, in UTC. |
To learn what a number means, move your mouse over the small i icon next to its name.
To see the newest numbers, click Refresh (top right of the Server Health section).
Now, scroll down to Bandwidth Usage.
Click Application Wise Details.
A table opens with one row for each application.
Tip:
Under Disk Usage, click Optimization Settings to run a Disk Optimization. Disk Optimization cleans up space on your server.
Column | Meaning |
App Name | The name of your application. |
CPU % | How much processor the application uses. |
Memory | How much RAM the application uses. |
Disk Usage | How much storage the application uses. |
Bandwidth | How much data the application sent. |
Hover over the i icon next to Disk Usage or Bandwidth to read more.
Step #6 - View graphs on the Details tab:
Click the Details tab. (Screenshot S4)
Click the first dropdown (it shows “CPU Consumption” by default).
Choose what you want to see.
Scroll the list to see more options.
Click the second dropdown (it shows “1 Hour” by default) and choose the time period.
Click Refresh to load the newest data.
Important:
For CPU Consumption, if the value stays above 80% all the time, think about increasing your server size.
Step #7 - Connect New Relic (optional)
New Relic is a separate tool. It shows detailed information about how your application performs. You need a New Relic account and a license key. A license key is a private code from your New Relic account.
Click the New Relic tab. (Screenshot S6)
Click the field Enter your New Relic License Key and paste your key.
Click Save Changes. This turns on the New Relic agent. An agent is a small program that collects data.
Click Launch New Relic to open New Relic.
To remove your key later, click Delete.
Important:
New Relic keys for the EU region are not supported yet.
If the agent is stopped later, turn it on again in Manage Services.
Application Monitoring
Step #1 - Open the application list:
Log in to the Cloudways Platform.
In the left menu, click Flexible.
Click My Applications.
Step #2 - Select your application:
Find your application in the list.
Each application shows its name, server, project and creation date.
Click the application name.
Step #3 - Open Monitoring:
In the left menu, click Monitoring.
Two groups open: Analytics and Logs.
Important:
If a page shows No data available, this is normal. It means there was no activity in the selected time period.
Step #4: Monitor Traffic
Click Analytics to open it.
Click Traffic.
The Traffic page opens with five tabs: IP Requests, Bot Traffic, URL Requests, Status Codes and Bandwidth.
4.1 IP Requests
Click IP Requests.
Choose a time period in the dropdown (default: 15 minutes).
Click Refresh.
Read the table Top 10 IP Addresses and Request Count.
4.2 Bot Traffic
Click Bot Traffic.
Choose a time period.
Click Refresh.
Read the table Bots and Request Count.
4.3 URL Requests
Click URL Requests.
Choose a time period.
Click Refresh.
Read the table URLs and Request Count.
4.4 Status Codes
Click Status Codes.
Choose a time period.
Click Refresh.
Read the table Status Codes and Request Count.
Click Details at the end of a row to see more.
Examples: 200 = success, 404 = page not found, 500 = server error.
4.5 Bandwidth
Click Bandwidth.
Choose a time period.
Click Refresh.
Read the table URLs and Bandwidth, for example “14.16 KB”.
Note:
The results may be different if Disk Optimization is used.
Step #5 - Monitor PHP:
Under Analytics, click PHP.
The PHP page opens with three tabs.
5.1 Requested Pages
Click Requested Pages.
Choose a time period and click Refresh.
Read the columns Page URLs, Avg. Duration (in sec) and Request Count.
5.2 Running Processes
Click Running Processes.
Click Refresh.
Read the columns Process Name, CPU%, Memory% and Duration (in sec).
5.3 Slow Pages
Click Slow Pages.
Choose a time period and click Refresh.
Read the columns Page Request, Request Count, Max Time (in sec) and Avg. Time (in sec).
Step #6 - Monitor MySQL (database):
Under Analytics, click MySQL.
The MySQL page opens with two tabs.
6.1 Summary
Click Summary.
Look at Active Connections.
Click Refresh.
Read the columns Host, Command Type, Running Time (in sec) and Query.
6.2 Slow Queries
Click Slow Queries.
Choose a time period and click Refresh.
Read the columns Query and Running Time (in sec).
Step #7 - Monitor Running Crons:
Under Analytics, click Running Crons.
Click Refresh.
Read the columns Cron, CPU%, Memory% and Duration (in sec).
Step #8 - Monitor Disk Usage:
Under Analytics, click Disk Usage.
The Disk Usage page opens with two tabs.
8.1 Summary
Click Summary.
Under File Usage, read the total size of your website files.
Click See Top Webroot Folders Consuming the Disk Space to see the biggest folders. Webroot is the main folder where your website files are saved.
Under Database Usage, read the total size of your database.
Click See Top Database Tables Consuming the Disk Space to see the biggest tables.
Read Total Usage at the bottom. It combines files and database.
Click Refresh to update.
8.2 Details
Click Details.
Under Show graph from, choose a period, for example 7 Days.
Click Refresh.
Step #9 - Read Access Logs:
Time zone note: Logs use UTC. The page shows the difference to your local time. For example, if you are in GMT+5, add 5 hours to the time shown.
In the left menu, under Monitoring, click Logs.
Click Access Logs.
The page opens with three tabs.
9.1 BACKEND
Click BACKEND.
See the number of logs found, for example “88 Logs Found”.
Scroll the list. Each entry shows the date, time, IP address and the request.
Use the filter icon to narrow the list, the search icon to find text, and Refresh to update.
9.2 STATIC
Click STATIC.
Use the filter, search and Refresh tools as above.
9.3 PHP
Click PHP.
Use the filter, search and Refresh tools as above.
Step #10 - Read Error Logs:
Under Monitoring → Logs, click Error Logs.
See the number of logs found, for example “1 Log Found”.
Read each entry. It shows the date and time, then the message.
Use the filter icon, search icon and Refresh button as needed.
Important:
The dashboard shows only the most recent 1,000 log entries. For full logs, use SSH or SFTP (see Step #11).
Step #11 - Get complete access logs:
The dashboard shows recent logs only. For a full record, for example for an audit, use one of these methods.
Method 1: Download the files yourself
Connect to your application server with SSH or SFTP as the application user. SSH and SFTP are secure ways to connect to a server.
Open this folder:
/home/[SERVER_HOST]/[APP_ID]/tmp[SERVER_HOST]is your server’s folder name.[APP_ID]is your application’s folder name.
View or download the access log files.
Method 2: Ask Cloudways Support for a date range
Contact Cloudways Support through chat (Need a Hand → Send us a Message) or a support ticket.
Give your application name and your server IP address.
Say the date range you need, for example “from 00:00 on 1 November until now”.
Wait for Support to prepare a zip file.
If monitoring data or graphs do not show
Try these steps in order. Most problems come from the browser.
Step #1: Clear your browser cache
Open your Cloudways dashboard in your normal browser window.
Clear the browser cache and cookies for the Cloudways website. Cache is data your browser saves to load pages faster. Old cache can cause display problems.
Refresh the page.
Step #2 - Test in a private window:
Open an incognito (private) browser window.
Log in to the Cloudways dashboard and open the Monitoring page.
Step #3 - Try another browser or network:
Open the Monitoring page in a different web browser.
If you use Wi-Fi, switch to mobile data and try again.
Step #4: Do a hard refresh
Open the Monitoring page.
Press
Ctrl + Shift + Ron Windows or Linux, orCmd + Shift + Ron Mac.
If the problem continues, contact Cloudways Support.
Send alerts to your team
Log in to the Cloudways Platform.
Open the guide How to Send Alerts to Your Team Members via Channels.
Follow the steps to add your team members to the notification channels.
That's it! We hope this article was helpful.