Backup Monitoring Service: Never Miss a Failed Backup
Backup monitoring that doesn't touch your execution.
Keep your backup scripts. Add one curl line. Get alerts when backups fail.
Why You Need Backup Monitoring
Backups are useless if they fail silently. Without monitoring, you might discover your backups haven't been running for weeks when you need them most. Common backup failure scenarios:
- Silent failures - Script crashes without logging errors
- Disk space exhaustion - Backups fail when disk fills up
- Network issues - Remote backup syncs fail intermittently
- Permission errors - System updates break backup permissions
- Cron job disabled - Backup job gets removed or disabled
- Database connection failures - Database dumps fail due to connection issues
Traditional file-based monitoring (checking if backup files exist) doesn't verify they're recent or complete. You need process-level monitoring that confirms the backup actually ran.
How Backup Monitoring Works
DeadManPing doesn't run your backups. Your cron does. DeadManPing only observes if the ping arrived.
A backup monitoring service uses a dead man switch pattern: your backup script pings the monitoring service after each successful backup. If the ping doesn't arrive within the expected interval, you get an alert. It's independent of your backup infrastructure, so it works with any backup method.
Important: The curl command must be inside your backup script, not in the cron line, because only in the script do you have access to variables from execution results (e.g., backup file size, success status).
Integration Examples
rsync Backup
#!/bin/bashset -ersync -avz /data/ user@backup-server:/backups/# Single ping at end - if job fails, ping won't arrive and DeadManPing will alertcurl -X POST "https://deadmanping.com/api/ping/backup-rsync"PostgreSQL Backup
#!/bin/bashBACKUP_FILE="/backups/pg-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql"pg_dump mydb > "$BACKUP_FILE"gzip "$BACKUP_FILE"# Get backup file sizeFILE_SIZE=$(stat -f%z "$BACKUP_FILE.gz" 2>/dev/null || stat -c%s "$BACKUP_FILE.gz" 2>/dev/null || echo 0)# Single ping with file size in payload# In DeadManPing panel: set validation rule "size" > 0# Panel will automatically detect if backup file is emptycurl -X POST "https://deadmanping.com/api/ping/backup-postgres?size=$FILE_SIZE"MySQL Backup
#!/bin/bashmysqldump mydb > /backups/mysql-$(date +%Y%m%d).sqlDUMP_EXIT_CODE=$?# Single ping with dump exit code in payload# In DeadManPing panel: set validation rule "dump_exit_code" == 0# Panel will automatically detect if mysqldump failedcurl -X POST "https://deadmanping.com/api/ping/backup-mysql?dump_exit_code=$DUMP_EXIT_CODE"S3/Cloud Backup
#!/bin/bashtar -czf backup.tar.gz /data/aws s3 cp backup.tar.gz s3://my-bucket/backups/UPLOAD_EXIT_CODE=$?rm backup.tar.gz# Single ping with upload exit code in payload# In DeadManPing panel: set validation rule "upload_exit_code" == 0# Panel will automatically detect if S3 upload failedcurl -X POST "https://deadmanping.com/api/ping/backup-s3?upload_exit_code=$UPLOAD_EXIT_CODE"What to Monitor
Prioritize monitoring backups that protect critical data:
- Database backups - PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, etc.
- File system backups - rsync, tar, cloud sync
- Application backups - Configuration files, user data
- Incremental backups - Daily/weekly incremental syncs
- Offsite backups - Remote replication jobs
Alert Channels
A good backup monitoring service supports multiple alert channels:
- Email - Immediate notifications to your inbox
- Team chat platforms - Notifications to your team workspace
- Webhooks - Custom integrations with your existing tools
Start Monitoring Your Backups
DeadManPing provides automated backup monitoring with dead man switch technology. Set up monitoring in 2 minutes, works with any backup method, and sends alerts via email, Slack, or Discord.
Related Articles
Learn more about cron job monitoring and troubleshooting:
Backup Didn't Run - How to Detect
How to detect when backup jobs don't run using dead man switch monitoring.
Stale Backup Detection: Last Backup Was a Month Ago
Learn how to detect stale backups and verify backup age with payload validation.
Dead Man Switch for Backups
Implement dead man switch monitoring for backup jobs.
Detect Empty Backup File
How to detect when backup files are empty or zero bytes.
Backup File Zero Bytes
How to detect when backup files are zero bytes.