Odown product news and updates

Insights on uptime, status pages, and alerting, written for builders. Follow along for product updates, how-tos, and real examples that help you keep users happy.

Wildcard vs Multi-Domain SAN: Which Do You Need?

Wildcard vs Multi-Domain SAN: Which Do You Need?

A wildcard covers one level of subdomains under one domain. A SAN certificate covers a named list across many domains. Three questions decide which you need.

Can You Get an SSL Certificate for an IP Address?

Can You Get an SSL Certificate for an IP Address?

Yes. Public CAs can issue certificates for IP addresses, and Let's Encrypt has offered them free since January 2026, with a six day lifetime.

Do Subdomains Need Their Own SSL Certificate?

Do Subdomains Need Their Own SSL Certificate?

Subdomains need coverage, not necessarily their own certificate. A wildcard covers one level of subdomains. Here is what each option covers.

How Long Can an SSL Certificate Last Now?

How Long Can an SSL Certificate Last Now?

A publicly trusted TLS certificate can last a maximum of 200 days as of March 2026, dropping to 100 days in 2027 and 47 days in 2029. Here is the full schedule.

Does Search Console Alert You About Downtime?

Does Search Console Alert You About Downtime?

Google Search Console can email you about site errors, but only after Googlebot notices, which takes hours to days. It is a crawl report, not a downtime alert.

What "Googlebot Cannot Access Your Site" Means

What "Googlebot Cannot Access Your Site" Means

'Googlebot cannot access your site' usually means robots.txt returned a 5xx, so Google postponed crawling the whole site. Here is the fix.

Why Did My Analytics Traffic Drop to Zero Overnight?

Why Did My Analytics Traffic Drop to Zero Overnight?

Traffic at zero has three causes: the site is down, the tracking broke, or the data pipeline failed. Here is the four-question triage to tell them apart fast.

Can Google Analytics Tell You When Your Site Is Down?

Can Google Analytics Tell You When Your Site Is Down?

Google Analytics cannot tell you your website is down. It can only show that data stopped arriving, hours later, and it cannot say why. Here is the reason.

What Is a Dead Man's Switch in Monitoring?

What Is a Dead Man's Switch in Monitoring?

A dead man's switch in monitoring fires when an expected signal stops arriving. It catches the failure no error message covers: something that quietly stopped.

Heartbeat Monitoring vs Ping Checks

Heartbeat Monitoring vs Ping Checks

A heartbeat monitor waits for your job to check in. A ping check reaches out to your server. The difference is direction, and it decides what each can catch.

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