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To get an email when your server goes down, monitor it from another machine: a server that is down can’t send its own alert. Install Uptime Kuma on a second server, add an Email (SMTP) notification, and create a monitor for your server (HTTP(s) for a website, TCP Port for SSH 22 or RDP 3389, or Ping). Then check the VPS Panel graphs to see what happened.

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Before you start

  • Use a separate machine for monitoring. Ideally a small server in a different location or with a different provider, so one outage doesn’t take out both.
  • Have SMTP details ready: server, port, username and password from your email provider or a transactional email service. Uptime Kuma sends mail through it.
  • Decide what “down” means. A website can fail while the server still answers ping. Monitor the thing your users rely on.

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Which kind of check should I use?

Windows Defender Firewall’s inbound Echo Request rules must be enabled before Windows Server answers ping. Either monitor RDP with a TCP Port check on 3389 (or your custom RDP port), or allow ICMP on Windows first.

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How to set up email alerts with Uptime Kuma

1

Install Uptime Kuma on your monitoring server

Follow set up Uptime Kuma. It runs in Docker and takes about 15 minutes, including HTTPS.
2

Add the email notification

Open Settings > Notifications, click Setup Notification and pick Email (SMTP). Enter your SMTP host, port, security setting, username and password, the From address and your own address (for example you@example.com) as recipient. Click Test and check that the test email arrives, including in your spam folder.
3

Create a monitor for your server

Click Add New Monitor and choose a type from the table above. Examples:
  • Website: HTTP(s), URL https://example.com
  • Linux server: TCP Port, hostname 203.0.113.10, port 22
  • Windows server: TCP Port, hostname 203.0.113.20, port 3389
4

Avoid false alarms

Keep Heartbeat Interval at 60 seconds and set Retries to 2 or 3, so a single dropped check doesn’t email you.
5

Attach the notification and save

Tick your email notification in the monitor’s Notifications section and click Save.

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How to alert when a server stops checking in (Push)

A Push monitor works the other way round: your server calls Uptime Kuma, and you are alerted if the calls stop. It is useful when the server isn’t reachable from outside, or to confirm a backup job really ran.
1

Create a Push monitor

In Uptime Kuma, click Add New Monitor, choose Push and save. Copy the Push URL it shows.
2

Call the URL from your server

Run crontab -e and add a line that calls the URL every minute:
See schedule tasks with cron.
Replace the URL with the one Uptime Kuma gave you. Treat it like a password: anyone with it can mark your monitor as up.

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How to find out why your server went down

When the alert arrives, work through these in order:
1

Check the VPS Panel

Open your server in the VPS Panel. The Overview tab shows whether it is running, and the Statistics graphs show CPU, memory, disk and network for the last 30 minutes to the last week. A flat line where traffic stopped, or CPU or memory at 100% just before the outage, tells you where to look. See monitor VPS resource usage.
2

Check the task log

The task log shows any boot, restart or power-off at that time.
3

Get a console

If the server is running but you can’t connect, open the VNC console to see boot errors or log in directly. For a dedicated server, open a ticket if you need console access.
4

Read the logs once you are back in

Linux: journalctl -b -1 -p warning shows warnings from the previous boot. See read logs with journalctl. Windows: open Event Viewer and check Windows Logs > System. See use Event Viewer to find errors.
The VPS Panel’s own email notifications cover account logins and backups; they don’t tell you when your server stops responding. That is why an external monitor such as Uptime Kuma is needed.

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How to check it worked

Test the whole chain once. On a non-critical port or a test monitor, pause the service (for example sudo systemctl stop nginx on a test site) and wait for the retries to run out. You should receive a Down email, then an Up email after you start it again. Don’t test by stopping SSH or RDP on a server you only reach that way.

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Frequently asked questions

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Can my server email me when it goes down?

No. A server that is off, frozen or cut off from the network can’t send anything. Monitoring has to run somewhere else. What the server itself can do is warn you about problems while it is still running, such as a full disk; see Netdata.

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How often should the check run?

Every 60 seconds with 2 or 3 retries is a good balance for most sites. Shorter intervals find outages faster but cause more false alarms.

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Can I get alerts in Discord or Telegram instead?

Yes. Uptime Kuma supports more than 90 notification services, including Discord, Telegram and Slack. Add them under Settings > Notifications the same way.

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Why did I get a down alert when my site was fine?

The check may have hit a short network blip between the monitor and your server. Raise Retries, and if it repeats, run MTR from the monitoring server to see where packets are lost.

VPS and dedicated server guides

Every server guide in one place.

Set up Uptime Kuma

Install the monitor with Docker.

VPS Panel resource graphs

See what happened before the outage.

Set up Netdata

Alerts for disk, CPU and memory.

Enable ICMP on Windows

Let Windows Server answer ping.

Use the VNC console

Reach a server that won’t answer.
Checked against the official Uptime Kuma documentation (monitor types and the Push endpoint) and Microsoft’s Invoke-WebRequest reference on 4 November 2026. Uptime Kuma menu names can change between releases.

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Need Extra Help?

If you encounter any issues, our support team is ready to assist:

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Last Updated: November 2026