Monitor anything and get SMS notifications

A while back I did a post on sending international SMS messages the cheap way using Tropo.com. I have now coded an extension to crash_hound which allows you to monitor anything and get SMS notifications for 2 cents pr. message - the service works anywhere in the world!

The new version of crash_hound has deprecated Notifo since SMS reminders are generally more reliable.

You can fork the code on github.com.

How to get started

To get started should be really simple, here are 5 steps you need to follow:

• Register a Tropo.com account - it should be very easy.
• Create a new script sender.js with following JavaScript code:
  

  call(numberToDial, {network:"SMS"});
  say(msg);
  

• Create a new scripting application called my_sender and tie it to sender.js
• Copy my_sender API key and use it instead of TROPO_API_KEY in the example below

Followed this and got the API key? Great, you are ready to setup your first checks!

Using crash_hound

To download and install crash_hound from PyPi simply do:

$ sudo easy_install crash_hound

After it's installed properly you can create your first check script:

from crash_hound import CrashHound, ReportCrash, CommonChecks, SenderTropo


# Configure sender and checker
crash_sender = SenderTropo('TROPO_API_KEY',
                           '+56 9 ...YOUR MOBILE NUMBER...')

crash_checker = CrashHound(crash_sender)

# Check an URL and get notifications if it does not return 302 or 200
# I.e. you will get notification if it's down. Will notify every 60 seconds.
crash_checker.register_check('Google.com Blah test',
                             lambda: CommonChecks.website_check('http://google.com/blah'),
                             notify_every=60)

# Will run your checks every 10 seconds (indefinitely)
crash_checker.run_checks(check_interval=10)

Run the above script and you should get a SMS notification on your phone!

... If you insists on using Notifo

If you really want to use Notifo here is how you create a Notifo sender:

from crash_hound import SenderNotifo
crash_sender = SenderNotifo('NOTIFO_API_KEY',
                            'NOTIFO_API_PASSWORD')
crash_checker = CrashHound(crash_sender)