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Getting Started with PulseGuard

Account Setup

1. Registration

Visit guard.ipulse.one and click “Sign Up” to create a new account. Required information:
  • Email address
  • Company name (for organizations)
  • Password

2. Email Verification

Check your inbox for a verification email and click the confirmation link.

3. Organization Setup (Optional)

For team use, you can create an organization:
  1. Go to Settings → Organization
  2. Click “Create Organization”
  3. Invite team members via email invites

First Monitoring Setup

Domain Monitoring

# Via the web interface:
1. Go to Dashboard
2. Click "Add Domain"
3. Enter your domain name (e.g. example.com)
4. Choose monitoring options:
   - Uptime checks (every 5 minutes)
   - SSL certificate monitoring
   - DNS monitoring
   - Website change detection
5. Configure notifications
6. Click "Save"

Device Monitoring

# Download the agent:
1. Go to Dashboard Devices
2. Click "Download Agent"
3. Choose your operating system (Windows/Linux/macOS)
4. Download the installation file

# Installation on Windows:
1. Run the .exe file
2. Follow the installation wizard
3. The agent registers automatically
4. Check status in the dashboard

Service Monitoring

# For API monitoring:
1. Go to Dashboard Services
2. Click "Add Service"
3. Choose protocol (HTTP/TCP/IMAP/SMTP/DNS)
4. Enter endpoint URL
5. Set monitoring interval
6. Configure expected behavior
7. Click "Save"

Notification Configuration

Email Notifications

# Enabled by default for:
- Critical alerts (downtime)
- SSL certificate expiration (30 days before)
- Domain expiration warnings

# Adjust:
1. Go to Settings Notifications
2. Choose "Email" tab
3. Set frequency (Immediate/Daily/Weekly)
4. Choose severity levels

Slack Integration

# Setup steps:
1. Go to Settings Integrations
2. Click "Add Slack"
3. Authorize PulseGuard in Slack
4. Choose channel for notifications
5. Configure message format
6. Test the integration

Webhook Notifications

# For custom integrations:
1. Go to Settings Integrations Webhooks
2. Click "Add Webhook"
3. Enter webhook URL
4. Choose events to trigger:
   - domain_up
   - domain_down
   - incident_created
   - incident_resolved
5. Configure headers (if needed)
6. Test webhook

API Key Creation

For Programmatic Access

# Via dashboard:
1. Go to Settings API Keys
2. Click "Generate New Key"
3. Give the key a name (e.g. "Production API")
4. Set permissions:
   - Read domains
   - Write domains
   - Read devices
   - Read incidents
5. Set rate limits (requests per hour)
6. Click "Create"
7. Copy the API key (shown only once!)

Using API Key

# Example curl request:
curl -X GET "https://api.ipulse.one/api/domains" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json"

Advanced Setup

Environment Variables (For Development)

# Backend environment (.env in apps/backend/)
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/pulseguard
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://api.ipulse.one
CLERK_SECRET_KEY=your_clerk_secret
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=your_stripe_key

# Frontend environment (.env.local in apps/frontend/)
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=your_clerk_publishable_key
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://api.ipulse.one

Docker Setup (Development)

# Start all services:
cd /path/to/PulseGuard
docker compose up -d

# Check status:
docker compose ps

# Stop services:
docker compose down

Agent Configuration

# Agent configuration (generated automatically):
{
  "server_url": "https://api.ipulse.one",
  "api_key": "your_device_api_key",
  "device_name": "Server-01",
  "collection_interval": 30,
  "log_level": "info"
}

Troubleshooting Setup Issues

Database Connection Failed

# Check PostgreSQL:
docker compose ps

# View logs:
docker compose logs postgres

# Reset database:
docker compose down -v
docker compose up -d postgres

Agent Registration Failed

# Check internet connection
ping api.ipulse.one

# Verify API key
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" https://api.ipulse.one/api/devices

# Check firewall
sudo ufw status
sudo iptables -L

SSL Certificate Issues

# For local development:
# Download mkcert: https://github.com/FiloSottile/mkcert
mkcert -install
mkcert localhost

# Place certificates in apps/frontend/certs/

Next Steps

After successful setup:
  1. Explore the Dashboard: View your monitoring data
  2. Set Up Alerts: Configure notifications for critical events
  3. Add More Assets: Extend monitoring to more domains/services
  4. Configure Integrations: Connect with your favorite tools
  5. View Reports: Generate your first uptime report

Setup FAQ

Q: How often are checks performed? A: Default every 5 minutes for domains, every 30 seconds for devices. Q: Can I import historical data? A: No, PulseGuard starts monitoring from the time of addition. Q: What are the API rate limits? A: 1000 requests per hour for free tier, higher for paid plans. Q: Does PulseGuard support IPv6? A: Yes, both IPv4 and IPv6 are supported for all monitoring types.