Server Pulse Overview
Server Pulse is lightweight server metric monitoring for your infrastructure. A small collector agent runs on your server and sends CPU, memory, swap, disk, load, and network metrics to Pulsewise, giving you a real-time dashboard with trend indicators, threshold-based alerts, and multi-channel notifications.
Available on: Business plan
How it works
- Install the collector — Run a one-click command on your server to install the Pulsewise collector agent.
- Automatic metric collection — The collector gathers system metrics and sends them to Pulsewise via a secure API.
- Threshold evaluation — Pulsewise evaluates metrics against your configured thresholds and alerts you when something needs attention.
- Real-time dashboard — View live metrics, trends, and historical data on your Server Pulse dashboard.
What it monitors
Server Pulse tracks key system metrics to give you complete visibility into your server's health:
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| CPU usage | Current utilization percentage and core count |
| Memory | Total, used, and percentage |
| Swap | Total, used, and percentage |
| Disk | Per-mount usage with device type and filesystem info |
| Load average | 1, 5, and 15-minute load averages, normalized per CPU core |
| Network | Bytes received and sent per second |
| System info | OS, platform, architecture, kernel version, virtualization type |
Setting up Server Pulse
- Navigate to your site's Server Pulse page.
- Click Enable Server Pulse — this generates a unique API token for your server.
- Copy the one-click install command (includes your token).
- Run the command on your server:
curl -sSL https://pulsewise.app/install-collector.sh | TOKEN={your-token} sudo -E bash
- Within seconds, metrics will appear on your dashboard.
The collector runs as a systemd service and starts automatically on boot.
Dashboard overview
The Server Pulse dashboard gives you an at-a-glance view of your server's current state:
- Status header — Server name, OS info, uptime, and last report time
- Metric cards — CPU, Memory, Swap, and Disk with current values, 24-hour peaks, and trend arrows
- Load average card — 1, 5, and 15-minute load averages
- Network throughput card — Real-time bytes received and sent per second (when available)
- Disk details table — Expandable view showing all mounted filesystems with device info and usage
- Recent reports table — Paginated history of metric snapshots
Requirements
To use Server Pulse, you'll need:
- A server running Linux (x86_64 or ARM64)
- Root or sudo access for installation
- Outbound HTTPS access to pulsewise.app
- Business plan subscription
Related pages
- The Collector — Detailed collector info, configuration, and troubleshooting
- Alerts & Thresholds — Configure metric thresholds and notification rules
- Security & Privacy — Data handling, retention, and security practices