---
title: "Pulse: Linux server monitoring with alerts | Sentinely"
description: "Sentinely Pulse puts a lightweight agent on Linux servers to track CPU, memory, disk, network, services and ports, with threshold alerts and stale-agent checks."
url: https://sentinely.app/pulse
---

# Know what a server is doing—and whether its agent is still alive.

Sentinely Pulse is Linux server monitoring: a lightweight agent reports CPU, memory, disk, network, services and ports, and Sentinely alerts you when a threshold is crossed or the agent goes quiet.

Move between a plain-language health view and the technical evidence needed to investigate.

[Start 14-day trial](https://sentinely.app/auth/sign-up) [View plan limits](https://sentinely.app/pricing)

## What does Pulse track?

### Core system metrics

Collect CPU, memory, disk, network, load, uptime, and process-count metrics on a regular interval.

### Services and ports

Inspect reported services, top processes, and listening ports when the selected agent supports them.

### Agent freshness

Distinguish a stale monitoring agent from a healthy server instead of treating old data as current.

### Threshold incidents

Create alert rules for infrastructure metrics and follow incidents through acknowledgement and resolution.

### Clarity Mode

Translate technical conditions into a simpler operating summary for founders and client stakeholders.

### Controlled agent releases

Distribute private, checksummed agent builds through authenticated download routes.

Secure installation flow

## Register, verify, and report with scoped credentials.

The installation flow creates an account-scoped API key, returns an authenticated agent download, and validates every metrics payload before it reaches time-series storage.

Create a server and scoped agent key
Download a private checksummed release
Send bounded, validated metrics payloads
Mark the agent stale when reports stop

## How do I set up server monitoring with Pulse?

Connect the first server during the trial and confirm the first report and alert.

### 1. Add a server

Create a server in Sentinely. It generates an account-scoped API key and a one-line install command for that server.

### 2. Run the install command

Run the command with sudo on the server. It needs curl and outbound HTTPS on port 443, and downloads a private, checksummed agent build.

### 3. Set a threshold and test it

The server appears once the agent reports. Add an alert rule for CPU, memory or disk and send a test notification.

## Pulse questions

### What does Pulse monitor on a server?

CPU, memory, disk, network, load, uptime and process count, plus reported services, top processes and listening ports where the agent supports them.

### How do I install the Pulse agent?

Add a server in Sentinely, copy the one-line install command and run it with sudo. The server needs curl and outbound HTTPS on port 443.

### What happens if the agent stops reporting?

Pulse marks the agent as stale, so old data is never shown as the current state of a healthy server.

### Is Pulse an APM or log search tool?

No. Pulse is host-level server monitoring. It does not trace requests, profile code or search logs.

### How many servers can I monitor?

Indie includes 1 server, Agency 5 and Scale 50. Every plan starts with a 14-day trial.

### What is Clarity Mode?

A plain-English view that explains what a server problem means, for founders and clients, next to the technical metrics your team needs.

## Works with the rest of Sentinely

- [Agent PulseHeartbeat monitoring for cron jobs, workers and AI agents.](https://sentinely.app/agent-pulse)
- [PingWebsite, API, TCP and DNS uptime checks every minute.](https://sentinely.app/ping)
- [StatusA public status page for the monitors you choose.](https://sentinely.app/status)
- [GuardAWS spend spikes and resource changes, read-only.](https://sentinely.app/guard)

Every product is included in one plan. [Compare Indie, Agency and Scale](https://sentinely.app/pricing)

## Connect the first production server.

Verify the agent's first report, configure one useful threshold, and send a test notification during the trial.

[Start 14-day trial](https://sentinely.app/auth/sign-up)