Hi all, I haven't seen anybody mentioning Argus: website: http://www.tcp4me.com online demo: http://www.tcp4me.com/cgi-bin/argus?func=login&name=manager&passwd=xxx It does exacly what was asked in the thread starter post (ping and alert with rate limits) and even more if needed (monitor services, or even webpages :) ). I use it for over a year now, and am very happy with it. Hope it helps, Alex