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Migrate from Pingdom

One-click import of your Pingdom checks into HowlOps, plus a manual checklist for channels and status pages.

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Overview

HowlOps imports your Pingdom checks directly through the Pingdom API. Notification channels and status pages are still a short manual step because they do not map one-to-one. Nothing in Pingdom is ever modified; the import only reads.

Time: a few minutes for checks, plus a little for channels/status pages Prerequisites: a Pingdom API token; a HowlOps account

  1. In HowlOps, go to Settings → Import (or start it from the onboarding wizard).
  2. Choose Pingdom and paste your API token (Pingdom: My Pingdom → Account → The Pingdom API). A read-only token is enough because the import only reads, and HowlOps never stores your token.
  3. Click Load items to see a preview table of every check and what it maps to. Rows that can't be imported are shown in yellow with the reason.
  4. Tick the checks you want and click Import. A progress bar shows Importing 34/120…; a problem with one check never stops the rest.
  5. You get a summary such as 117 imported, 3 skipped and a Download report CSV.

What gets imported

Pingdom check typeHowlOps equivalentNotes
HTTP / HTTP CustomHTTP / HTTPS monitorDirect equivalent
PingPing (ICMP) monitorHost taken from the check's hostname
TCP port checkTCP monitorHost and port taken from the check's hostname/port
DNS, UDP, SMTP, POP3, IMAPnot importedHowlOps has no equivalent check type for these; see below
  • DNS / UDP / SMTP / POP3 / IMAP checks are skipped with a reason in the report. For most "is the service up" cases, recreate them as an HTTP monitor against the service's health endpoint; a DNS resolution check can be recreated as a HowlOps DNS monitor.
  • Check intervals are clamped up to the workspace's current minimum and the report records the adjustment. An imported monitor is not rejected only because its source interval is faster than the active HowlOps entitlement.

Re-running is safe

Every import is idempotent: HowlOps remembers which Pingdom check created which HowlOps monitor, so a second run updates or skips rather than duplicating. If an import is interrupted (e.g. a deploy restarts the service mid-run), just run it again.

Manual steps (channels & status pages)

The rest of the migration is a short manual checklist. The concepts map closely between the two platforms.

Concept mapping

PingdomHowlOps equivalentNotes
HTTP / HTTP Custom checkHTTP / HTTPS monitorDirect equivalent
Ping checkPing (ICMP) monitorDirect equivalent
TCP checkTCP monitorDirect equivalent: a raw TCP connect check, no payload inspection
DNS / UDP / SMTP / POP3 / IMAP checknoneHowlOps does not have these check types (DNS resolution checks can be recreated manually as a HowlOps DNS monitor). For most "is the service up" cases, use an HTTP monitor against the service's health endpoint instead.
Contact / IntegrationNotification channelHowlOps calls them "channels"
Public Status PageStatus pageMore customisation options available
Maintenance windowMaintenance windowSame concept

The one-click import above handles the checks, so you do not need to recreate them by hand. The steps below cover the parts the importer does not touch: notification channels and status pages.

Step 1: Recreate notification channels

In Integrations → + Add Channel, recreate each Pingdom contact/integration:

Pingdom contact/integrationHowlOps channel type
EmailEmail
SlackSlack (Incoming Webhook)
WebhookCustom Webhook
PagerDutyPagerDuty
SMSSMS

After adding each channel, click Send Test Alert to verify it works before assigning it to monitors.

Step 2: Assign channels to monitors

For each monitor:

  1. Open the monitor and click Edit.
  2. In the Notifications section, add the appropriate channels.
  3. Click Save.

Step 3: Recreate your status page

  1. Go to Status Pages → + New Status Page.
  2. Give it the same name and select the same monitors.
  3. If you had a custom domain on Pingdom, follow the custom domain setup in Tutorials: Public status page.

Step 4: Validate and cut over

Before disabling Pingdom:

  1. Let HowlOps run in parallel for at least 24 hours to confirm checks are running correctly.
  2. Trigger a deliberate test failure (take down a test endpoint briefly) to confirm alert delivery.
  3. Verify the status page looks correct.

Once you are confident everything is working:

  1. Disable or delete checks in Pingdom.
  2. Update your DNS or subscriber links to point to the new HowlOps status page URL.

Differences to be aware of

  • Check intervals: the importer applies the minimum returned for your current Uptime plan. Review current intervals on the pricing page.
  • Probing regions: Select from the regions currently available to your workspace. The monitor form always shows the live list; Probing regions explains how regional results are combined.
  • Heartbeats: Pingdom does not have a heartbeat feature for cron/job monitoring. If you were monitoring a scheduled job via an HTTP check, consider switching to native heartbeats for more reliable detection.
  • On-call and escalation: Set up escalation policies in HowlOps to ensure alerts are not missed.

What's next

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