Executive Summary

In today’s digital-first world, ensuring that your website and APIs are available and performing well is critical. A few minutes of downtime can result in lost customers, revenue, and trust. This blog explains how to set up Prometheus, Blackbox Exporter, and Grafana on an AWS EC2 instance to continuously monitor website uptime, SSL certificate validity, and response times with visual dashboards and alerts.

Problem

Businesses often face challenges in knowing when their websites or applications go down. Traditional monitoring tools can be expensive or complex to set up, leaving gaps in visibility. Without proper monitoring:

• Downtime may go unnoticed until reported by users.

• SSL certificates can expire unexpectedly.

• Page load delays or DNS failures remain undetected.

The need for a reliable, open-source, and cost-effective solution to track website availability and performance metrics is clear.

Solution

By combining Prometheus for time-series data collection, Blackbox Exporter for probing website endpoints, and Grafana for visualization, you can build a robust monitoring solution that:

• Continuously checks website uptime and response codes.

• Monitors SSL expiry to prevent unexpected downtime.

• Tracks latency, DNS resolution, and HTTP response times.

• Provides real-time dashboards and alerting capabilities.

This solution is deployed on a Linux-based Ec2 instance and uses entirely open-source tools.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have the following:

• An AWS EC2 instance (Ubuntu or Amazon Linux 2) with at least 2 GB RAM.

• A domain or set of URLs you want to monitor.

• Access to the EC2 instance via SSH.

• Basic knowledge of Linux commands.

• Ports 9090 (Prometheus), 9115 (Blackbox Exporter), and 3000 (Grafana) allowed in the EC2 Security Group.

Challenges

While implementing, you may encounter:

• Firewall and Security Group restrictions preventing access to Grafana or Prometheus.

• Incorrect scrape configurations in Prometheus resulting in no metrics collected.

• CORS or SSL certificate errors when probing HTTPS websites.

• Grafana authentication and datasource setup issues if not properly configured.

Scenario

Consider a financial services company that needs to ensure its customer-facing portal and API endpoints are always online. Using Prometheus and Blackbox Exporter, they want to:

• Monitor their website URLs.

• Receive early warnings if the SSL certificate is nearing expiry.

• Visualize uptime history and response times in Grafana dashboards.

Step-by-Step Solution

1. Install Prometheus

Comments:

sudo useradd –no-create-home –shell /bin/false prometheus
sudo mkdir /etc/prometheus /var/lib/prometheus
sudo apt update && sudo apt install wget tar -y

cd /tmp
wget https://github.com/prometheus/prometheus/releases/download/v2.53.0/prometheus-2.53.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar -xvf prometheus-2.53.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
cd prometheus-2.53.0.linux-amd64/

sudo cp prometheus promtool /usr/local/bin/
sudo cp -r consoles console_libraries /etc/prometheus/
sudo cp prometheus.yml /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
sudo chown -R prometheus:prometheus /etc/prometheus /var/lib/prometheus

Create Prometheus service:

[Unit]
Description=Prometheus
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=prometheus
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/prometheus \
–config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml \
–storage.tsdb.path=/var/lib/prometheus \
–web.listen-address=:9090 \
–web.enable-lifecycle

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start:

sudo systemctl daemon-reexec
sudo systemctl enable prometheus
sudo systemctl start prometheus

2. Install Blackbox Exporter

cd /tmp
wget https://github.com/prometheus/blackbox_exporter/releases/download/v0.25.0/blackbox_exporter-0.25.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar -xvf blackbox_exporter-0.25.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
cd blackbox_exporter-0.25.0.linux-amd64/

sudo cp blackbox_exporter /usr/local/bin/
sudo mkdir /etc/blackbox_exporter
sudo cp blackbox.yml /etc/blackbox_exporter/

Create Blackbox service file as like below:

[Unit]
Description=Blackbox Exporter
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/blackbox_exporter \
–config.file=/etc/blackbox_exporter/blackbox.yml
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start:

sudo systemctl daemon-reexec
sudo systemctl enable blackbox_exporter
sudo systemctl start blackbox_exporter

3. Configure Prometheus to Use Blackbox Exporter

Edit /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml:

scrape_configs:
– job_name: ‘blackbox’
metrics_path: /probe
params:
module: [http_2xx]
static_configs:
– targets:
– https://example.com
– https://google.com
relabel_configs:
– source_labels: [__address__]
target_label: __param_target
– source_labels: [__param_target]
target_label: instance
– target_label: __address__
replacement: localhost:9115

Restart Prometheus:

sudo systemctl restart prometheus

4. Install Grafana

sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https software-properties-common
wget -q -O – https://packages.grafana.com/gpg.key | sudo apt-key add –
sudo add-apt-repository “deb https://packages.grafana.com/oss/deb stable main”
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grafana -y
sudo systemctl enable grafana-server
sudo systemctl start grafana-server

Access Grafana:

http://<EC2_PUBLIC_IP>:3000

(Default login: admin / admin)

5. Add Prometheus Datasource in Grafana

• Go to Configuration → Data sources → Add data source

• Select Prometheus

• URL: http://localhost:9090

• Save & Test

6. Import a Ready-made Blackbox Dashboard

• Go to Dashboards → Import

• Enter Dashboard ID: 7587

• Select your Prometheus datasource

• Click Import

You’ll now see uptime metrics including:

• Status (UP/DOWN)

• HTTP status code

• SSL expiry

• Response time and latency

Conclusion

With this setup, you now have a complete uptime monitoring solution using Prometheus, Blackbox Exporter, and Grafana on AWS EC2. This ensures you’re always aware of your website’s availability, SSL health, and performance without relying on expensive commercial tools.

Cogniv Technologies and Nunnari Labs Announce Strategic Collaboration to Deliver AI-Powered Cloud Solutions for Enterprises

Partnership combines Cogniv’s cloud and managed services expertise with Nunnari’s AIfirst product engineering capabilities to accelerate digital transformation.

Coimbatore, India – November 21, 2025

Coimbatore based Cogniv Technologies and Nunnari Labs today jointly announced a strategic collaboration to co-create and deliver enterprise-grade AI solutions built on secure, scalable cloud infrastructure.

The partnership will focus on bridging a critical gap many organizations face today —turning AI experimentation into operational reality. Together, the two firms will deliver a unified framework that makes it easier for businesses to design, deploy, and manage AI solutions that perform at scale.

What This Means for Clients

As artificial intelligence moves from experimentation to enterprise adoption, many organizations find themselves stuck between innovation and execution. Models may work in controlled environments, but scaling them securely, cost-eGectively, and in sync with existing systems remains a major hurdle.

The collaboration between Nunnari Labs and Cogniv Technologies aims to close that gap. Nunnari brings the depth of AI research, model development, and product engineering, while Cogniv provides the cloud backbone, DevOps discipline, and managed operations needed to make those AI systems run reliably at scale. Together, they oGer enterprises a practical path to bring AI into the core of their business – one that ensures performance in the real world, not just in prototypes.

For clients, this means dependable AI that integrates smoothly with their cloud environments, scales with demand, and adheres to the highest standards of transparency, security, and sustainability. More than just accelerating deployment, the partnership helps organizations translate innovation into measurable business outcomes.

The Collaboration

Through this partnership, both companies will jointly design and deploy solution accelerators across sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, retail, and logistics. Clients will benefit from integrated oGerings that combine AI model development, cloud architecture, edge deployment, and ongoing managed services under one unified framework.

“Our partnership with Nunnari Labs is a strategic leap towards turning innovative AI concepts into real enterprise impact,” said Jeswanth Vijay, CEO, Cogniv Technologies. “Cogniv’s cloud and data expertise, combined with Nunnari’s cutting-edge AI engineering, will empower clients to scale AI solutions seamlessly. This is about transforming experimentation into execution and delivering future-ready AI Solution for business growth.”

Nunnari Labs’ core focuses on inclusive AI aligned with global standards like OECD.AI and NIST, adding a strong ethical dimension to the collaboration. Together, the two companies will help enterprises modernize infrastructure, automate operations, and embed intelligence into business processes without compromising on data security, transparency, or performance.

“At Nunnari Labs, our goal has always been to make advanced AI accessible, enterpriseready, and responsible. Partnering with Cogniv Technologies is a natural extension of that mission. Cogniv’s strength in cloud transformation perfectly complements our AI engineering expertise, allowing us to create solutions that are both scalable and impactful. Together, we’re building a future-ready ecosystem where cloud and AI converge to deliver real value for enterprises,” said Navaneeth Malingan, Founder & CEO, Nunnari Labs.

The timing of this collaboration reflects a broader market shift. As enterprises increasingly adopt GenAI, automation, and data-driven decision frameworks, the need for dependable infrastructure and ethical AI design has never been greater.

Both companies plan to launch joint solution frameworks and proof-of-concept projects in early 2026, followed by client onboarding and industry-specific AI accelerators blending innovation with accountability.
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About Cogniv Technologies

Cogniv Technologies is a technology consulting and services firm focused on cloud transformation, managed services, and DevOps. The company helps enterprises modernize their IT infrastructure, improve scalability, and ensure 24/7 reliability through customized cloud and automation solutions.

Learn more at www.cognivtech.com.

About Nunnari Labs

Nunnari Labs is an AI-first R&D and product engineering company dedicated to creating intelligent, sustainable, and human-centric technology solutions. With expertise spanning AI/ML, computer vision, MLOps, and intelligent industrial automation, the company works with global enterprises and research partners to turn advanced AI concepts into scalable business products.

Learn more at www.nunnarilabs.com.

The Challenge: Building a Digital Foundation

Customer team faced several hurdles at the start of their digital journey:

• Uncertainty around hosting platforms
• Scalability limitations and potential downtime
• Lack of automated deployment and monitoring tools
• Security vulnerabilities due to manual configurations

These challenges threatened to delay their online launch and compromise user experience during peak hours.

The Solution: AWS Elastic Container Service + CI/CD Automation

To overcome these obstacles, Cogniv Technologies implemented a fully automated, cloud native solution using AWS Elastic Container Service and a CI/CD pipeline

How the Partner Resolved the Customer Challenge

Designed a Fully Automated 3-Tier Architecture 

Utilized AWS CloudFormation to provision infrastructure as code. Included a secure VPC, application layer (Elastic Container Service), and database layer (Amazon RDS).

Implemented Secure Networking:

Deployed resources within a custom VPC for isolated and secure network access.Placed the RDS database in private subnets to protect sensitive data.

Deployed Scalable Application Hosting:

Used AWS Elastic Container Service to host the Dockerized application. Enabled automatic scaling, load balancing, and health monitoring.

Integrated GitHub for Source Control:

Enabled seamless version control and collaboration. Ensured traceability and transparency in code change

Established CI/CD Pipeline:

Configured AWS CodePipeline and CodeBuild for automated builds and deployments. Enabled continuous integration and delivery with minimal manual intervention.

Streamlined Deployment Workflow:

Automated the entire release process from code commit to production deployment. Reduced downtime and manual errors, ensuring consistent and reliable updates.

Enhanced Operational Efficiency:

Eliminated manual overhead, allowing the team to focus on innovation. Improved deployment speed and system reliability.

DevOps in Action: Practices That Powered the Transformation

Version Control: GitHub integration enabled seamless collaboration and change tracking.

CI/CD Pipelines: Automated deployment workflows ensured rapid, reliable software delivery.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC): AWS CloudFormation enabled consistent, version-controlled environment provisioning.

Technical Results:

– 85% faster deployments  from days to minutes
– Zero downtime during deployments
– 90% reduction in human error through automation
– 100% infrastructure consistency with IaC
– Improved scalability during peak traffic
– Shift from maintenance to innovation for the dev team

Lessons Learned:

– Plan network architecture early to ensure security and scalability.

– Automate everything — from infrastructure to deployments.

– Use managed services to reduce complexity and operational overhead.

– Integrate monitoring and security from the start.

About the Partner: Cogniv Technologies

Cogniv Technologies is an AWS Advanced Tier Partner specializing in:

– Cloud-native architecture

– DevOps and CI/CD automation

– FinOps and cloud cost optimization

Their customer-first approach and deep AWS expertise made them the ideal partner for Sanika’s digital transformation.

Conclusion:

Customer successfully transitioned from a manually managed setup to a modern, scalable cloud platform. With AWS and Cogniv Technologies, they now deliver a seamless digital experience that matches the excellence of their in-person dining  setting the stage
for future growth and innovation.