Patent ID: 8583913

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for providing connectivity monitoring services, comprising: under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions, communicating, by the one or more computer systems, a message to an external device on an external network, the message including instructions and a payload, the instructions including information for contacting an externally available server having a hostname that resolves on the external network, the payload having at least an encrypted portion, the payload including contact information for an internal server for which external network connectivity is to be determined, the internal server residing on a secure internal network, the secure internal network having access controls preventing unauthorized access to the internal server from the external device, the externally available server having access to the secure internal network; receiving, by the externally available server, the payload from the external device; decrypting, by the one or more computer systems, the encrypted portion of the received payload to determine the internal server to contact; contacting, by an internal computing system on the secure internal network, the internal server through the secure internal network using the contact information included within the accepted payload; determining whether a path exists from the external device to the internal server based at least in part on a response from the internal server and the receiving of the payload; and reporting, by the one or more computer systems to a monitoring system, a result of determining whether the path exists from the external device to the internal server, enabling the monitoring system to aggregate the result.