Salix Monitor 360 • Product update
Salix Monitor 360 update: companion apps and clearer alerts
Written by Graeme Moignard
Published:
Last updated:
Since the last published Salix Monitor 360 product update, the work has moved from pure web-app polish into something bigger: the start of a proper monitoring ecosystem.
The main application has continued to get cleaner, but the biggest step this week has been the first companion apps and the alert workflow behind them. The Windows alert desk is now live and ready to use, the Android app is built and waiting for Google Play access and the Apple app is next on the list if time behaves itself.
That changes the shape of the product. Salix Monitor 360 is no longer just a browser dashboard with alerts attached. It is becoming a web platform with desktop and mobile alert tools sitting around it, all fed by the same scoped, permission-aware alert data.
This week’s shape
One alert engine. More places to see it.
The companion apps need a dependable connection to the main Salix Monitor 360 web application so alerts stay useful outside the browser.
Windows companion app
Salix Alert Desk is now live
The Windows companion app gives users a focused alert command console outside the browser. It shows active warning and critical alerts, provides an event history and gives authorised users quick actions for acknowledging, snoozing, closing and noting alerts.
Click the screenshot to open a larger preview.
From web app to companion-app ecosystem
The biggest shift this week is that Salix Monitor 360 is moving beyond the idea of everything living inside one browser window.
The web app still matters. It remains the main place for monitors, agents, alerts, reports, organisation management, admin tools and configuration. But alerts are time-sensitive by nature and people do not always live inside a browser tab. They work on desktops, move between machines and, eventually, need alerts on mobile too.
That is why the new companion-app direction matters. The aim is not to replace the web app. The aim is to put the urgent parts of Salix Monitor 360 closer to where people are already working.
The companion-app plan now has three lanes:
Windows
Live and ready to use.
Android
Built and waiting for Google Play access.
Apple
Planned as the next companion app target.
The companion app connection has a proper job now
A native companion app is only useful if the product behind it behaves consistently. Alerts, account scope, actions and history all need to match what the user is allowed to see in the main web app.
The companion app work keeps the same basic rule as the web app: show the right alerts to the right person, and keep alert actions controlled by the user’s role. Those rules need to stay consistent whether someone is at a desk, on a laptop or checking a phone.
The app experience is being built around practical alert handling: seeing what needs attention, opening the useful detail, recording action taken and keeping the wider team in step.
That last part matters. A companion app should not be a dangerous shortcut around the application. It should be another controlled doorway into the same permission model.
Salix Alert Desk for Windows is live
The Windows app is now live and ready to use. It is called Salix Alert Desk and its job is deliberately focused: show current warning and critical alerts, make the active queue easy to work through and keep recent event history close at hand.
The app includes sign-in, alert polling, active alert cards, event history filters, quiet-hour preferences, desktop popup options, shared note drafting, acknowledge and remove-acknowledgement actions, snooze controls, close controls, copy-summary tools and links back into Salix Monitor 360.
It also has the kind of practical desktop details that make it feel less like a quick test window and more like a usable tool: an About box, version display, update-check groundwork, footer links, notification preferences and clearer wording around what the user is looking at.
The current version shown in the screenshot is 0.1.45. It is still early, but it is a real working companion app rather than a sketch on the back of a napkin.
A note about the unsigned Windows installer
The Windows installer is currently unsigned. That means Windows may show an Unknown publisher or untrusted installer warning when someone downloads or runs it.
That does not mean the installer is broken. It means I have not yet gone through the Windows code-signing and certification route through Azure or Microsoft. That will come later, but it is not in place yet.
For now, the important rule is simple: only download Salix Alert Desk from the official Salix Monitor 360 download locations. The downloads page on salixmonitor360.je will make that clear, with the installer, portable ZIP, version information, release notes and checksums in one place.
The Android app is built, with publishing checks still to complete
The Android companion app has also been completed on the build side. The next step is publishing, but that currently depends on Google completing the required account checks and Play Console setup.
That part is less glamorous than building the app, but it is part of the job. Account checks, Play Console access, listing requirements, screenshots, privacy information and release setup all have to be worked through properly.
Once the Play Store side opens up, the Android app can move from build-complete to published or test-ready. Until then, it is in the waiting room with a little numbered ticket and a very corporate carpet.
The Apple app is planned next
After Windows and Android, the next planned companion app work is Apple: iPhone and iPad first, with App Store or TestFlight publishing to follow.
The Apple work should be easier to reason about now that the companion-app pattern is clearer. The Windows app has proved the active-alert workflow and the Android app has helped confirm the mobile direction. The Apple app can follow the same customer-facing idea: show the right alerts to the right person, keep actions controlled and avoid turning notifications into pocket thunder.
Network, service and agent work carried on too
The companion app work was the headline, but the main Salix Monitor 360 application has not been left sulking in the corner.
The network view has had more polish so the map feels clearer and more useful. Dragging and inspect behaviour have been improved, monitor states are easier to read and disabled monitors are now treated more sensibly instead of being lumped into confusing unknown states.
Service monitoring has also moved forward. Windows and Linux service pickers have been tightened, Linux service state handling has improved and service monitors are closer to being genuinely useful for checking the things that keep machines alive: web servers, databases, scheduled jobs and other critical services.
The agents have continued to get tougher as well. The Linux and macOS shell agents have had self-reload and permission-repair work, Windows guidance now makes the Scheduled Task requirement clearer and the application side has become more careful about agent identity and version handling.
That is the quiet machinery behind the visible screens. A monitoring system is only as useful as the data it trusts and agent data has to arrive cleanly, predictably and at the right rhythm.
The downloads page is becoming the front door
All three companion apps will eventually be linked from a downloads page on salixmonitor360.je.
The plan is for that page to include the Windows installer, Windows portable ZIP, checksums, release notes, unsigned-installer guidance, Android Play Store link when available and Apple App Store or TestFlight link when ready.
That page needs to be clear rather than clever. When people are downloading software, especially unsigned Windows software, the page should tell them exactly what they are getting, where it comes from, what version it is and what warnings they may see.
Why this week mattered
This week mattered because the product crossed an invisible but important line. It is no longer just about adding more screens to the web app. It is about making Salix Monitor 360 available in the places where alerts actually need to be seen and handled.
The companion apps, Windows work, Android build and planned Apple app all point in the same direction: alerts should be clear, scoped, actionable and close to the user. Not noisy. Not leaky. Not trapped in one browser tab that someone forgot to reopen after lunch.
Alongside that, the continuing work on agents, services, network views and downloads helps turn the whole thing into something more rounded and useful.
Final thought
Good monitoring should follow the work, not force the work to follow it.
The web app is still the centre of Salix Monitor 360, but the companion apps are how the important bits start stepping out into the real working day. Windows first, Android next, Apple after that: same alerts, same permissions, more useful places to deal with them.
That is the direction now. Calmer alerts, stronger agents, clearer service monitoring and companion apps that help people respond without needing to babysit a browser window.