i just googled "free system monitoring software" and found lots of stuff;
you want to watch for more than just the SQL server service being up or down; you've also got to see if there is a network issue, or even if the whole server is offline/down.
Lowell
--
help us help you! If you post a question, make sure you include a CREATE TABLE... statement and INSERT INTO... statement into that table to give the volunteers here representative data. with your description of the problem, we can provide a tested, verifiable solution to your question! asking the question the right way gets you a tested answer the fastest way possible!