We have several web servers. On each of these servers there can be ~250 web sites. I need to add a HTTP check for each site on each server. Each site has a reserved host header that we know can always be resolved in the format of:

w10000.hostchecks.mycompany.com  
w10020.hostchecks.mycompany.com  
w11992.hostchecks.mycompany.com  
..and so on..

What I want is for there to be a master ping check on the web server's main IP address and then separate HTTP checks for each of the sites on the server. If the master ping test fails then I want the HTTP tests to cease until the master ping check goes OK.

I had a stab at this and tried do the following:

1. Create a parent host that does a ping check on the server's main ip address (e.g. server is named WEB0001).

2. For each of the sites that reside on WEB0001:

   • Create a separate Host with a Primary Hostname of wXXXXX.hostchecks.mycompany.com
   • Make WEB0001 the parent host

   • Add a monitor (HTTP check to a special url that is mapped into each site using a virtual directory:

     H- $HOSTADDRESS$ -u /__hostcheck/IsAlive.aspx -w 5 -c 10 -p 80

However I find that if I down the parent server (WEB0001) the http checks seem to continue.

Am I going about this completely the wrong way?