In a method and appliance for using a dynamic response time to determine responsiveness of one or more network services on a server, a monitor determines a response time for each of one or more network services. The monitor establishes an average response time based on the determined response time for each of the one or more network services. The monitor associates with the established average response time a predetermined threshold for which the response time of the one or more network services may deviate from the average response time and maintain an indication of responsiveness. The monitor monitors the response time of the one or more network services to one or more requests. The monitor determines that the response time of the one or more network services deviates from the average response time by the predetermined threshold. The monitor indicates that the one or more network services are unavailable.