Ping Monitor
The ping monitor uses the system ping command to check network connectivity to
a host. It measures round-trip time and packet loss, making it useful for
monitoring network latency and availability.
Configuration
The ping monitor evaluates conditions using the expressions language.
By default, the ping monitor will show:
- Green if there's no packet loss and the round-trip time is within the warning timeout
- Orange if there's no packet loss but the round-trip time exceeds the warning timeout, or if there was partial packet loss
- Yellow if the ping command timed out
- Red if there was complete packet loss
ping:
# The host to ping (IP address or hostname)
host: 8.8.8.8
# How often to perform the ping test
interval: 60s
# How long to wait for ping responses before timing out
timeout: 5s
# (optional) Warning threshold for round-trip time (default: 1s)
warning_timeout: 1s
# (optional) Number of ping packets to send (default: 1)
count: 1
# (optional) Condition that determines when the monitor should be red/error (default: "lost == count")
red: |
lost == count
# (optional) Condition that determines when the monitor should be orange/warning (default: "lost > 0 or (lost == 0 and rtt_max > warning_timeout)")
orange: |
lost > 0 or (lost == 0 and rtt_max > warning_timeout)
# (optional) Condition that determines when the monitor should be green (default: "lost == 0")
green: |
lost == 0
# (optional) Condition that determines when the monitor should be blue/highlight (default: "false")
blue: |
false
# (optional) Condition that determines when the monitor should be yellow/timeout (default: "false")
yellow: |
false
Parameters
Required Parameters
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
host | The IP address or hostname to ping |
interval | How often to perform ping tests |
timeout | How long to wait for ping responses |
Optional Parameters
| Parameter | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
warning_timeout | Round-trip time threshold for orange status | 1s |
count | Number of ping packets to send | 1 |
red | Condition for red status | "lost == count" |
orange | Condition for orange status | "lost > 0 or (lost == 0 and rtt_max > warning_timeout)" |
green | Condition for green status | "lost == 0" |
blue | Condition for blue status | "false" |
yellow | Condition for yellow status | "false" |
Expression variables
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
count | Number of ping packets sent |
lost | Number of packets lost |
rtt_avg | Average round-trip time in microseconds |
rtt_min | Minimum round-trip time in microseconds |
rtt_max | Maximum round-trip time in microseconds |
warning_timeout | The configured warning timeout value in microseconds |
Example
Ping Google's DNS server using the default settings:
ping:
host: 8.8.8.8
Ping Google's DNS server with custom settings:
ping:
host: 8.8.8.8
interval: 30s
timeout: 10s
warning_timeout: 500ms
count: 3
red: |
lost > 0
orange: |
lost == 0 and rtt_min > warning_timeout
This monitor will:
- Ping Google's DNS server (8.8.8.8) every 30 seconds with three packets
- Wait up to 10 seconds for responses
- Show orange/warning status if the shortest round-trip time exceeds 500ms (ie: all pings were slow)
- Show red/error status if any packets are lost
Requirements
The ping monitor requires the ping command to be available on the system. This
is typically installed by default on most Unix-like systems.