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Ping

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: ping

Overview

This module measures round-trip time and packet loss by sending ping messages to network hosts.

There are two operational modes:

  • privileged (send raw ICMP ping, default). Requires CAP_NET_RAW capability or root privileges:

    Note: set automatically during Netdata installation.

    sudo setcap CAP_NET_RAW=eip <INSTALL_PREFIX>/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/go.d.plugin
  • unprivileged (send UDP ping, Linux only). Requires configuring ping_group_range:

    sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.ping_group_range="0 2147483647"

    To persist the change add net.ipv4.ping_group_range=0 2147483647 to /etc/sysctl.conf and execute sudo sysctl -p.

This collector is supported on all platforms.

This collector supports collecting metrics from multiple instances of this integration, including remote instances.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

This integration doesn't support auto-detection.

Limits

The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection.

Performance Impact

The default configuration for this integration is not expected to impose a significant performance impact on the system.

Metrics

Metrics grouped by scope.

The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels.

Per host

These metrics refer to the remote host.

Labels:

LabelDescription
hostremote host

Metrics:

MetricDimensionsUnit
ping.host_rttmin, max, avgmilliseconds
ping.host_std_dev_rttstd_devmilliseconds
ping.host_packet_losslosspercentage
ping.host_packetsreceived, sentpackets

Alerts

The following alerts are available:

Alert nameOn metricDescription
ping_host_reachable ping.host_packet_lossnetwork host ${lab1el:host} reachability status
ping_packet_loss ping.host_packet_losspacket loss percentage to the network host ${label:host} over the last 10 minutes
ping_host_latency ping.host_rttaverage latency to the network host ${label:host} over the last 10 seconds

Setup

Prerequisites

No action required.

Configuration

File

The configuration file name for this integration is go.d/ping.conf.

You can edit the configuration file using the edit-config script from the Netdata config directory.

cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config go.d/ping.conf

Options

The following options can be defined globally: update_every, autodetection_retry.

Config options
NameDescriptionDefaultRequired
update_everyData collection frequency.5no
autodetection_retryRecheck interval in seconds. Zero means no recheck will be scheduled.0no
hostsNetwork hosts.yes
networkAllows configuration of DNS resolution. Supported options: ip (select IPv4 or IPv6), ip4 (select IPv4), ip6 (select IPv6).ipno
privilegedPing packets type. "no" means send an "unprivileged" UDP ping, "yes" - raw ICMP ping.yesno
packetsNumber of ping packets to send.5no
intervalTimeout between sending ping packets.100msno

Examples

IPv4 hosts

An example configuration.

Config
jobs:
- name: example
hosts:
- 192.0.2.0
- 192.0.2.1

Unprivileged mode

An example configuration.

Config
jobs:
- name: example
privileged: no
hosts:
- 192.0.2.0
- 192.0.2.1

Multi-instance

Note: When you define multiple jobs, their names must be unique.

Multiple instances.

Config
jobs:
- name: example1
hosts:
- 192.0.2.0
- 192.0.2.1

- name: example2
packets: 10
hosts:
- 192.0.2.3
- 192.0.2.4

Troubleshooting

Debug Mode

Important: Debug mode is not supported for data collection jobs created via the UI using the Dyncfg feature.

To troubleshoot issues with the ping collector, run the go.d.plugin with the debug option enabled. The output should give you clues as to why the collector isn't working.

  • Navigate to the plugins.d directory, usually at /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/. If that's not the case on your system, open netdata.conf and look for the plugins setting under [directories].

    cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/
  • Switch to the netdata user.

    sudo -u netdata -s
  • Run the go.d.plugin to debug the collector:

    ./go.d.plugin -d -m ping

Getting Logs

If you're encountering problems with the ping collector, follow these steps to retrieve logs and identify potential issues:

  • Run the command specific to your system (systemd, non-systemd, or Docker container).
  • Examine the output for any warnings or error messages that might indicate issues. These messages should provide clues about the root cause of the problem.

System with systemd

Use the following command to view logs generated since the last Netdata service restart:

journalctl _SYSTEMD_INVOCATION_ID="$(systemctl show --value --property=InvocationID netdata)" --namespace=netdata --grep ping

System without systemd

Locate the collector log file, typically at /var/log/netdata/collector.log, and use grep to filter for collector's name:

grep ping /var/log/netdata/collector.log

Note: This method shows logs from all restarts. Focus on the latest entries for troubleshooting current issues.

Docker Container

If your Netdata runs in a Docker container named "netdata" (replace if different), use this command:

docker logs netdata 2>&1 | grep ping

Do you have any feedback for this page? If so, you can open a new issue on our netdata/learn repository.