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 executesudo 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:
Label | Description |
---|---|
host | remote host |
Metrics:
Metric | Dimensions | Unit |
---|---|---|
ping.host_rtt | min, max, avg | milliseconds |
ping.host_std_dev_rtt | std_dev | milliseconds |
ping.host_packet_loss | loss | percentage |
ping.host_packets | received, sent | packets |
Alerts
The following alerts are available:
Alert name | On metric | Description |
---|---|---|
ping_host_reachable | ping.host_packet_loss | network host ${lab1el:host} reachability status |
ping_packet_loss | ping.host_packet_loss | packet loss percentage to the network host ${label:host} over the last 10 minutes |
ping_host_latency | ping.host_rtt | average 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
Name | Description | Default | Required |
---|---|---|---|
update_every | Data collection frequency. | 5 | no |
autodetection_retry | Recheck interval in seconds. Zero means no recheck will be scheduled. | 0 | no |
hosts | Network hosts. | yes | |
network | Allows configuration of DNS resolution. Supported options: ip (select IPv4 or IPv6), ip4 (select IPv4), ip6 (select IPv6). | ip | no |
privileged | Ping packets type. "no" means send an "unprivileged" UDP ping, "yes" - raw ICMP ping. | yes | no |
packets | Number of ping packets to send. | 5 | no |
interval | Timeout between sending ping packets. | 100ms | no |
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, opennetdata.conf
and look for theplugins
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.