This check is off by default. Enable it under Active checks on the monitor.
How it works
Every minute, we send ICMP echo requests (pings) to the host and measure packet loss and the average round-trip time. By default we ping the monitor's origin IP if you set one, otherwise its host name. A failure is confirmed from our other locations before it counts.
Ping tells you whether the server itself is reachable, even when the web server is down or the host serves no HTTP at all.
Settings
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Host | the origin IP or site host | Any host name or IP address. |
| Interval minutes | 1 |
How often to ping. |
| Packets | 5 |
Pings per run (up to 20). |
| Packet interval seconds | 1 |
Delay between pings (up to 5). |
| Packet timeout seconds | 2 |
How long to wait for each reply (up to 10). |
| Packet size | 56 |
Payload size in bytes. |
| Max hops | 64 |
The packet's TTL. |
| Max packet loss percent | 0 |
Fail above this loss. |
| Max RTT ms | 400 |
Fail when the average round trip is slower than this. Set 0 to disable. |
| Alert after minutes | 2 |
How long the problem must last before we alert you. |
Statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| OK | The host replied within the loss and round-trip limits. |
| Failed | The host could not be pinged, lost too many packets or answered too slowly, and other locations confirmed it. |
By default you are notified of failures only.
Fixing common problems
- 100% packet loss on a server that is up: many firewalls and cloud providers block ICMP. Allow echo requests from our IP addresses, or use TCP ports instead.
- Occasional loss: allow a little loss by raising Max packet loss percent, for example to
20. - Slow round trips: compare the result from each location. When only one location is slow, the problem is the route rather than your server.