Page tree

Ping Monitor is used to ping a system using either its IP address or its DNS name (resolved to an IP address at every poll) and get the system's availability and response time. It uses ICMP protocol and sends an ECHO_REQUEST, and receives an ECHO_REPLY. Ping monitor requires root privileges since it uses raw socket for sending ping requests. Enable ICMP on the host machine and Firewall for hosts behind firewall.

Monitored attributes for Ping monitors

The following table lists the monitored attributes of a Ping monitor.

 Attribute   Description  
 Availability (%)   Availability of the system being pinged. If ping action is successful, system returns 100%, otherwise it returns 0.  
 Response time (ms)   Turn-around time for a ping request.  
 DNS Lookup Time (ms)   Time taken for resolving the specified DNS name to an IP address. In case the name lookup fails, Ping monitor will report NO RESPONSE. In case an IP address is specified in the field. Ping monitor will report 0 (as no name resolution would be done).  

Configuration information for Ping monitors

The following table describes the information required during configuration of the Ping monitor.

 Configuration information   Description  
 Input fields on the Configuration tab  
 Instance Name   Specify a name for the monitor instance. This is displayed on folders, graphs, lists, etc. Example, Ping Monitor. 
 Tag  

 Specify a tag value to search or group the objects. You can enter multiple name-value pairs, text, or include both (name-value pair and text). This gives you the option to group objects in different forms. Click the + icon to select a default tag class. The Enter Tag Details screen opens. Select Tag Class from the drop-down list and enter a tag value. Click Add to append tag class and value. Click Finish.

The tag specified by you is not considered as a default class. You cannot enter special characters &"/<>' in the tag field.

  • Editing a Tag Value on the Enter Tag Details screen: Select a tag value and click Edit. Make the necessary modifications in the Tag Value text box and click Set to add the changes.
  • Deleting a Tag Value on the Enter Tag Details screen: Select a tag value and click Delete. Click Yes to delete the tag value.
 Source Agent   Select the name or IP address of the BMC ProactiveNet server or BMC ProactiveNet agent to host the new monitor instance.  
 Target Device   Specify the DNS name/IP address of the machine to be pinged. BMC ProactiveNet recommends that the IP address of the Target Device and the device where the monitor is being created be the same.  
 System-populated fields   
 Monitor Version   Version of the installed BMC ProactiveNet monitor.  
 Control tab   
 Collect Data   Select/clear check box to enable/disable data collection for the monitored component. By default, data collection is enabled (check box selected).  
 Fast Poll Period   Specify the time interval between two consecutive fast polls. Default is 0 seconds.  
 Fast Poll Tolerance Count   Specify the number of consecutive unsuccessful poll attempts before recording Zero availability for the fast poll. Default is 0.  
 Retry Count   Specify the number of consecutive unsuccessful attempts before recording Zero availability for the poll. Default is 3.  
 Statistics Poll Interval   Specify the time interval between two consecutive statistical data polls. Default is 5 minutes.  
 Statistics Poll Timeout   Specify the time-out period for each poll of statistical data. If no data is available at the end of this interval, the system records Zero availability and proceeds with the next scheduled poll. Default is 30 seconds.  
 Group tab   
 Group Membership   This enables you to add a device and its monitors to one or more groups. Optionally, you may associate the device with a group. A group is used to logically organize the devices and monitors by department, geographic area, or service. Assigning a device to a group also enables the system administrator to restrict or allow access to certain devices. To associate the device with a group, select the group name here. 

Additional configuration and setup issues

The following table presents details about Additional configuration and setup issues for the Ping monitor.

 Issue   Details  
 Skip validation   This monitor enables forceful creation when the monitored target is not reachable or specified inputs are wrong. Click Yes on the Skip Validation confirmation message to forcefully create a monitor. Clicking No will fail the monitor creation. Forcefully creating the monitor when target is not reachable or with invalid input(s) may cause Availability to be set to 0.  
 Monitor configuration   No additional configuration requirements for this monitor. Maintain the default configuration of BMC ProactiveNet.  
 External setup   No external setup requirements for this monitor.  
 External dependencies  
  • A properly configured DNS server should be reachable from the BMC ProactiveNet agent hosting the Ping monitor.  
  • The machine hosting BMC ProactiveNet agent (on which the Ping monitor is running) should be configured to point to the properly configured DNS server.
 BMC ProactiveNet agent dependencies   BMC ProactiveNet agent installation on the monitored host is not mandatory. Monitor instance can be created on any BMC ProactiveNet agent.  

Ping monitor thresholds

Absolute thresholds for Ping monitor

 Attribute   Severity   Duration (min)   Flag   Default Threshold  Outside Baseline  Baseline Type  
 Availability   Critical   0   Below   100   N   ALL  
 Response Time   Minor   15   Above   500   Y   ALL  

Signature thresholds for Ping monitor

 Attribute   Severity   Duration (min)  Flag   Threshold   Sensitivity   Absolute Deviation  % Deviation  Suppress   Baseline Type 
 Availability   Event Only   10   Above   0   0   0   5   1   Hourly  
 Availability   Event Only   30   Below   0   50   0   5   0   Hourly  
 Response Time  Event Only  10   Above   0   50   500   5   0   Hourly  


  • No labels