PRTG Manual: Ping v2 Sensor

IPv6

This sensor supports IPv6.

Performance impact

This sensor has a very low performance impact.

Scanning interval

The recommended scanning interval of this sensor is 1 minute.

Multi-platform probe

You can add this sensor to a multi-platform probe.

Knowledge Base

Knowledge Base: How to create/customize statistical Ping sensor?

Inverted Error Status

Select if you want the sensor to show the Down status if the target is reachable:

• Disable (default): Show the Down status if the target is not reachable.
• Enable: Show the Down status if the target is reachable.

To change this behavior after sensor creation, open the channel settings of channel Status and change the Lookup. Select prtg.standardlookups.paessler.icmp.reachability_state if you want the sensor to show the Down status if the target is not reachable. Select prtg.standardlookups.paessler.icmp.reachability_state_reversed if you want the sensor to show the Down status if the target is reachable.

If you select Enable, Status is the primary channel.

Timeout (Sec.)

Enter a timeout in seconds for the ping. If the reply takes longer than this value, PRTG cancels the request and shows an error message. Enter an integer. The maximum timeout value is 300 seconds (5 minutes).

Packet Size (Bytes)

Enter the packet size for the ping in bytes. You can enter any value between 1 and 10000. Enter an integer.

We recommend that you use the default value.

Ping Method

Define the kind of ping check that the sensor performs with each scanning interval:

• Send one single ping: Send a single ping only. The sensor then shows the ping time only.
  This setting is useful for monitoring availability.
• Send multiple ping requests (default): Send multiple pings in a row. The sensor then also shows the minimum and the maximum ping time as well as the packet loss (in percent).
  This setting is useful if you want to create reports about average ping times out of a series of ping requests.
   
  If you select this setting, all of the ping requests must be lost for the sensor to show the Down status. For example, if only one ping request is answered in a series of five, the sensor still shows the Up status.

Ping Count

This setting is only visible if you select Send multiple ping requests (default) above.

Enter the number of pings that the sensor sends in a row in one scanning interval. Enter an integer. The default value is 5.

Ping Delay (ms)

This setting is only visible if you select Send multiple ping requests (default) above.

Enter the time in milliseconds (ms) that the sensor waits between two ping requests. Enter an integer. The default value is 5.

Increase the value if the target device drops ping packets because of denial of service (DoS) suspicion.

Time to Live (Hops)

Define the time to live (TTL) for the request. You can limit the number of network hops that the request can traverse before it is dropped. The default value is 64.

Primary Channel

Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.

You can set a different primary channel later by clicking below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.

Graph Type

Define how this sensor shows different channels:

• Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel.
• Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic.
  You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).

Stack Unit

This setting is only visible if you select Stack channels on top of each other above.

Select a unit from the list. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so.

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

• Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.
• Store result: Store the sensor result and the last response in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file name is Result of Sensor [ID].log. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites this file with each scanning interval.

This option is not available when the sensor runs on the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance.

In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

Downtime

In the channel table on the Overview tab, this channel never shows any values. PRTG uses this channel in graphs and reports to show the amount of time in which the sensor was in the Down status.

Maximum Response Time

The maximum ping time when using more than one ping per interval

Minimum Response Time

The minimum ping time when using more than one ping per interval

Packet Loss

The packet loss when using more than one ping per interval (%)

Response Time

The ping time

This channel is the primary channel by default.

Status

The target status

• Up status: Reachable
• Down status: Unreachable

This is the primary channel if you enable Inverted Error Status.