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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 the necessary permissions (CAP_NET_RAW on Linux, setuid bit on other systems).

These permissions are automatically set during Netdata installation. However, if you need to set them manually: - set CAP_NET_RAW (Linux only). bash sudo setcap CAP_NET_RAW=eip <INSTALL_PREFIX>/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/go.d.plugin - set setuid bit (Other OS). bash sudo chmod 4750 <INSTALL_PREFIX>/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/go.d.plugin

  • Unprivileged (send UDP ping, Linux only). Requires configuring ping_group_range:

This configuration is not set automatically and requires manual configuration.

  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.

Setup

You can configure the ping collector in two ways:

Method Best for How to
UI Fast setup without editing files Go to Nodes → Configure this node → Collectors → Jobs, search for ping, then click + to add a job.
File If you prefer configuring via file, or need to automate deployments (e.g., with Ansible) Edit go.d/ping.conf and add a job.

:::important

UI configuration requires paid Netdata Cloud plan.

:::

Prerequisites

No action required.

Configuration

Options

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

Config options | Group | Option | Description | Default | Required | |:------|:-----|:------------|:--------|:---------:| | **Collection** | update_every | Data collection interval (seconds). | 5 | no | | | autodetection_retry | Autodetection retry interval (seconds). Set 0 to disable. | 0 | no | | **Target** | hosts | List of hosts to ping. | [] | yes | | **Ping Settings** | network | DNS resolution mode. Options: `ip` (IPv4 or IPv6), `ip4` (IPv4 only), `ip6` (IPv6 only). | ip | no | | | interface | Network interface to use for ICMP echo requests (e.g., `eth0`, `wlan0`). | | no | | | privileged | Ping packet type. `yes` = raw ICMP ping, `no` = unprivileged UDP ping. | yes | yes | | | packets | Number of ping packets to send per iteration. | 5 | no | | | interval | Interval between sending ping packets. | 100ms | no | | **Jitter Settings** | jitter_ewma_samples | EWMA smoothing factor for jitter calculation. Higher values = smoother, slower response. | 16 | no | | | jitter_sma_window | Number of iterations for SMA jitter calculation. | 10 | no | | **Virtual Node** | vnode | Associates this data collection job with a [Virtual Node](https://learn.netdata.cloud/docs/netdata-agent/configuration/organize-systems-metrics-and-alerts#virtual-nodes). | | no |

via UI

Configure the ping collector from the Netdata web interface:

  1. Go to Nodes.
  2. Select the node where you want the ping data-collection job to run and click the :gear: (Configure this node). That node will run the data collection.
  3. The Collectors → Jobs view opens by default.
  4. In the Search box, type ping (or scroll the list) to locate the ping collector.
  5. Click the + next to the ping collector to add a new job.
  6. Fill in the job fields, then click Test to verify the configuration and Submit to save.
    • Test runs the job with the provided settings and shows whether data can be collected.
    • If it fails, an error message appears with details (for example, connection refused, timeout, or command execution errors), so you can adjust and retest.

via File

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

The file format is YAML. Generally, the structure is:

update_every: 1
autodetection_retry: 0
jobs:
  - name: some_name1
  - name: some_name2

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
Examples
IPv4 hosts

An example configuration.

Config ```yaml jobs: - name: example hosts: - 192.0.2.0 - 192.0.2.1 ```
Unprivileged mode

An example configuration.

Config ```yaml 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 ```yaml 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 ```

Alerts

The following alerts are available:

Alert name On metric Description
ping_host_reachable ping.host_packet_loss network host ${label: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

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_jitter mean, ewma, sma milliseconds
ping.host_rtt_variance variance ms²
ping.host_packet_loss loss percentage
ping.host_packets received, sent packets

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

To debug a specific job:

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

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