Ping monitor

What it checks

Uptiva sends ICMP echo requests (ping) to a host name or IP address from the regions you choose. The monitor is up when the host answers.

When to use it

For servers, routers and devices that should be reachable. Ping says the machine is up, not that a service on it works: use a port monitor or website monitor for that. Some hosts and firewalls block ping on purpose, so the monitor would always be down.

Create it

1. Open /app and click New monitor.
2. Under What to monitor choose Ping.
3. Under Details enter a Name and the Host or IP, for example example.com.
4. Under Schedule pick Check every and, if you want, Alert after (failed checks in a row before an alert).
5. Under Check from choose the regions that run the check.
6. Under Alerts choose where alerts go (Send alerts to). See Alerts.
7. Click Create monitor. The first check runs right away.

Check interval

Under Schedule, Check every offers 1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour and 1 day. The shortest is 1 minute (on the Free plan 5 minutes). Intervals your plan does not allow are greyed out.

What the monitor page shows

Status, uptime and a response time chart, plus a Details card from the latest check of each region.

• Ping: packet loss (%), packets sent and received, minimum, average and maximum latency, and jitter.
• Network path (shown when it failed): resolved IPs, DNS lookup time, whether the route reached the destination, hops and the route problem.

Alerts

You are alerted when the monitor goes down and when it recovers, through the channels you pick. Alert after sets how many failed checks in a row are needed (1 to 5). Quiet hours, reminders and escalation work as described in Alerts.

Common problems and limits

• Always down. The host may block ICMP. Try a port monitor instead.
• Down from one region. Check the Details card of each region; routes differ.
• Use Alert after 2 or 3 if single lost packets cause false alarms.