Ping Monitoring

Ping monitors send ICMP echo requests (ping) to verify that a host is reachable on the network. Use this for servers, VMs, and network appliances that do not expose an HTTP endpoint.

When to Use Ping Monitoring

• Bare-metal servers without HTTP services
• VPN gateways and network appliances
• Database servers (complement with HTTP health check on API layer)
• Internal hosts accessible via probe network

caution

Ping monitoring only verifies network reachability — not that your application is healthy. Always pair with HTTP monitoring for application-level health.

Creating a Ping Monitor

1. Go to Monitors → New Monitor
2. Select Ping
3. Enter the hostname or IP address

Configuration Reference

Field	Required	Description
Name	Yes	Display name
Host	Yes	Hostname or IPv4/IPv6 address
Check Interval	Yes	60s minimum for ICMP monitors
Packet Count	No	Number of ICMP packets per check (default: 3)
Timeout	No	Max wait per packet in ms (default: 5000ms)

How Ping Checks Work

1. Each probe worker sends the configured number of ICMP packets
2. The check passes if at least one packet receives a response within timeout
3. The check fails if all packets time out
4. Round-trip time (RTT) is recorded for each successful packet

Response Time Metrics

Ping monitors record:

• Min RTT: Fastest packet in the batch
• Avg RTT: Average across all received responses
• Max RTT: Slowest packet
• Packet Loss %: (lost / sent) * 100

Packet Loss Alerting

Currently, packet loss does not trigger a DOWN state unless all packets are lost. Partial packet loss is recorded as a metric but does not create incidents. This behavior is configurable via alert policy thresholds on the Business plan.

API — Create Ping Monitor

POST /v1/monitors
Authorization: Bearer psk_live_xxx
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "name": "DB Server Reachability",
  "type": "ping",
  "host": "db-primary.internal.yourapp.com",
  "interval": 60,
  "packetCount": 3,
  "timeout": 5000,
  "alertPolicyId": "pol_xxxxxxxx"
}

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Resolution
Monitor always DOWN	Host firewall blocks ICMP	Add ICMP allow rule from probe IP ranges
High RTT from one region	Regional routing inefficiency	Expected — document as baseline
Intermittent packet loss	Network instability	Investigate upstream provider
Hostname not resolving	DNS misconfiguration	Test with dig hostname from probe region