Linux Ping Monitor

The Linux Ping Monitor checks the status of remote devices by sending an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) ping. The number of ping attempts per device and success percentage can be specified. An alert is raised if success percentage falls below threshold.

Adding Linux Ping Monitor rule criteria

  1. From the Linux system in the Systems panel of Central Configuration Manager, select Linux Ping Monitor and click Add Rule.
  2. From the Add Rule Detail dialog, click Criteria. Click Add Criteria to open the Ping Criteria dialog.

There are three pages to complete when adding Linux Ping rule criteria.

Ping Destination section

The fields in this section define the Ping destination configuration parameters.

Host /Address

Enter the Host name or IP Address of the Ping destination to be used in this rule. This is set to the localhost 127.0.0.1 by default.

Timeout

Specify the timeout, in milliseconds, after which a ping command to the specified server is deemed unsuccessful. The default setting is 2000 milliseconds.

Ping Parameters section

The fields in this section specify the configuration of the ping command. These settings work together to define whether an alert is generated.

Ping Attempts

Defines how many attempts are made before an alert is generated. The default setting is 4.

Success Percentage

This setting gives the required percentage of ping success rate before an alert is generated. The default setting is 50%

Time-to-Live

This setting defines for how long the ping is active. The default setting is 128 milliseconds.

Criteria Alert Details section

Fields in this section define alert settings that override the settings made on the Alert page at Rule level. This provides a more criteria specific alert message to be generated.

Override Rule Default

Click Override Rule Default to specify that the entries on this page override the default Alert page settings at Rule level. From the drop-down menu, select the alert warning level.

Alert Text

Enter the actual text of the alert or use the available Substitution Variables to construct the message text of the alert.

TIP: When Substitution Variables are used, click to display a list of textual and numeric parameters that can be used to amend the actual Substitution Variable value.
Alert Example

Displays an example of how the Alert Text will read using the selected Substitution Variables and user-entered text.

SLA Statistic section

Fields in this section are used to indicate that the criteria for this rule are used to determine performance against Service Level Agreements (SLA).

SLA Statistic

Click the SLA Statistic field so that it is enabled. The SLA flag is measured against the specific criteria defined for this rule.

TIP: If multiple SLA flags are being set for different criteria and/or monitors, we recommend that a Send Enterprise Console alert action is created to determine which of the SLA criteria has failed.
NOTE: SLA Statistic checking is not affected by the suspension of the rule, (SLA data is still gathered even if the rule is suspended) but is dependent on the time period when the rule is active (SLA data is not gathered outside the times when the rule is active).

 

We recommend that when creating SLA flags within rules, that all SLA criteria are kept together in the same rule that use the ‘Perform Actions For Each Criteria That Triggers option, otherwise SLA failures may or may not be indicated correctly.

 

System performance against the specified SLA flags can then be viewed on the SLA Statistics report (automatically included as a Report Template within Advanced Reporting Suite) for this system.

Testing

When you have entered the criteria that you require, click Test to assess the validity of the data, and if necessary make any changes prior to putting the rule ‘Live’.

Click OK to define the entered parameters as criteria for this rule.

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