PRTG's Availability Monitoring using PING Test
A PING test to a server is the most basic tool used for network monitoring and troubleshooting. A PING test is used to find out whether your computer can communicate with another computer over the network, and, if a network communication is established, the PING test also determines the latency (communication delay).
PING Test in PRTG
PRTG Network Monitor is a bandwidth and availability tool that covers all aspects of network monitoring. The PING test is just one of PRTG's many features. To test the availability of a PING sensor, PRTG sends an ICMP packet to the ECHO REPLY port of a server and waits for a result. Only if the returned packet still has the same data content the sensor's result is ok (the packet loss test / PING test was successful).
What it Means When the PING Test is Successful
When this sensor shows an UP state for a server then you know that the connection to a server is available, the server is running and is able to accept and send network packets. But a successful PING test does not mean that services running on this server are running ok. This is just a very basic diagnostic tool to check network availability.
What it means when the PING test fails
There are numerous reasons for a PING test to fail, the most common one is that the sent packet either did not reach the server or the returning packet was not delivered back to the machine running PRTG Network Monitor. This can be caused by connection problems (line or router failures), routing problems, or simply because a firewall between the server and the monitoring machine has rejected the packet because PINGs are not allowed by the firewall's rules. Note: When monitoring a remote server a small amount of lost PINGs (1-2%) should usually not be considered harmful.
Creating a custom sensor that uses multiple PINGs to monitor WAN networks
For a WAN (wide area network) connection, a PING test to just one device is not a very reliable means of testing the connection, because every once and a while you will see dropped packets and thus, lost PINGs. With this custom sensor you can send PINGs to a number of servers at a time and count the successful ones. Click here to find out how to create this sensor for multiple PING tests.
PRTG Network Monitor
The network bandwidth monitor PRTG is available in two editions. For basic, free IP monitor, bandwidth calculator and availability monitoring functionality, the Freeware Edition may be downloaded and used for personal and commercial use completely free of charge. For more advanced needs (including NetFlow analyzer), licenses for the Commercial Editions start at $400 / €300.
