Knowledge Base
Creating a custom sensor that uses multiple PINGs to monitor WAN networks
This article introduces a CUSTOM EXE sensor for IPCheck Server Monitor that sends PINGs to a number of servers and counts the successful replies. Based on the number of replies the user can then trigger notifications.
The basic idea is that in many cases sending PINGs over a WAN connection 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 sensor you can send PINGs to a number of servers at a time and count the successful ones.
The calling syntax for the EXE is:
Multiplepingsensor.exe <host1> <host2> ...
1. Installing the EXE binaries
After downloading the file below please copy the file "MultiplePingSensor.exe" to the "/custom" folder of your IPCheck Server Monitor installation, usually that is
c:\program files\ipcheck server monitor 5\custom
Please note that you will need the .NET Framework 2.0 installed on the server.
After copying the file and installing the .NET framework please restart the IPCheck Webserver service (IPCheck looks for new custom sensors during startup only).
2. Creating a new sensor
In IPCheck's WebGUI or WindowsGUI create a new sensor and choose the "Custom" type. Apart from the usual sensor settings please choose the following settings:
- In the "Sensor Data" section:
- Choose "MultiplePingSensor" for "Sensor"
- Enter the domains/servers to send pings to in the "Parameter" field (separated by spaces)
- Enter "Multiple PING Checks" for "Indicator String"
- Enter "of x PINGs" for "Unit String (replace the x with the number of servers that you entered above)
- In the "Check Values" section:
- Enter the number of servers that you entered above minus one into the "Lower Error Limit" field
- Enter the number of servers that you entered above into the "Lower Warning Limit" field
These settings will show the sensor in yellow (warning) if one of the pings fails and it will show an error if two or more sensors fail.
Download
You can download the binaries and source from here (8kb).
Notes:
- In order to use this sensor on remote probes you must install the custom sensor on all probes
- The source code is included with the ZIP file and should compile on Visual Studio 2005
- Thanks to IPCheck Server Monitor user S. Hall for sharing the code with us and community
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