ping output error in 1.4a plugins in Fedora Core

[Stanley Hopcroft]

Dear Sir,

I am writing to thank you for your letter and say,


> Message: 13
> Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2004 16:32:19 +0200
> From: Andreas Ericsson <ae at op5.se>
> To: nagios-users at lists.sourceforge.net
> Subject: Re: [Nagios-users] ping output error in 1.4a plugins in Fedora Core
>  2
  .. snip ..
> 
> Why don't you just use check_ping from 1.3.1 if that works for you, or 
> check_icmp if you want perfdata and a plugin that's friendlier to your 
> system load?
>

The _extra_ system load of running check_icmp as a replacement for 
check_ping on this FreeBSD 4.9-RLEASE system is non trivial; I would not 
consider it 'friendlier to your system load' on this system for any 
commonly accepted notion of 'friendlier', despite having experimented 
with the check_icmp tuning options.

To sum up, the Pros and Cons of the reachability plugins from my point 
of view are

Factor       Good              Bad

system load  check_ping        check_icmp (* only tested on
                                           one [1] FreeBSD
                                           system)

elegance     check_icmp        check_ping

portability/ check_icmp        check_ping
maintainability

reliability  check_ping        check_fping(can't comment on check_icmp;
                                           'reliably' means RTA & PLR
                                            similar to 'ping' command)

That said, I have also found problems with check_fping (would not 
reliably detect down hosts: check_fping is a non starter for me), so the 
search for a better check_ping continues.

This may be an exceptional result and _check_icmp_ may indeed be more 
friendly to system load on other systems.

Check_icmp is a well conceived and potentially superior product. Perhaps 
there needs to be added to it, to realise this potential, an autotuning 
utility that generates the command line parameters that will

1 minimise system load

2 minimise differences from the ping program output

Yours sincerely.


-- 
Stanley Hopcroft

Network specialist, IT Infrastructure
IP Australia
Ph: (02) 6283 3189  Fax: (02) 6281 1353
PO Box 200 Woden  ACT 2606
http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au


-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.Net email is sponsored by: YOU BE THE JUDGE. Be one of 170
Project Admins to receive an Apple iPod Mini FREE for your judgement on
who ports your project to Linux PPC the best. Sponsored by IBM. 
Deadline: Sept. 13. Go here: http://sf.net/ppc_contest.php
_______________________________________________
Nagios-users mailing list
Nagios-users at lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nagios-users
::: Please include Nagios version, plugin version (-v) and OS when reporting any issue. 
::: Messages without supporting info will risk being sent to /dev/null