check_ping gives host check timed out instead of packet loss.

[Gaurav Ghimire]

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Jim Avery wrote:
> 2009/4/19 Gaurav Ghimire <gaurav at subisu.net.np>:
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>> Hi all,
>>
>> I don't know if I am missing something here. But shouldn't the check_ping plugin give a 100% packet loss if the host is not reachable instead of
>>  returning 'Host check timed out'. Yes this could be if there had been some issues with the DNS services or the server's load. But all seem to
>> be fine with my nagios installation.
>>
>> Any references would be appreciated. I feel like I am missing something here, just don't know what in exact.
> 
> You are of course right, however if a host is genuinely down, this is
> a fundamentally different state from a host which is up but connected
> to an extremely slow and unreliable network.  By using this distinctly
> different description, the plugin attempts to show this, although you
> and I both know that the process it uses to arrive at this assessment
> is based on whatever arbitrary parameters we have chosen and is not
> always going to be correct.
But shouldn't there be a condition kept on the basis of the parameters we provided or add some more parameters that at least keeps admins from
knowing for sure that there link or resources have some issues.

Say, make the plugin return some output other than the 'Timed Out'/Warning/Critical....just to say that there is some abnormality in the link
between the host and the client probed.

Marc Powell wrote:
> check_ping is just a wrapper for /bin/ping on your system. It's
> typically going to just return whatever output that does. In this
> case, I suspect that /bin/ping is just taking too long to return
> results, i.e. you've specified too many packets for your timeout value
> perhaps or devices between you and the destination host are slow to
> return ICMP results, and check_ping or nagios is timing it out before
> it's done.
Well I have the ping command check with 5 packets and the warning and critical parameters are set very high. Mere 5 packets should not have been
a problem I guess, moreover the link via which the packet traverses is solid good.
>
> You could try lowering the number of packets you send (1 or 2 are
> typically enough for a host check) or, if you're using nagios-3,
> increasing the plugin timeout and nagios' master service check timeout
> (in nagios.cfg) to allow the plugin to wait longer for /bin/ping to
> finish.
>
They are at their defaults i.e, service checks at 60 seconds and host checks at 30 seconds, taking into consideration the network's and the
server's health...that should have been enough I guess. But I take your points into considerations, for 1 or 2 packets should be enough on a
healthy network.
> You could also try using check_icmp instead of /bin/ping. It doesn't
> rely on /bin/ping and instead has it's own internal ICMP code.
I will check with it as well.

Thanks, I really appreciate your time for replying my query. I shall check with it again and shall update.

- --
Regards,
Gaurav Ghimire
System Administrator
System Department
SuBiSu CableNet
Baluwatar, Kathmandu
Tel: 4429616/617 Ext:110

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