[Nagiosplug-help] Problem with nagios check_ping plugin

[Andreas Ericsson]

Alex Dehaini wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
> 
> I have been using nagios for 2 months now and it is really good. So far, all
> plug-ins work well but recently the check_ping plugin has been acting funny
> and giving wrong results.
> 
> This is the OS info
> OS - Debian
> Nagios Version 2.9
> Problem = check_ping plugin reports alot of packet loss on our network but
> when we use regular ping commands, it is not true. check_ping looks like
> this in the command.cfg file
> 
> # 'check_ping' command definition
> define command{
>         command_name    check_ping
>         command_line    $USER1$/check_ping -H $HOSTADDRESS$ -w $ARG1$ -c
> $ARG2$ -p 10
>         }
> 
> This is an example of a service that uses check_ping
> 
> define service{
>         use                             servers
>         host_name                       bhslave at nkwanta
>         service_description             PING
>         check_command                   check_ping!200.0,20%!600.0,60%
>         }
> 
> The problem is nagios will warn me of 28% packet loss to this host that is 3
> hops away from the monitoring system and the RTA will be about 60ms. It does
> this randomly. I will like to know how nagios computes this info and how it
> determines this.
> 

check_ping uses your system's ping program and parses the output. In this case,
it's quite obviously doing something wrong, since 10 packets can't result in
28% packet loss.

Try check_icmp instead. It should be interchangeable with check_ping with regards
to arguments and suchlike, but doesn't spawn an external program to do its checking
for it.

-- 
Andreas Ericsson                   andreas.ericsson at op5.se
OP5 AB                             www.op5.se
Tel: +46 8-230225                  Fax: +46 8-230231