---
name: "mrtg-ping-probe"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "mrtg-ping-probe"
version: "2.2.0-5"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mrtg-ping-probe"
---

# mrtg-ping-probe(1)

ping probe module for Multi Router Traffic Grapher

## NAME

mrtg-ping-probe - ping probe module for Multi Router Traffic Grapher

## DESCRIPTION

**mrtg-ping-probe** is a ping probe module for MRTG 2.x.  It is used to  monitor the round trip time and packet loss to networked devices.  MRTG  uses the output of mrtg-ping-probe to generate graphs visualizing minimum  and maximum round trip times or packet loss.

mrtg-ping-probe is not run directly, but is called by MRTG as a helper when  it needs to determine ping time to a host.

Act responsibly: do not use mrtg-ping-probe to ping devices without the  owner's permission.  Just imagine if 10,000 people decided to ping  your hosts!  mrtg-ping-probe is meant to be used within your network  to get round trip time performance figures for your network.

## OPTIONS

To use mrtg-ping-probe you need to configure MRTG to call it from within the  definition of a target host. This is done in the MRTG config file, which is  usually /etc/mrtg.conf.

Here's an example snippet: change the target name and IP address to suit your  needs.

Target\[your.target.ping\]: \`/usr/bin/mrtg-ping-probe 123.456.789.123\`\
 SetEnv\[your.target.ping\]: MRTG\_INT\_IP="123.456.789.123" MRTG\_INT\_DESCR="ping"\
 MaxBytes\[your.target.ping\]: 100\
 AbsMax\[your.target.ping\]: 200\
 Options\[your.target.ping\]: gauge, growright\
 YLegend\[your.target.ping\]: ping time (ms)\
 ShortLegend\[your.target.ping\]: ms\
 Legend1\[your.target.ping\]: Maximum Round Trip Time in ms\
 Legend2\[your.target.ping\]: Minimum Round Trip Time in ms\
 Legend3\[your.target.ping\]: Maximal 5 Minute Maximum Round Trip Time in ms\
 Legend4\[your.target.ping\]: Maximal 5 Minute Minimum Round Trip Time in ms\
 LegendI\[your.target.ping\]:  Max:\
 LegendO\[your.target.ping\]:  Min:

Pay close attention to the backticks in the first line which tell MRTG to  execute the nominated external program. Note also that you need to use the  "gauge" option, since the results of subsequent ping probes are independant  values and not an incrementing counter.

## SEE ALSO

[**mrtg**(1)](/mrtg/1.md).

The latest release of mrtg-ping-probe can be found on the web at  http://pwo.de/projects/mrtg/

## AUTHOR

This manual page was written by Jonathan Oxer \<jon@debian.org\>, for the Debian project (but may be used by others).