Network Management

How the SolarWinds Platform calculates packet loss for a node

This article explains how the packet loss of a node is calculated.

First published date

11/12/2020 6:28 AM

Last published date

11/28/2023 5:12 PM

Overview

The node status check is done every 2 minutes whereby a single ICMP packet is sent. The result of that single ICMP packet can only be 0% or 100%, indicating whether a response was successfully received. Percentages other than 0% or 100% can only occur over multiple status polling intervals.

Product section

Network Performance Monitor

Cause

n/a

Resolution

For example, if over a 4 minute period of time one status check failed (0%) and one succeeded (100%), then the average for that 4 minute time period would be 50%.

If the SolarWinds Platform is unable ping the node, and each single ICMP poll is recorded as 100 percentLoss in the responseTime table, the Packet Loss shows as 100%.

When the node is back online, from the first successful ping, the PercentLoss changes to 0, and the Packet Loss drops from 100% to 90%.

After every subsequent successful poll, the Packet Loss drops accordingly.

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