GNU/Linux - How to monitor Internet link latency

Last updated: Sep 13, 2022

We will see here how to monitor the latency of an internet link with SmokePing on Debian.

The goal is to have a graphical view showing the latency of the internet link over time.

Note

OS : Debian 11 (bullseye)
SmokePing : 2.7.3

Installation

Update package sources list :

root@server:~# apt update

Install smokeping package with the required dependencies :

root@server:~# apt install smokeping

Connet to the web page :

http://A.B.C.D/smokeping/

After a few minutes, you should see some data appear :

smokeping graphs — SmokePing Charts view

Configuration

Now we will see how to add destinations we want to monitor. For the example I will choose to test CloudflareDNS, GoogleDNS and Multihost (which will be the average of the two previous values).

Edit /etc/smokeping/config.d/Targets file :

*** Targets ***

probe = FPing

menu = Top
title = Network Latency Grapher
remark = Welcome to the SmokePing website of xxx Company. \
         Here you will learn all about the latency of our network.

+ Local

menu = Local
title = Local Network
#parents = owner:/Test/James location:/

++ LocalMachine

menu = Local Machine
title = This host
host = localhost
#alerts = someloss

++ CloudflareDNS

menu = Cloudflare DNS
title = Cloudflare DNS server
host = 1.1.1.1

++ GoogleDNS

menu = Google DNS
title = Google DNS server
host = 8.8.4.4

++ MultiHost

menu = Multihost Google and CloudFlare
title = CloudflareDNS and Google DNS
host = /Local/CloudflareDNS /Local/GoogleDNS

Restart smokeping service :

root@server:~# systemctl restart smokeping.service

After some minutes you should see our new graphs views :

Debug

Run smokeping in debug mode :

root@server:~# sudo smokeping --debug

Smokeping work folder :

root@server:~# ls /var/run/smokeping/