Ping rounding response times

wookaka · 10-11-2010, 07:25 PM

I recently setup a new Linux server running Fedora 10. For some reason all ping response times are rounded to the nearest 10ms. For example, running the simple command "ping yahoo.com" give the following sample results:
64 bytes from ir1.fp.vip.re1.yahoo.com (69.147.125.65): icmp_seq=12 ttl=57 time=60.0 ms
64 bytes from ir1.fp.vip.re1.yahoo.com (69.147.125.65): icmp_seq=13 ttl=56 time=50.0 ms
64 bytes from ir1.fp.vip.re1.yahoo.com (69.147.125.65): icmp_seq=14 ttl=56 time=40.0 ms
64 bytes from ir1.fp.vip.re1.yahoo.com (69.147.125.65): icmp_seq=15 ttl=56 time=50.0 ms

I could post a larger result set but its all the same... every response is rounded to a multiple of 10ms.
This wouldn't be a big deal except that the server is running Nagios for monitoring so accurate stats are important. The Nagios check_ping and check_icmp commands are also returning rounded off results.

How can I get ping to simply respond with the actual response times rather than a rounded off number?

archtoad6 · 10-15-2010, 07:46 AM

From my Xubuntu 6.06 box:

Code:

$ ping -c4 yahoo.com
PING yahoo.com (67.195.160.76) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from ir1.fp.vip.ac4.yahoo.com (67.195.160.76): icmp_seq=1 ttl=50 time=54.2 ms
64 bytes from ir1.fp.vip.ac4.yahoo.com (67.195.160.76): icmp_seq=2 ttl=50 time=59.5 ms
64 bytes from ir1.fp.vip.ac4.yahoo.com (67.195.160.76): icmp_seq=3 ttl=50 time=56.8 ms
64 bytes from ir1.fp.vip.ac4.yahoo.com (67.195.160.76): icmp_seq=4 ttl=50 time=58.1 ms

From my SimplyMEPIS 3.2.2 box:

Code:

$ ping -c4 yahoo.com
PING yahoo.com (98.137.149.56): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 98.137.149.56: icmp_seq=0 ttl=49 time=58.6 ms
64 bytes from 98.137.149.56: icmp_seq=1 ttl=49 time=60.4 ms
64 bytes from 98.137.149.56: icmp_seq=2 ttl=49 time=60.3 ms
64 bytes from 98.137.149.56: icmp_seq=3 ttl=49 time=77.0 ms

As you can see from my results, this is probably a Fedora idiosyncrasy, or possibly a Fedora 10 idiosyncrasy which has been fixed in 11, 12, 13, or 14.

It may not be my place to ask, but why are you using such an old, no longer supported, release?

Edit: See if this problem has been fixed in a newer release, & upgrade if it has.

<rant>
Why are you using Fedora for a server at all? From the Fedora Wikipedia® entry:

Quote:

One of Fedora's main objectives is not only ... but also to be on the leading edge of such technologies.

I would tongue in cheek rephrase that to: "One of Fedora's main objectives is to break in new, interesting, & educational ways."

Seriously, isn't "leading edge server" an oxymoron? Or worse, "leading edge production server".

Wouldn't CentOS be a more logical choice?

</rant> ;-)
Edit: Changed color of "rant" as it may contain questions already considered by OP, & therefore not be helpful.