Smokeping_probes_TelnetIOSPing(3)

💅 Smokeping::probes::TelnetIOSPing — Cisco IOS Probe for SmokePing 🦋

okay so real talk, this is the Smokeping_probes_TelnetIOSPing(3) page and it is literally the blueprint for making a Cisco IOS box do your ping dirty work for you. bestie, buckle up 🌸

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✨ NAME ✨

Smokeping::probes::TelnetIOSPing — the Cisco IOS Probe for SmokePing, no cap 👑

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

okay so here's the whole config vibe, copy it exactly bestie:

 *** Probes ***

 +TelnetIOSPing

 forks = 5
 offset = 50%
 packetsize = 56
 step = 300
 timeout = 15

 # The following variables can be overridden in each target section
 /^influx_.+/ = influx_location = In the basement
 iospass = password # mandatory
 iosuser = user # mandatory
 pings = 5
 psource = 192.168.2.129
 source = 192.168.2.1 # mandatory
 vrf = VRF1

 # [...]

 *** Targets ***

 probe = TelnetIOSPing # if this should be the default probe

 # [...]

 + mytarget
 # probe = TelnetIOSPing # if the default probe is something else
 host = my.host
 /^influx_.+/ = influx_location = In the basement
 iospass = password # mandatory
 iosuser = user # mandatory
 pings = 5
 psource = 192.168.2.129
 source = 192.168.2.1 # mandatory
 vrf = VRF1

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So what it does 👀 — it integrates Cisco IOS as a probe into smokeping. It uses the telnet protocol to run a ping from an IOS device (that's the source) to another device (that's the host). This probe is basically serving the "extended ping" of the Cisco IOS, ate and left no crumbs. And yes bestie, you also get the option to specify which interface the ping is sourced from. iconic behavior tbh 🫶

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🌈 VARIABLES 🌈

🌟 Supported probe-specific variables:

• forks — run this many concurrent processes at maximum. Example value: 5. Default value: 5.
• offset — if you run many probes concurrently you may want to prevent them from hitting your network all at the same time, and this is the girl for the job. Using the probe-specific offset parameter you can change the point in time when each probe will be run. Offset is specified in % of total interval, or alternatively as 'random', and the offset from the 'General' section is used if nothing is specified here. Note that this does NOT influence the rrds itself, it is just a matter of when data acquisition is initiated. (This variable is only applicable if the variable 'concurrentprobes' is set in the 'General' section.) Example value: 50%.
• packetsize — the (optional) packetsize option lets you configure the packetsize for the pings sent. Default value: 56.
• step — duration of the base interval that this probe should use, if different from the one specified in the 'Database' section. Note that the step in the RRD files is fixed when they are originally generated, and if you change the step parameter afterwards, you'll have to delete the old RRD files or somehow convert them. (This variable is only applicable if the variable 'concurrentprobes' is set in the 'General' section.) Example value: 300.
• timeout — how long a single 'ping' takes at maximum. Example value: 15. Default value: 5.

🦋 Supported target-specific variables:

• /^influx_.+/ — this is a tag that will be sent to influxdb and has no impact on the probe measurement. The tag name will be sent without the "influx_" prefix, which will be replaced with "tag_" instead. Tags can be used for filtering. Example value: influx_location = In the basement.
• iospass — the iospass option allows you to specify the password for the username specified with the option iosuser. Example value: password. This setting is mandatory. 🚨
• iosuser — the iosuser option allows you to specify a username that has ping capability on the IOS Device. Example value: user. This setting is mandatory. 🚨
• pings — how many pings should be sent to each target, if different from the global value specified in the Database section. Note that the number of pings in the RRD files is fixed when they are originally generated, and if you change this parameter afterwards, you'll have to delete the old RRD files or somehow convert them. Example value: 5.
• psource — the (optional) psource option specifies an alternate IP address or Interface from which you wish to source your pings from. Routers can have many many IP addresses, and interfaces. When you ping from a router you have the ability to choose which interface and/or which IP address the ping is sourced from. Specifying an IP/interface does not necessarily specify the interface from which the ping will leave, but will specify which address the packet(s) appear to come from. If this option is left out the IOS Device will source the packet automatically based on routing and/or metrics. If this doesn't make sense to you then just leave it out 💀. Example value: 192.168.2.129.
• source — the source option specifies the IOS device to which we telnet. This is an IP address of an IOS Device that you/your server: 1) Have the ability to telnet to 2) Have a valid username and password for. Example value: 192.168.2.1. This setting is mandatory. 🚨
• vrf — the vrf option allows you to specify the vrf for ping. Example value: VRF1.

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

• John A Jackson <geonjay@infoave.net> ✨
• based HEAVILY on Smokeping::probes::IOSPing by Paul J Murphy <paul@murph.org> 💜
• based on Smokeping::probes::FPing by Tobias Oetiker <tobi@oetiker.ch> 🫶

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💀 NOTES 💀

🧚 IOS configuration

The IOS device should have a username/password configured, as well as the ability to connect to the VTY(s). eg:

!
username smokeping privilege 5 password 0 SmokepingPassword
!
line vty 0 4
 login local
 transport input telnet
!

Some IOS devices have a maximum of 5 VTYs available, so be careful not to hit a limit with the 'forks' variable. like, genuinely watch that number bestie 😭

🍓 Requirements

This module requires the Net::Telnet module for perl. This is usually included on most newer OSs which include perl. slay 💅

🔥 Debugging

There is some VERY rudimentary debugging code built into this module (it's based on the debugging code written into Net::Telnet). It will log information into three files "TIPreturn", "TIPoutlog", and "TIPdump". These files will be written out into your current working directory (CWD). You can change the names of these files to something with more meaning to you. lowkey useful ngl 🙈

🌸 Password authentication

You should be advised that the authentication method of telnet uses clear text transmissions...meaning that without proper network security measures someone could sniff your username and password off the network. 😭

I may attempt to incorporate SSH in a future version of this module, but it is very doubtful. Right now SSH adds a LOT of processing overhead to a router, and isn't incredibly easy to implement in perl.

Having said this, don't be too scared of telnet. Remember, the original IOSPing module used RSH, which is even more scary to use from a security perspective. 💀 fr fr

⭐ Ping packet size

The FPing manpage has the following to say on the topic of ping packet size:

Number of bytes of ping data to send. The minimum size (normally 12) allows room for the data that fping needs to do its work (sequence number, timestamp). The reported received data size includes the IP header (normally 20 bytes) and ICMP header (8 bytes), so the minimum total size is 40 bytes. Default is 56, as in ping. Maximum is the theoretical maximum IP datagram size (64K), though most systems limit this to a smaller, system-dependent number.

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and that's the whole page bestie, you ate 🎀

✨ cute lil sign-off ✨ — this icon was version 2.9.0, dated 2025-06-30, and the manual page is Smokeping_probes_TelnetIOSPing(3). mwah 💖🦋