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The Network Path monitor is in Preview. To request access, contact your Datadog account team or reach out to Datadog Support.
Overview
Network Path provides a visual representation of network traffic flow from its origin to its destination. After you enable Network Path for your organization, you can create a Network Path monitor to alert you when a Network Path metric crosses a set threshold. For example, you can monitor packet loss percentage between a specific source and destination and be alerted when this percentage breaches a configured threshold.
Monitor creation
To create a Network Path monitor in Datadog, use the main navigation: Monitors > New Monitor > Network Path
Define search query
- Construct a search query using the same logic as Network Path timeseries widgets in your dashboards.
- Select which data type to monitor on: Test Runs or Hops.
- Test Runs represent end-to-end traceroute results, including path-level metadata (such as source and destination) and summarized hop information. This dataset is sufficient for most monitoring use cases.
- Hops represent detailed, hop-level data, such as latency between consecutive hops and additional hop-specific attributes. This dataset is intended for deeper, hop-by-hop analysis and should be used less frequently.
- Choose to monitor over event count, facet, or measure.
Monitor over a Network Path event count: Use the search bar (optional) and do not select a facet or measure. Datadog evaluates the number of Network Path events over a selected time frame for the selected data type, then compares it to the threshold conditions.
Monitor over a facet: If you select a facet, the monitor alerts over the Unique value count of the facet.
Monitor over measure: If you select a measure, the monitor alerts over the numerical value of the Network Path facet (similar to a metric monitor). Select an aggregation type (min, avg, sum, median, pc75, pc90, pc95, pc98, pc99, or max).
- (Optional) Group Network Path events by multiple dimensions: All Network Path events matching the query are aggregated into groups based on the value of up to four facets.
- (Optional) Add multiple queries and apply formulas and functions:
- Multiple queries: Click Add Query to analyze multiple different sets of Network Path data in relation to each other.
- Formulas and functions: After adding your desired queries, click the Add Function icon to add a mathematical computation.
Metric Definitions
The following table lists the different Network Path metrics that you can create monitors on.
| Metric | Metric Name | Definition |
|---|
| E2E Probe RTT Latency (Average) | e2e_probe.rtt.avg | End-to-end round-trip time (RTT) measured for the probe, representing the average time elapsed to receive a response from the destination across all probe packets. |
| E2E Probe Packets Sent | e2e_probe.packets_sent | Number of packets sent. |
| E2E Probe Packets Received | e2e_probe.packets_received | Number of packets for which a response was received. |
| E2E Probe Packet Loss | e2e_probe.packet_loss_percentage | Ratio of packets sent that did not receive a response. |
| E2E Probe Jitter | e2e_probe.jitter | Variation in round-trip time (RTT) between consecutive packets. |
Set alert conditions
Configure monitors to trigger if the query value crosses a threshold, and customize advanced alert options for recovery thresholds and evaluation delays. For more information, see Configure Monitors.
Notifications
For detailed instructions on the Configure notifications and automations section, see the Notifications page.
Common monitors
You can create monitors on Network Path with the following common monitors. These provide a good starting point to be alerted if your network traffic is experiencing issues or irregular behavior.
Round-trip time (RTT)
The RTT monitor alerts you if the average round-trip time of a network path from a source to a destination breaches a threshold. Monitoring this can help proactively address performance problems and bottlenecks within your network before they escalate to a more severe state.
Packet loss
The packet loss monitor alerts you if there is an increase in the number of packets that aren’t reaching their destination from a source. Monitoring packet loss helps ensure reliable connectivity and detect issues that may impact availability or application performance.
Jitter
The jitter monitor alerts you if there is a change in RTT variance for your network paths. Use this monitor to ensure network consistency and help track issues such as network congestion, bandwidth limitations, or faulty equipment.
Further reading
Additional helpful documentation, links, and articles:
