PingGraph 2.0.1.15

FAQ

Q. What values are good for minimum and maximum ping sizes?

A. It is good to use the default values, with 16 for a minimum and 768 for a maximum. The sizes can be adjusted if you want to test throughput at varying packet sizes. You should be aware though that larger packets will be broken apart (fragmented) into multiple physical packets, with more overhead. Keeping the maximum packet size under about 1200 bytes will usually keep them from fragmenting.

Q. What are those vertical red lines?

A. Those are reports of dropped packets. If you get nothing but red lines, you can verify that nothing is getting through from a command prompt by typing "ping <your host name>" to see if it reports connectivity. If it works from the command line, you are probably running a localized version of windows that has yet another difference I haven't allowed for. Please send me a copy of the output of your ping command.

Q. Is there any built-in help?

A. Yes. Press the F1 key and PingGraph will display context sensitive help for whatever part of the application currently has focus. Change focus by either clicking on elements of the interface, or by using the Tab key.

Q. Why should I register? What benefits do I get?

A. See the listed Registration Benefits.

Q. What do I use when entering a host name?

A. You can use either a numeric IP address like 192.168.0.1 for instance, or a host name such as www.yourfavoritehost.com which PingGraph will internally translate to an IP address. In addition, you can alter the name that is displayed in the graph by changing the "Show Name As" field. That way, you can label 192.168.0.1 as your DSL or Cable modem.

Q. Why can't I specify rapid ping rates?

A. Many systems would interpret high ping rates as a primitive attack on their system, typically called Denial of Service attack. We should all be good net citizens, so the application does not allow high data rates that could be offensive to unsuspecting hosts.

Q. Does PingGraph "call home" and report what I'm doing?

A. No. Spyware is evil. There are only three ways where PingGraph will ever contact a system not on your specified host ping list.

1. When purchasing a license, which sends you to our commerce site.
2. When visiting our home page.
3. When checking for updates, which reads an XML file from our site.

None of these cases ever report information about you or your computer past what regular web browsing will do.

Q. How much bandwidth does PingGraph consume?

A. It uses about 1200 bytes of traffic when it sends out its test pings. More frequent pings use more bandwidth, but the pings are infrequent enough that you should not notice that it is running, even on a slower modem connection.

Q. How much processor does PingGraph consume?

A. Less than 2% is common for something around a 1 GHz processor, but could be higher on slow systems, or when you have a large number of hosts listed. The Windows Task Manager will show you how much processor each application is using.

Q. Why did you use the .NET runtime? Downloading that 24 meg runtime is a killer!

A. Development times for .NET applications are lower, so I can produce a higher quality application in less time, concentrating on feature request from customers rather than fighting with the development tools.

Q. What is the data format of the PingGraph logs?

A. Registered users can read their stored configuration and ping data as an XML file which lives in the system's shared applications directory, which is usually "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Infix Technologies\PingGraph\" followed by the version number, such as "2.0.1.9". The file name in that directory is "host.xml". This logged data will migrate forward to updated versions when you upgrade.

Q. How big to the log files get?

A. XML is not a very compact data format, but the ease of use makes up for it. Each entry within the log is just larger than 100 bytes, so For each 1000 entries stored, it will take a little over 100 KBytes. One good way to manage how much space you use is to slow the sample rate. If you only test a host once every 10 minutes, then 1000 entries will give you almost a week of historical data. The default setting for the data on a host is to wait until it gets to 3000 entries, then trim it back to 2000 entries.

Q. Can you make PingGraph do <insert your favorite feature here>?

A. Drop us a line and we'll see if it fits with the design of the application. Most of the updates to PingGraph have been due to requests from users for new features. Even if the feature doesn't fit well, it could be a need that can be addressed with a new tool or utility.

Change History (somewhat technical content)

2.0.1.15 (Dec 28, 2007)

• Fixed a bad default value for fixed ranges on the graphs.

2.0.1.14 (Dec 27, 2007)

• Extra error handling added to rendering to avoid software exceptions reported by a user.
• Host names have a drop shadow for improved visibility.
• Updated email interface to use System.Net.Mail.SmtpClient since System.Web.Mail.SmtpMail has been deprecated. This should be a completely transparent change.

2.0.1.13 (Dec 15, 2007)

• Email alert text now includes alias as well as the specified name. This helps in the case of system names that are just IP addresses.
• The text output for emailed warnings was updated for readability.
• Vertical scale of the graphs can be forced to a constant value in the main configuration dialog now to simplify side-by-side comparisons.
• Email bug fixed where if you had set up an SMTP server and did not check the boxes to send email, the email would be sent anyway.

2.0.1.12 (Mar 15, 2006)

• Email alert text had lines terminated with only a newline (\n) rather than with a carriage return plus a newline (\r\n). This was a violation of the specifications for sending SMTP email, and some email servers were complaining.
• A text output window has been added for general status messages.

2.0.1.11 (Dec 23, 2005)

• The maximum ping packet size is now configurable. This is done to keep from falsely triggering denial of service attack warnings in firewalls. All maximum ping sizes will move automatically down to 768 bytes (plus usually 42 bytes of message overhead). That puts it well under the 1024 byte limit of some firewall systems. To avoid fragmenting packets, you should probably keep the maximum size below 1300 or so.

2.0.1.10 (Oct 30, 2005)

• Changed internal flow so it forces each site to be processed, even if one has very long timeouts. This was causing the graph to not be drawn for sites farther down the list. This was also preventing the processing of email notifications in some cases.
• Logged data was not always being saved on exit.

2.0.1.9 (Apr 6, 2005)

• Fixed a bug with certain localized versions of windows where the ping command gives output formatted differently. This was a different layout problem than the one fixed in version 2.0.1.6. The troublesome ping was from Slovenia this time:
  • Odgovor od xx.xx.xx.xx: bajtov=32 cas = 2ms TTL=62
• Variable ping packet size is allowed, as per a request.

2.0.1.8 (Feb 2, 2005)

• Added name aliasing for times when the DNS name is too long, or when you have only an IP address. It will use the host name if the alias is empty, but will otherwise use your preferred alias for on-screen data.
• Changed the timestamp format to be configurable between human readable format and the original numeric value.
• Fixed a bug where deleting a shown host with just a hidden (unchecked) host remaining would generate an exception.
• Documentation and web site updated to show our new street address.

2.0.1.7 (May 11, 2004)

• Corrected a problem with proxies that require authentication. It was showing an ill-formed update message when it could not reach the update site. A future version is likely to include full authentication capabilities, if user demand shows the need for it.

2.0.1.6 (Mar 4, 2004)

• Corrected a problem with non-English operating system versions, German in particular. Pings were being incorrectly reported as failed connections.

2.0.1.5 (Feb 20, 2004)

• Made the maximum ping time configurable. Some sites at topologically remote locations can have very high ping times, so this allows properly reporting the slow connection rather than making it look like a network connection is down.
• To simplify updates, PingGraph will check at startup to see if one is available. Tech description: This reads an XML file from our web server to compare version numbers locally, so no user data is sent.
• Bandwidth estimates have been changed to make them more stable when ping times vary erratically, such as with very remote high latency locations. As a side effect, the estimates may decrease a little bit overall. Since these are estimates, and do not rely on SNMP for precise information, this seemed to be an acceptable trade-off.

2.0.1.4 (Feb 9, 2004)

• Only one version is allowed to run at a time. It could cause some ping entries to be lost if multiple versions exited in the wrong order.
• When registering, it will always update the main window title now to show that it has been registered.
• Fixed a problem with some Win 2000 systems where it would crash when restored from being iconified.
• Added a warning message to run PingGraph from a local disk.

2.0.1.3 (Jan 28, 2004)

• Release notes menu item only worked some of the time, depending on whether you ran the program through the start menu or not. "Run from" was not set in the Start menu.
• Runs in the task bar now, to keep from cluttering up the window list.
• Install now requires administrator rights on the machine, since it installs and runs as accessible by "all users".
• Install has an option to create an icon in the Startup group so PingGraph will automatically run at login.
• "Run from" entry is now set in icons, so it is run from its home directory. This will correct any future problems similar to the release notes issue above.
• It remembers the iconified state, and starts up the way it exited.

2.0.1.2 (Jan 22, 2004)

• Sorry for the flurry of updates. Things are settling down pretty well now.
• Ignore failed host name lookups, and set up the host anyway. If you ran PingGraph while that system was unavailable, it would remove it from your saved data file.
• Added a message box for the "reports" menu item, with some info on how you can build your own external custom reports.
• Migrate registration key and data from previous install. You no longer need to re-enter your registration code after upgrading.
• Remove old data logs (if confirmed by you) once data migration is complete.

2.0.1.1 (Jan 21, 2004)

• Some systems were not responding to pings, so the method of sending them has been updated with a simpler and more robust solution.
• Displayed information for hosts that had 100% packet loss have been fixed so they don't show really high minimum ping values or bogus bandwidth.
• Corrected a couple of bad HTML links.

2.0.1.0 (Jan 19, 2004)

• New release after a full rewrite.