A Node-RED node to ping a remote server, for use as a keep-alive check.
Run the following command in your Node-RED user directory - typically ~/.node-red
npm install node-red-node-ping
Gotcha
On some versions on Raspbian (Raspberry Pi) ping seems to be a root only command.
The fix is to allow it as follows
sudo setcap cap_net_raw=ep /bin/ping
sudo setcap cap_net_raw=ep /bin/ping6
Pings a machine and returns the trip time in mS as msg.payload.
Returns boolean false if no response received, or if the host is unresolveable.
msg.error will contain any error message if necessary.
msg.topic contains the ip address of the target host.
Default ping is every 20 seconds but can be configured.