Create a New Path

NetPath is only available for Windows devices.

Paths probe the route from the NetPath Agent to the entered hostname or IP address over the selected port. To simplify setup, a path may be added to multiple devices at the same time.

The NetPath Agent deploys when the first path is added to a device. Where the NetPath Agent is already installed, the updated path configurations are downloaded the next time the NetPath Agent checks in (5-minute cycle) and is applied during the next probe cycle.

To create a new path:

  1. Login to your Dashboard
  2. Open the NetPath dialog
    • Navigate to View > NetPath
    • Or click NetPath in the Vertical menu
  3. Click Create New Path to open the Create New Path dialog

  4. Assign Path Section
    1. Find the devices to add the path to from the displayed list or populate the Client, Site or Device Name in the search box (hit Enter to display the results)
    2. Tick the box against the target devices to select, and then click Next:

      • The Type column indicates if the device is a server or workstation

      • The Status column displays the device's state: Online, Offline, Overdue, Incompatible, etc.

  5. Path Details complete the path information:
    1. Hostname or IP Address Enter a valid hostname or IPv4 address
    2. Port Enter the port to run the probe on or select from the drop-down
    3. Alias (Optional) - Provide a nickname to identity the path
    4. Probe Interval (Minutes) - Enter the frequency to probe the network path
    5. Status Thresholds Choose from:
      • dynamically generate (recommended)
      • custom to manually configure the latency and packet loss warning and critical level thresholds
  6. Click Create to add the Path to the selected devices

A 24x7 NetPath Check is automatically added for each path and generates a failure where a problem is detected.

Hostname or IP Address

We recommend entering the same information as that used by the user to access the destination. This ensures NetPath probes the same service as the user. For example, if the user accesses your internal site by a host name rather than an IP address, enter the host name in NetPath.

To avoid a potential failed state when querying a URL, please do not include its protocol prefix. For example enter www.domain.name NOT https://www.domain.name. To query reachability over the protocol, the Port field may be used.

Probe Interval

This value determines the frequency and length of the network path probes. Dashboard v2019.02.04 introduced faster scans with the ability to set scans from 5 to 1440 minutes, increasing the quickest frequency from 10 minutes. As part of this release, any new scans now default to a 5 minutes interval with the option to edit and configure existing scans to take advantage of this faster frequency.

  • If the value is too low, NetPath does not complete the probe and the network path may not show all routes. Data updates quicker but accuracy is lost.
  • If the value is too high, the information may not update as frequently as you like. Data updates more slowly but the accuracy of the data increases.

If the probe does not complete its scan as the time interval was too short, a message is displayed in the Network Path. Increasing the interval for this scan will alleviate the frequency based issue.

Status Thresholds - Dynamically generate

Packet loss uses static thresholds. Latency harnesses NetPath technologies to analyze the path statistics for each interval (as links can constantly appear then disappear between probes) then set the appropriate threshold levels based on whether any delays are considered healthy or unhealthy delay.

For example, a 50ms transcontinental link is green (healthy), while a 50ms link between routers in the same building is red (unhealthy).