Can anyone answer this 'old' question about 'packet loss' percentage calculations?

[lchance]

I've noticed on Thwack this question goes back as far as the year 2004 and without any solid answers. And I read in the Orion Admin Guide where Orion uses ICMP info from the device to determine this, but I don't know how it's determined. So, since I was just asked this question, I too would be interested to know the answer myself and I'll pass it on.

Here's what I was asked:

“How does solarwinds do packet loss percentage

Is it strictly doing a ping test on an interval or what”

[lchance · Accepted solution]

My fault - I didn't go deep enough into the Orion Admin Guide where I found some more information about packet loss. So, I can live with this explanation - thanks anyway...

Percent Packet Loss

Orion NPM calculates percent packet loss using ICMP ping requests made on the Default Poll Interval. Orion NPM pings monitored devices and records the results of the ten most recent ping attempts. Percent packet loss is expressed as the the number of failed ping requests, X, divided by the number of ping requests, 10.

For example, if, at a given point in time, the last ten ping requests made of a selected device resulted in 2 failures and 8 successes, the percent packet loss for the selected device at the given time is reported as 2/10, or 20%.