Basic netwatch via ping with saving error timestamp to textfile

RouterOS Scripting
1

Hi guys.
Out of curiosity I want to test my ISP stability/uptime. Easiest way I think of is to run scheduler with ping 8.8.8.8 every few seconds, and report if there is output other than normal ping reply.
This is what I came up with:

:local file
:local time
:local date

:set time [/system clock get time]
:set date [/system clock get date]
:local file ([:pick $date 7 11]."-".[:pick $date 0 3]."-".[:pick $date 4 6])

:if ([/ping 8.8.8.8 count=5] = 0) do={
:log error "Ping error"
/file print file="$file"
:delay 1s
/file set [find name~"$file"] contents=$time
}

:log error “Ping error.” ← this I need to see it on speed in log file, marked with red color.
FIle is created but every time when ping fails it overwrite file with fresh time.
I need it to work like >> output.txt in cmd so it will write new line at the end instead of overwriting whole file. Is that doable? I want to have separate txt file for every day.

2

Ok, I think I managed to get it working :smiley:

:local file
:local time
:local date

:set time [/system clock get time]
:set date [/system clock get date]
:local file ([:pick $date 7 11]."-".[:pick $date 0 3]."-".[:pick $date 4 6])

:if ([/ping 8.8.8.8 count=5] = 0) do={
:log error "Ping error"

:local contents [/file get $file contents]
:set contents ($contents . "\n" . $time)
/file set $file contents=$contents
}

If You have any comments or improvement please say.

3

This will work until the file gets to a certain size, then it will fail with all new data falling down the bitbucket. String variables in scripting are limited in size.

4

Are You reffering to this part?

:set contents ($contents . "\n" . $time)

How to avoid it? Is there any other way to save new data at the end of the file?

5

After 13 years and multiple courses on the MikroTik, I know of none. The routerOS file system is insanely primitive, and the scripting language seems purposely written to ignore it. The /file edit command can’t handle a file significantly larger than a system note – not even an average export file for a more than trivial configuration. You cannot even create a folder without resorting to awkward tricks in FTP. At best, a script might be able to use a file to store a semaphore or two.

6

Why not just use a telegram bot to receive ping notifications?

7

That was my first idea and I did it that way as I already have few telegram informations implemented. It was working pretty ok on test IP 8.8.8.88. All “unreachable” messages arrived to me via telegram.

But when I moved it from DEV to PROD it stopped to work. At begining I did not know why. Turns out You need an internet connection for sending telegram messages… You get the point now, right?