A host showing Down usually means its ping (ICMP) check is failing, or hasn't yet succeeded for a new host. Before assuming the device itself is the problem, work through the checklist below — network and configuration issues are far more common causes than actual hardware failure.
Quick checks, in order
- Confirm the IP address configured for the host in iPM is still correct — a device that's had its IP changed (by DHCP, or a manual reconfiguration) will show as Down even though it's running fine at a different address.
- From the iPM server itself, try to ping the device directly. If this fails too, the problem is network-level and not specific to iPM.
- Check for a firewall between the iPM server and the device that might be blocking ICMP specifically, even if other traffic passes fine.
- Confirm the device is actually powered on and connected — obvious, but worth ruling out explicitly before spending time on configuration.
Understanding "Pending" vs "Down"
A newly added host often shows Pending briefly — this is normal, and just means iPM hasn't completed its first check cycle yet. Give it a few minutes before troubleshooting further. A host that stays Pending well beyond its check interval, rather than settling into Up or Down, usually points to the check itself never completing — often a network path issue rather than the device being genuinely unreachable.
Why it might take a few minutes to show as Down
Remember that a check typically needs to fail a set number of consecutive attempts (see Alert Conditions) before it's treated as a hard failure — a single missed ping doesn't immediately flip a host to Down, which is by design, to avoid false alarms from brief network blips.
Once basic reachability is confirmed
If ping succeeds but specific services still show problems, that's no longer a reachability issue — see SNMP Problems or SSH Problems depending on how the affected checks connect to the device.