Simple down detector for Internet This is a simplified version for someone wanting to know the startus of your Internet connectivity. It can assist you when communicating with your ISP. Detection is done by pinging 8.8.8.8 and a timeout is considered as interruption. Internet_down will send you an email when internet is restored after an interruption.
- Time stamp on when interrupted and when restored
- Duration of interruption
- Resolution i 1 minuted (easily modified)
Requirements Hardware:
- Raspberry Zero W (This assumes WiFi connection). Feel free to use any computer running Linux
Preparation
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Prepare your Pi (Raspberry Pi OS), configure WiFi and enable SSH. Easily done with Raspberry imager: https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/raspberry-pi-imager-imaging-utility/
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Power on the Pi and confirm you can connect by ssh
ssh YOURUSERNAME@zero.local -
Update the Pi
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install python3 python3-pip
sudo pip3 install ping3
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Generate an app password if using 2fa To generate an app password, go to your Google Account settings, navigate to the "Security" tab, and look for the "App passwords" section. Generate a new app password specifically for your Raspberry Pi application and use that in the sender_password variable.
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edit down_detector.py with
nano down_detector.py.
Note that you have to customize 3 lines: sender_email = "YOURSENDER@gmail.com", sender_password = "HERE_GOES_YOUR_GMAIL_PASSWORD_OR_APP_PASSWORD" & receiver_email = "YOURRECIEVER@gmail.com"
- Run the script (you can chose just to run it och have it automatically run when the Pi boots)
python3 down_detector.py
- Setup to run as a service from boot (If you want to have it running automatically from boot)
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/down_detector.service
Note that you have to customize following lines: ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /home/YOURUSER/down_detector.py WorkingDirectory=/home/YOURUSER, StandardOutput=inherit, StandardError=inherit, Restart=always, User=YOURUSER
- Enable the service & Reboot
sudo systemctl enable down_detector.service
sudo reboot
- Testing: Once Pi has rebooted, confirm that it creates down_log.txt. Disconnect your router, wait for a minute, connect it again and confirm that you get a mail. You can check down_log.txt for possible errors.