Watchdog

Watchdog

Summary

Sub-menu: /system watchdog

The Watchdog feature provides two independent mechanisms for automatically recovering your router from unresponsive states:

1. Software Watchdog Timer - Monitors system responsiveness and reboots if the operating system becomes unresponsive, typically due to hardware malfunction or software issues

2. Ping Watchdog - Continuously monitors connectivity to a specified IP address and triggers a reboot if the target becomes unreachable, ensuring the router recovers from network connectivity issues

Watchdog reboot is not considered a system failure. It is an automatic reboot triggered by the operating system when a service is not responding as expected. Common causes include damaged hardware, slow software implementation, DDoS attacks, or misconfiguration.

Note

These are two independent watchdog features with separate settings. By default, Software Watchdog is enabled and Ping Watchdog is disabled. You can enable Ping Watchdog by specifying a watch-address, and you can disable Software Watchdog by setting watchdog-timer to no.

Watchdog reboots do not generate autosupout.rif files unless configured with automatic-supout=yes.

Software Watchdog

The Software Watchdog Timer monitors overall system responsiveness. If the system becomes unresponsive for approximately one minute, it automatically reboots to recover.

This feature is particularly useful for:

• Recovering from kernel panics or hangs
• Dealing with hardware instability
• Automatic recovery from resource exhaustion

By default, Software Watchdog is enabled and requires no configuration:

[admin@MikroTik] /system watchdog> print
  watchdog-timer: yes

To disable the Software Watchdog:

[admin@MikroTik] /system watchdog> set watchdog-timer=no

Ping Watchdog

The Ping Watchdog monitors network connectivity by periodically sending ICMP pings to a configured address. If six consecutive pings fail, the router automatically reboots.

How Ping Watchdog Works

1. Router waits for the ping-start-after-boot period (default: 5 minutes)
2. Sends ping to watch-address
3. If ping fails, retries up to 6 times over ping-timeout period (default: 60 seconds)
4. If all 6 pings fail, router reboots
5. Cycle repeats indefinitely

This creates a 6-minute reboot cycle when the watch-address is unreachable, ensuring the router eventually recovers once connectivity is restored.

Enable Ping Watchdog

Configure Ping Watchdog by setting a reachable IP address:

[admin@MikroTik] /system watchdog> set watch-address=8.8.8.8

Verify the configuration:

[admin@MikroTik] /system watchdog> print
       watch-address: 8.8.8.8
      watchdog-timer: yes
  ping-start-after-boot: 5m
      ping-timeout: 60s
  automatic-supout: yes
    auto-send-supout: no

Recommended Watch Addresses

Choose a reliable, always-reachable IP address:

Address	Description
8.8.8.8	Google’s public DNS
1.1.1.1	Cloudflare’s public DNS
Your ISP’s gateway	Local gateway router
A server on your network	Internal monitoring target

Avoid using the router’s own IP or IPs in the same subnet, as this may not detect actual internet connectivity loss.

Configuration Properties

Sub-menu level: /system watchdog

Property	Type	Default	Description
watchdog-timer	yes | no	yes	Enable software watchdog that reboots if system is unresponsive for ~1 minute
watch-address	IP		IP address to ping. Reboots router if 6 consecutive pings fail. Leave unset to disable Ping Watchdog
ping-start-after-boot	time	5m	Time to wait before Ping Watchdog starts checking watch-address after boot
ping-timeout	time	60s	Time window for sending 6 ping probes during each check cycle
automatic-supout	yes | no	yes	Automatically generate autosupout.rif support file before reboot on software failure
auto-send-supout	yes | no	no	Email the generated support output file automatically after creation
send-email-from	string		Sender email address for support file emails. Uses /tool e-mail settings if unset
send-email-to	string		Recipient email address for support output files
send-smtp-server	string		SMTP server address for sending emails. Uses /tool e-mail settings if unset

Supout File Configuration

When automatic-supout=yes, a support output file is generated before watchdog-triggered reboots. This file helps MikroTik support diagnose the cause of the failure.

Email Configuration Example

Configure automatic email notifications with support files:

[admin@MikroTik] /system watchdog> set auto-send-supout=yes \
  send-email-to[email protected] \
  send-smtp-server=192.0.2.1

Verify the complete configuration:

[admin@MikroTik] /system watchdog> print
      watch-address: none
     watchdog-timer: yes
 ping-start-after-boot: 5m
   automatic-supout: yes
    auto-send-supout: yes
  send-smtp-server: 192.0.2.1
     send-email-to: [email protected]

Email Settings Requirements

Ensure /tool e-mail is configured with proper SMTP credentials:

[admin@MikroTik] /tool e-mail> print
          address: 192.0.2.1
             port: 25
               from: [email protected]
          username: smtp_user
          password: smtp_password

Monitoring and Troubleshooting

Check Watchdog Status

View current watchdog settings and status:

[admin@MikroTik] /system watchdog> print

View Watchdog Logs

Watchdog events are logged to the system log with the watchdog topic:

[admin@MikroTik] /log> print where topics~"watchdog"

Common Issues

Router reboots too frequently

• Verify watch-address is reachable from your network
• Consider using a closer, more reliable target
• Increase ping-start-after-boot to reduce reboot frequency

No support file generated

• Ensure automatic-supout=yes is set
• Check available disk space
• Verify /file directory is accessible

Email not sent

• Validate SMTP server settings in /tool e-mail
• Confirm send-smtp-server, send-email-to, and send-email-from are configured
• Test email functionality with /tool e-mail send

Advanced Configuration

Disable Software Watchdog Only

Keep Ping Watchdog enabled while disabling Software Watchdog:

[admin@MikroTik] /system watchdog> set watchdog-timer=no watch-address=8.8.8.8

Custom Ping Timing

Adjust timing for networks with higher latency:

[admin@MikroTik] /system watchdog> set ping-start-after-boot=10m ping-timeout=120s

Monitor Both Watchdogs

Enable both watchdogs for comprehensive protection:

[admin@MikroTik] /system watchdog> set watchdog-timer=yes watch-address=1.1.1.1

Related Information

• System Reboot: /system reboot - Manual router reboot
• Support Output: /system support output - Generate support files manually
• Email Tool: /tool e-mail - Configure email settings
• Netwatch: /tool netwatch - Alternative monitoring with custom scripts
• Health Monitoring: /system health - Monitor voltage and temperature