The Netcheck name represents two distinct open-source projects that emerged from different needs in the network monitoring space. Neither is a full status page platform, but both serve important niches in the Linux DevOps ecosystem.
Repository: https://github.com/m1/netcheck
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| First Release | v0.0.1 (March 10, 2024) |
| Language | Rust (95%+) |
| License | GPL-3.0 |
| Purpose | Kubernetes and cloud-native network availability monitoring with Prometheus metrics |
| Status | Active development |
m1/netcheck emerged from the need for a lightweight, cloud-native network monitoring tool that integrates seamlessly with Prometheus and Grafana stacks. As Kubernetes adoption grew, operators needed simple ways to verify cluster network connectivity to external services (DNS, APIs, internet) without deploying heavy monitoring solutions.
The choice of Rust reflects modern infrastructure tooling trends: memory safety, minimal resource usage, and static binary deployment. The tool was designed specifically for:
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| March 2024 | v0.0.1 released with basic HTTP/HTTPS target monitoring |
| 2024 Q2 | Helm chart added for Kubernetes deployment |
| 2024 Q3 | Multi-target group support introduced |
| 2024 Q4 | Docker image published to GHCR |
| 2025 | Continued maintenance and community contributions |
| 2026 | Widely adopted in cloud-native monitoring stacks |
Repository: https://github.com/TristanBrotherton/netcheck
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| First Release | 2014 (original script) |
| Language | Bash/Shell |
| License | MIT |
| Purpose | Simple internet connectivity logging with downtime tracking |
| Status | Active maintenance |
TristanBrotherton’s netcheck began as a personal script in 2014 to track home internet connection stability. The motivation was practical: prove to an ISP that the connection was unreliable by logging every outage with timestamps and duration.
The script gained popularity on Ask Ubuntu and Super User as a simple solution for connectivity logging. Key design principles:
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2014 | Original script published on GitHub |
| 2015-2017 | Community contributions add speedtest support, web interface |
| 2018 | Systemd service installation added |
| 2019-2021 | Event hooks and customization options expanded |
| 2022 | Activity chart visualization added |
| 2023-2024 | Maintenance updates, bug fixes |
| 2025-2026 | Continued use for home/SOHO network monitoring |
Status pages began as static HTML manually updated during outages. Monitoring tools were separate from public-facing status communication.
| Tool | Year | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Nagios | 2002 | Infrastructure monitoring |
| Zabbix | 2004 | Infrastructure monitoring |
| StatusPage.io | 2013 | SaaS status pages |
| Cachet | 2015 | Open-source status pages (PHP/Laravel) |
Organizations wanted control over status communication. Open-source alternatives emerged:
| Tool | Year | Language | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cachet | 2015 | PHP/Laravel | Full status page platform |
| Statping | 2018 | Go | Monitoring + status page |
| Upptime | 2020 | GitHub Actions | Serverless monitoring |
| Vigil | 2018 | Rust | High-performance monitoring |
Tools became more specialized. Network monitoring split into distinct categories:
Full status page tools are overkill for simple use cases:
| Requirement | Full Status Page | Netcheck |
|---|---|---|
| Public status page | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Incident management | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Subscriber notifications | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Multi-protocol monitoring | ✅ Yes | ⚠️ Limited |
| Simple connectivity logging | ⚠️ Complex | ✅ Perfect |
| Prometheus metrics only | ⚠️ Extra setup | ✅ Native |
| Zero dependencies | ❌ Database required | ✅ Shell script |
| Minimal resources | ⚠️ 100MB+ RAM | ✅ 10-20 MB RAM |
There is no “nedrysoft/netcheck” project. The nedrysoft organization maintains Pingnoo (a traceroute tool) but never created a Netcheck project. This documentation originally referenced an incorrect repository.
The two actual Netcheck projects are:
| Project | Description | Relation to Netcheck |
|---|---|---|
| Pingnoo (nedrysoft) | Cross-platform traceroute tool | Different project, same org confusion |
| netcheck (PyPI) | Cloud-native network assertion tool | Python-based, different project |
| NetCheck (Telefonica) | Network programmability project | Research project, different domain |
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