👊Automating Network Health Checks with PowerShell & Scheduled Tasks⚙️

Monitoring network connectivity is crucial, especially if you're managing infrastructure or working with mission-critical applications. A simple way to ensure your network remains healthy is by periodically checking latency to key destinations and logging the results.

In this guide, I'll show you how to:

• Use PowerShell to ping both an external server (1.1.1.1) and your default gateway.

• Send the latency results to an external monitoring API.

• Automate the script using Windows Task Scheduler so it runs every 10 minutes.

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Step 1: The PowerShell Script

We’ll create a script that:
✅ Dynamically detects the default gateway.
✅ Pings both 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare DNS) and the gateway.
✅ Sends the latency results to an external API (digger.uptimekuma.com).
✅ Gracefully handles failures (e.g., network down).

The Script (heartbeat.ps1)

# Get the default gateway reliably
$gateway = (Get-NetIPConfiguration | Where-Object { $_.IPv4DefaultGateway -ne $null -and $_.NetAdapter.Status -eq "Up" }).IPv4DefaultGateway.NextHop

# Function to calculate average ping latency
function Get-AveragePing {
    param ($Target)
    try {
        $pingResults = Test-Connection -ComputerName $Target -Count 5 -ErrorAction Stop
        return ($pingResults | Measure-Object -Property ResponseTime -Average).Average
    } catch {
        return "N/A"
    }
}

# Ping 1.1.1.1 and send the result
$latency1 = Get-AveragePing -Target "1.1.1.1"
$api1 = "https://digger.uptimekuma.com/api/push/O6SLd8pNDv?status=up&msg=OK&ping=$latency1"
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $api1 -Method Get

# Ping the local gateway and send the result
$latency2 = Get-AveragePing -Target $gateway
$api2 = "https://digger.uptimekuma.com/api/push/GwQREfeG3V?status=up&msg=OK&ping=$latency2"
Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $api2 -Method Get

🔹 How it Works:

• Get-NetIPConfiguration fetches the correct default gateway dynamically.

• The Get-AveragePing function runs 5 pings to the given target and calculates the average response time.

• Two API calls send latency results to digger.uptimekuma.com.

• If a ping fails, it returns "N/A" instead of crashing.

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Step 2: Scheduling the Script with Task Scheduler

We’ll now automate this script to run every 10 minutes using Task Scheduler.

1. Save the Script

• Open Notepad, paste the script, and save it as:

    C:\Binaries\heartbeat.ps1
  

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2. Allow PowerShell Scripts to Run

By default, Windows restricts PowerShell scripts. To fix this:

• Open PowerShell as Administrator

• Run:

    Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
  

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3. Create a Scheduled Task

1️⃣ Open Task Scheduler (Win + R → taskschd.msc → Enter).
2️⃣ Click "Create Basic Task" on the right.
3️⃣ Name it "Network Heartbeat", then click Next.
4️⃣ Select "Daily", then Next.
5️⃣ Set Start Time (any time) and Recur every 1 days, then Next.
6️⃣ Choose "Repeat task every 10 minutes", for a duration of 1 day.
7️⃣ Select "Start a Program", then Next.
8️⃣ In Program/Script, enter:

powershell.exe

9️⃣ In Add arguments, enter:

-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Binaries\heartbeat.ps1"

🔟 Click Finish.

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Step 3: Verifying Everything Works

Run the Script Manually

To test before scheduling:

powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Binaries\heartbeat.ps1"

If everything is working, you should see API requests sent without errors.

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Wrapping Up

🚀 Now, the script will automatically run every 10 minutes and log latency metrics to an external API. This provides continuous monitoring without manual intervention.

🔧 Need More? Modify the script to:

• Log results to a file instead.

• Send email alerts if latency exceeds a threshold.

• Monitor additional network endpoints.

This method is lightweight, effective, and fully automated—ideal for keeping an eye on network health!

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