# Ping monitor

Ping monitors work the same way the ping command does on a computer. If the host doesn't respond to the ICMP packets sent by ping, an incident is created, and the current on-call person or the entire team is alerted.

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If this is your first time setting up API monitoring, we recommend starting with our [Introduction to ping monitoring](https://betterstack.com/community/guides/monitoring/what-is-ping-monitoring/ ";_blank").
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### Creating a ping monitor

- Go to **Monitors** → **Create monitor**.
- Change **Alert us when the host above** selection to **Doesn't respond to ping**.
- Enter your host (IPv4 or IPv6 address) in the **Host to monitor input**.
- Click **Create monitor**.