Network Health Check

What the network health check diagnostic does

This Automox Worklet™ performs a comprehensive network health assessment on Windows endpoints by executing multiple diagnostic tests in sequence. The Worklet collects real-time data about Wi-Fi signal strength, network latency, packet loss rates, and system resource utilization to provide IT teams with actionable insights.

The diagnostic runs Wi-Fi signal strength measurements over a five-second interval, ping tests to Google's DNS server (8.8.8.8) to measure packet loss and latency, and traceroute analysis to identify high-latency network hops. Also, the Worklet measures machine uptime and samples CPU and memory availability over a ten-second observation window.

All diagnostic results are written to the Activity Log in a structured format using a tilde (~) delimiter, allowing IT teams to export findings to CSV for further analysis and trending.

Why collect network diagnostics on your endpoints

Users report vague network symptoms: slow connections, dropped video calls, intermittent timeouts. Without objective measurements, IT teams waste hours manually running diagnostic commands on individual endpoints, connecting via remote desktop, and troubleshooting based on subjective user reports. The root cause could be weak Wi-Fi signals, high network latency, packet loss, DNS issues, or resource contention on the endpoint itself–but distinguishing between these requires collecting multiple diagnostic data points that users cannot gather themselves.

Proactive network diagnostics reduce mean time to resolution (MTTR) by providing IT teams with objective measurements rather than subjective user reports. When you identify weak Wi-Fi signals or high-latency routes early, you can remediate the problem before it impacts productivity across your organization.

This Worklet also captures system resource metrics (CPU and memory availability), which helps IT teams determine whether network slowness is related to resource contention on the endpoint itself.

How network health diagnostics work

1. Evaluation phase: The Worklet's evaluation script always triggers remediation by exiting with status code 1, verifying the diagnostic tests run on every execution. This design allows the Worklet to be scheduled regularly without compliance logic preventing test execution.

2. Remediation phase: The remediation script collects network metrics including Wi-Fi signal strength samples (measured six times at two-second intervals), ping statistics to 8.8.8.8 (ten packets), traceroute results to identify latency patterns, total machine uptime in days, and CPU and memory utilization samples (collected twice at five-second intervals). All results are formatted and written to the Activity Log.

Network health check requirements

• Windows 7 and later (including Windows Server editions)

• PowerShell (version 2.0 or later, available on all supported Windows versions)

• Network access to external DNS servers (8.8.8.8) for latency testing

• Local administrator privileges to access performance counters for CPU and memory metrics

• Approximately 35 seconds total execution time (five seconds for Wi-Fi sampling, ten seconds for ping tests, five seconds for CPU and memory sampling, plus traceroute analysis)

Expected diagnostic results and endpoint behavior

After running the Worklet, IT teams possess comprehensive diagnostic data without requiring remote desktop access or user interaction. The Activity Log contains a detailed diagnostic report with tilde-delimited sections for each metric, formatted for easy CSV export. The report includes Wi-Fi signal strength values sampled six times over five seconds (showing signal degradation patterns), ping statistics to 8.8.8.8 showing packet loss percentage and average/minimum/maximum round-trip times in milliseconds, traceroute analysis indicating whether all network hops maintain latency under ten milliseconds, total machine uptime in days with decimal precision (useful for identifying endpoints needing reboots), and two CPU and memory utilization snapshots with both absolute values (MB) and percentage-of-total calculations. Typical output shows Wi-Fi signal values between 0-100, ping times between 10-50ms for healthy connections, and memory utilization as both "2048 MB (25%)" style metrics. You can verify this change through the Automox Activity Log or by checking the endpoint configuration directly.

The endpoint itself is not modified by this Worklet. The diagnostic tests are non-invasive and read-only, making it safe to run repeatedly without affecting system configuration or user experience. IT teams can export the Activity Log data to CSV format for trend analysis, alerting, or integration with network monitoring systems.

How to validate network health check changes

1. Run this Worklet on a pilot Windows endpoint and review evaluation output for network health check.

2. Confirm Automox activity logs show successful completion and exit code 0.

3. Verify endpoint state using checks aligned to evaluation script logic, such as the evaluation and remediation scripts.

4. Validate remediation effects from script operations such as Start-Sleep, Select-String, Write-Output, then rerun evaluation for compliance.