# watchdog

> Reboots the router when the system stops responding (the software watchdog timer) or when one IP address stops answering pings (the ping watchdog), and writes a support output file after a software failure. See Watchdog.

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## system/watchdog 
**Type:** Settings Directory

Reboots the router when the system stops responding (the software watchdog timer) or when one IP address stops answering pings (the ping watchdog), and writes a support output file after a software failure. See [Watchdog](../../diagnostics-monitoring-and-troubleshooting/watchdog).

<ArgTable c1="Argument" c2="Type" c3="Description">
<ArgTableRow arg="watch-address" typ="alt { ip: ipAddr
, ipv6: composite { address: ip6Addr
, interface: [ iface_enum]
 }
 }">Address the ping watchdog pings. The router sends six pings over `ping-timeout` and reboots when all six fail. `none` turns the ping watchdog off. Use an address that is reliably up and reached through the link to watch, such as the gateway or, for a VPN, the tunnel address of the far end. If it stays unreachable, the router reboots again after every boot, about every `ping-start-after-boot` plus `ping-timeout`. Default: none.</ArgTableRow>
<ArgTableRow arg="watchdog-timer" typ="bool">Whether the router reboots when the system is unresponsive for a minute. Default: yes.</ArgTableRow>
<ArgTableRow arg="ping-start-after-boot" typ="time">Time after a boot before the ping watchdog sends its first ping to `watch-address`. On a router that has been up longer than this time, setting `watch-address` starts the pings at once. Set it longer than the watched link needs to come up after a boot. Older exports call it `no-ping-delay`. Default: 5m.</ArgTableRow>
<ArgTableRow arg="ping-timeout" typ="time">Time over which the ping watchdog sends six pings to `watch-address`, one every `ping-timeout` divided by six. The router reboots when all six fail. Default: 1m.</ArgTableRow>
<ArgTableRow arg="automatic-supout" typ="bool">Whether the router writes `autosupout.rif` when the software fails. The previous file is renamed to `autosupout.old.rif`. A ping watchdog reboot does not write the file. Default: yes.</ArgTableRow>
<ArgTableRow arg="auto-send-supout" typ="bool">Whether the router sends the automatic support output file by email to `send-email-to`. Default: no.</ArgTableRow>
<ArgTableRow arg="send-email-to" typ="string">Email address the automatic support output file is sent to, with `auto-send-supout=yes`.</ArgTableRow>
<ArgTableRow arg="send-email-from" typ="string">Sender address of the email with the automatic support output file. When not set, the value from `/tool/e-mail` is used.</ArgTableRow>
<ArgTableRow arg="send-smtp-server" typ="alt { ipv4: ipAddr
, fqdn: string
 }">SMTP server, as an IPv4 address or a name, that sends the email with the automatic support output file. When not set, the value from `/tool/e-mail` is used.</ArgTableRow>
</ArgTable>