Using the 'check-gateway=ping' option, after how many timeouts is a gateway considered unreachable?

When the 'check-gateway=ping' option is configured in MikroTik, the router uses ping requests to monitor the status of the gateway. By default, the router will consider a gateway unreachable after it experiences a specified number of consecutive ping timeouts. This default setting is designed to ensure that the system can appropriately determine the accessibility of a gateway and manage routing decisions effectively.

In this case, the correct number of timeouts that will lead to a gateway being marked as unreachable is two. This means that if the router fails to receive a response to two consecutive ping requests to the gateway, it will assume that the gateway is down or unreachable.

This mechanism is part of MikroTik's failover and load balancing capabilities, allowing it to react promptly to changes in network availability by switching to an alternative route if one becomes unavailable. Careful tuning of these parameters can enhance network resilience and performance.