diff --git a/strongswan/collector.go b/strongswan/collector.go
index 73e0f6e..bf3766e 100644
--- a/strongswan/collector.go
+++ b/strongswan/collector.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ type viciClientFn func() (ViciClient, error)
 type Collector struct {
 	viciClientFn viciClientFn
 
+	up               *prometheus.Desc
 	ikeCnt           *prometheus.Desc
 	ikeVersion       *prometheus.Desc
 	ikeStatus        *prometheus.Desc
@@ -62,6 +63,11 @@ func NewCollector(viciClientFn viciClientFn) *Collector {
 	return &Collector{
 		viciClientFn: viciClientFn,
 
+		up: prometheus.NewDesc(
+			prefix+"up",
+			"Whether scraping metrics was successful.",
+			nil, nil,
+		),
 		ikeCnt: prometheus.NewDesc(
 			prefix+"ike_count",
 			"Number of known IKEs",
@@ -202,6 +208,7 @@ func NewCollector(viciClientFn viciClientFn) *Collector {
 }
 
 func (c *Collector) Describe(ch chan<- *prometheus.Desc) {
+	ch <- c.up
 	ch <- c.ikeCnt
 	ch <- c.ikeVersion
 	ch <- c.ikeStatus
@@ -240,6 +247,11 @@ func (c *Collector) Collect(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) {
 			prometheus.GaugeValue,
 			float64(0),
 		)
+		ch <- prometheus.MustNewConstMetric(
+			c.up,
+			prometheus.GaugeValue,
+			float64(0),
+		)
 		return
 	}
 	ch <- prometheus.MustNewConstMetric(
@@ -247,6 +259,11 @@ func (c *Collector) Collect(ch chan<- prometheus.Metric) {
 		prometheus.GaugeValue,
 		float64(len(sas)),
 	)
+	ch <- prometheus.MustNewConstMetric(
+		c.up,
+		prometheus.GaugeValue,
+		float64(1),
+	)
 	for _, ikeSa := range sas {
 		c.collectIkeMetrics(ikeSa, ch)
 		for _, child := range ikeSa.Children {
diff --git a/strongswan/collector_test.go b/strongswan/collector_test.go
index 576b805..34346aa 100644
--- a/strongswan/collector_test.go
+++ b/strongswan/collector_test.go
@@ -42,6 +42,25 @@ func TestCollector_Metrics(t *testing.T) {
 		wantMetricsValue  int
 		wantMetricsCount  int
 	}{
+		{
+			name:             "Strongswan status without IKEs",
+			metricName:       "strongswan_up",
+			wantMetricsHelp:  "Whether scraping metrics was successful.",
+			wantMetricsType:  "gauge",
+			wantMetricsValue: 0,
+			wantMetricsCount: 1,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "Strongswan status with IKEs",
+			msgsModifierFn: func(msgs *vici.Message) {
+				msgs.Set("ike-name", vici.NewMessage())
+			},
+			metricName:       "strongswan_up",
+			wantMetricsHelp:  "Whether scraping metrics was successful.",
+			wantMetricsType:  "gauge",
+			wantMetricsValue: 1,
+			wantMetricsCount: 1,
+		},
 		{
 			name:             "connection error",
 			viciClientErr:    errors.New("some error"),