| | The Ping Tool
You can use Ping to determine if a network device is reachable.
The Ping tool is used to verify connectivity to a particular system on your network. Ping sends an ICMP "echo request" in the form of a data packet to a remote host and displays the results for each "echo reply." In essence, the Ping tool asks "Hello host, are you there?," and waits for a response. This exchange is referred to as "pinging."
The Ping tool sends one packet per second and prints one line of output for every response received. When Ping terminates, it displays a brief summary of round-trip times and packet loss statistics. Round trip times indicate the time (in milliseconds) it takes for the packet to get to the remote host and a response to arrive back. This time will vary depending on network load.
You can use Ping to:
- Ping a remote host to verify that the network connection is up.
- Ping a remote host and view the round-trip times times to determine the current speed of the network connection.
- Ping systems along a route to isolate a hardware or software problem. First, ping 127.0.0.1 (or localhost) to verify that the local network is up and running. Then, ping hosts and gateways farther and farther away.
| |
|
|
