Since ping is used as a command-line utility, it is easy to use in a variety of scripts. When it comes to network speed tests, ping is the standard.Īt its most basic, ping can run with just a ping command and a destination, such as the name or address of a remote host. Even pings that are unsuccessful offer valuable troubleshooting information. However, if the ping is successful but the response time is long, it indicates network congestion, routing or speed issues. If the ping is successful, it means that it is on, and the two machines can talk to each other. For example, an IP address can be pinged by typing in 172.168.9.13. Ping is the cornerstone of standard network troubleshooting. However, the exact implementation varies slightly among manufacturers. Virtually every OS with network support includes ping for troubleshooting purposes. With pinging, a target host receives an echo request to which it responds by sending an echo reply packet.Įcho requests and echo responses form the standard for troubleshooting ICMP messages. It also includes the number of bytes received and the time it took to receive a reply or the time-to-live. The echo ping results show whether a particular request received a successful response. RTT is a key performance metric of web applications.īy default, ping commands send multiple requests - usually four or five - and display the results. Measured in milliseconds ( ms), the process starts when a browser sends a request to a server and is completed when a response from the server is received. RTT is a measure of how long it took to receive a response. This approach serves two specific purposes: verifying that the target host is available and determining round-trip time ( RTT) or latency. When the target host receives the echo request, it responds by sending an echo reply packet. When a ping command is issued, a ping signal is sent to a specified address. Ping works by sending an Internet Control Message Protocol ( ICMP) Echo Request to a specified interface on the network and waiting for a reply. Ping is also used to troubleshoot and test connectivity and determine response time.

The term is also used to test and determine how fast a data signal travels from one place, like a computer, to another, like a website.

Ping sweep download