A. PING is used to test TCP/IP connectivity with another host and gives information about the length of time test data takes to be sent to the host and a reply received.
Its most basic use is as follows:
C:\>ping <IP address or hostname>
Pinging 160.82.52.11 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 160.82.52.11: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=252
Reply from 160.82.52.11: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=252
Reply from 160.82.52.11: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=252
Reply from 160.82.52.11: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=252
From the above you can see it send 32 bytes to host 160.82.52.11 and each time a reply was received in 10ms or less, this shows a good connection.
PING does have a number of option parameters to accomplish different objectives.
ping \[-t\] \[-a\] \[-n count\] \[-l size\] \[-f\] \[-i TTL\] \[-v TOS\] \[-r count\] \[-s count\] \[-k host-list \[-w timeout\] destination-list
| -t | Ping the specifed host until interrupted. |
| -a | Resolve addresses to hostnames. |
| -n count | Number of echo requests to send. |
| -l size | Send buffer size. |
| -f | Set Don't Fragment flag in packet. |
| -i TTL | Time To Live. |
| -v TOS | Type Of Service. |
| -r count | Record route for count hops. |
| -s count | Timestamp for count hops. |
| -j host-list | Loose source route along host-list. |
| -k host-list | Strict source route along host-list. |
| -w timeout | Timeout in milliseconds to wait for each reply. |
In Windows 2000 you can press Ctrl-Break when running the -t option for a list of statisitics. Press Ctrl-C to actually stop the ping.
It can be useful to have a small batch file ping various hosts and terminal servers at regular intervals to ensure all are still present (although there are commercial software packages that do this). A simple command like:
C:\>ping -f -n 1 -l 1 148.32.43.23
Pinging 148.32.43.23 with 1 bytes of data:
Reply from 148.32.43.23: bytes=1 time<10ms TTL=128
pings a host once with one byte of data.
You should be aware that PING works by sending ICMP echo packets and some routers etc may filter these out meaning a PING will not work.
