Ping is
a network tool that lets you verify connectivity
to a particular device on your network.
The term is now used like a verb as in, "please
ping host A to see if it is alive". The Ping tool
also and supports Wake-on-LAN technology.
You can use the Ping tool to:
Ping a remote host to verify the network
connection is up.
Ping a remote host and view the round trip
times to determine the current speed of the
network connection.
Ping hosts along a route to isolate a hardware
or software problem. First, ping 127.0.0.1 (or
localhost) to verify the local network is up
and running. Then, ping hosts and gateways farther
and farther away.
To use the Ping tool, do the following:
Select the Ping tab.
Click the Refresh button to update the results
in the Response area.
The drop-down list
shows the previous host names or IP addresses
you have pinged.
Set in the Options dialog box any of the
options you want to use:
Packets
to send
Specifies the number
of data packets sent by the ping.
Timeout
Specifies the
number of seconds ping tries a host that is
not responding.
Packet size
Specifies the length in bytes of each packet
sent by the ping
Click the Start button.
The Ping
tool sends an echo request and waits for the
echo reply. If the ping is successful, it displays
summary lines in the Response area.
If
Ping does not receive the reply within the Timeout
value, it fails. A ping can fail at one of several
points from your computer to the remote host:
the host may not be functioning and therefore
is unable to respond; a network or gateway in
the path from the user may not be working; or
the host may not implement the ping service.
During the query, the Start button toggles
to Stop. You can click Stop at any time to stop
the query.
Tips:
You can right-click the Response area to
display the pop-up menu.
You can power on a computer remotely by
choosing Power On from the pop-up menu.
Note:
Ping requires a static IP address for your computer.
It will also work with IP addresses assigned by
a DHCP server. Ping will not work on systems that
rely on emulated IP addresses such as UNIX systems
running TIA or SLiRP. Ping will not work across
firewalls unless the firewall has been configured
to pass ICMP packets.
