Mastering Network Tools: Using the ‘Ping’ Command Effectively

What to Know

• You can ping a website, computer, or network using Command Prompt on Windows or Terminal on Mac.
• Use theping command on either platform for default responses or with optional parameters for additional data.
• View available ping parameters using the commandping /? on Windows orman ping on Mac.

This article explains what a ping test is and how to perform one on both Windows and Mac. You’ll also learn how to interpret the responses and how to view a list of additional parameters you can use in your ping command.

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What Is a Ping Test?

In basic terms, a ping test is a way to check connectivity and responsiveness, whether for a website, computer, or network. Using aping command , you send messages (requests) to the destination in hopes of receiving messages back (responses) for a successful test.

In this scenario,ping stands for Packet InterNet or Inter-Network Groper, and the ping command sends what are called Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request packets to the destination to test that connectivity.

If the test is successful, you’ll receive echo responses which we’ll describe how to interpret below.

If the test fails, you’ll receive a response like “Request timed out,” which means the packet couldn’t locate the host, or “Destination host unreachable,” which means the destination can’t be found.

There are specificping tools you can use for network troubleshooting . But to perform a simple ping test, you can use Command Prompt on Windows or Terminal on Mac and just need the website or IP address.

How to Send a Ping to a Website

OpenCommand Prompt on Windows or launchTerminal on Mac and follow along below to ping a website.

Where the cursor is blinking, typeping followed by the website address. For example, to ping Lifewire, you would enter:

ping www.lifewire.com

or

ping lifewire.com

On Windows, the default number of requests sent is four, but you may notice that the responses continue to generate on Mac.

To stop this on macOS, pressControl +C . On Windows, pressCtrl +C .

To avoid the continuous responses on Mac–or to specify a certain number of requests on either platform–add a parameter to the ping command.

On Windows, add-n [number] and on Mac, add-c [number] .

To use our above example and set the requests to five on Mac, you would enter the following:

ping -c 5 www.lifewire.com

How to Ping a Computer or Network

To perform a ping test on a computer or network, you’ll use the IP address in the command instead of a URL. Otherwise, it works just like pinging a website.

Typeping followed by the IP address and optionally set the number of requests. For instance, you can ping the IP address 151.101.194.137 five times on Windows with this command:

ping -n 5 151.101.194.137

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How to Interpret Ping Responses

You’ll see the responses from your ping command on separate lines. While similar, these responses are slightly different on Windows versus Mac.

• Reply orbytes from : the confirmation of where the response originates.
• Bytes : the size of each ping request.
• Icmp_seq : the sequence number of packets (Mac).
• Time : the amount of time between sending the requests and receiving the responses (in milliseconds).
• TTL (Time to Live): the number of routes a packet takes until it reaches its destination.

As long as you receive responses with these items, then your ping test is successful. You can see that you’ve connected to the destination and how quickly that destination responded to your requests, which are the two most basic things to look for when testing connectivity and responsiveness.

How to View Ping Options

To take your ping test a step further and gather additional data, you can add more parameters to your ping command.

Along with-n and-c , which limit the requests, you can include other parameters in the ping command. Options include the interval to wait between requests, packet size of the data, how long to wait for a response, and more.

To view these options:

On Windows, enter the commandping /? .

On Mac, enter the commandman ping .

You’ll then see a list of parameters with descriptions to help you understand which one you need.

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