Ping an IP Address

The Ping command allows you to test the connection speed between you and another network node. This article will teach you how to use the Ping command on any system.

10 Second Summary

1. Open Command Prompt or Terminal. More ↓
2. Enter the Ping command. ↓
3. Press Enter to see your ping output. ↓
4. Read the first line to see what the command is doing. ↓
5. Read the body of the output to see how long it took the address to respond. ↓
6. Read the summary. ↓

Steps

Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux

  1. Open the Command Prompt or Terminal. Every operating system has a command line interface that will allow you to run the Ping command. The Ping command operates virtually identically on all systems.
    • If using Windows, open the Command Prompt. Click the Start button and enter cmd into the Search field. Windows 8 users can type “cmd” while on the Start screen. Press Enter to launch the Command Prompt.
    • If using Mac OS X, open the Terminal. Open your Applications folder, and then open the Utilities folder. Select Terminal.
    • If using Linux, Open a Telnet/Terminal window. It is most often found in the Accessories folder in your Applications directory.
      • In Ubuntu, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + T to open the terminal.
  2. Enter the Ping command. Type ping or ping .
    • A hostname is typically a website address. Replace with the website that or server that you want to ping. For example, to ping wikiHow’s main web server, type ping www.wikihow.com.
    • An IP address is a computer’s location on a network, either locally or on the internet. If you know the IP address that you want to ping, replace with it. For example, to ping the IP address 192.168.1.1, type ping 192.168.1.1.
    • To have your PC ping itself, type ping 127.0.0.1.
  3. Press Enter to see your ping output. The results will be displayed beneath the current command line. See the lower section for how to read the output.

Mac OS X Network Utility

  1. Open the Network Utility. Open your Applications folder and select Utilities. Look for Network Utility.
  2. Click on the Ping tab. Specify a hostname or IP Address.
    • A hostname is typically a website address. For example, to ping wikiHow’s main web server, type www.wikihow.com in the field.
    • An IP address is a computer’s location on a network, either locally or on the internet. For example, to ping the IP address 192.168.1.1, type 192.168.1.1 into the field.
  3. Set how many pings you want to send. You can typically get a good measurement with only 4-6 pings. Click when you are ready and the output will be displayed in the lower part of the window.[1]

Reading Ping Output

  1. Read the first line. The first line tells you what the command is doing. It will repeat the address you put in and tell you how much data is being sent. For example:Pinging www.wikihow.com [173.203.142.5] with 32 bites of data:
  2. Read the body of the output. A successful Ping command will return lines that display how long it took the address to respond. TTL represents the number of hops that occurred during the packet transfer process. The lower the number, the more routers the packet passed through.[2] Time is how long in milliseconds the connection took: Reply from 173.203.142.5: bytes=32 time=102ms TTL=48
    Reply from 173.203.142.5: bytes=32 time=105ms TTL=48
    Reply from 173.203.142.5: bytes=32 time=105ms TTL=48
    Reply from 173.203.142.5: bytes=32 time=108ms TTL=48
    • You may need to press Ctrl + C to stop pinging.
  3. Read the summary. After the operation is completed a summary of the results will be displayed. Lost packets mean your connection to the address is unreliable, and data is being lost in the transfer. The summary will also display the average time the connection took:Ping statistics for 173.203.142.5:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
    Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 102ms, Maximum = 108ms, Average = 105ms

Troubleshooting

  1. Check your entry. One of the common error reports looks similar to:Ping request could not find host www.wikihow.com. Please check the name and try again.
    This usually means that the you have misspelled the hostname.
    • Try retyping it to correct any spelling errors. If that doesn’t fix the problem, then try another well-known hostname, such as a search engine or news site. If that reports “Unknown host,” then the problem is most likely the address of the domain name server.
    • Ping using the host’s IP address instead of its name (ex. 173.203.142.5). If this is successful then either the address you are using for the domain name server is incorrect or it is unreachable or down.
  2. Check your connection. Another error message is: sendto: No route to host
    This may mean the address of the gateway is incorrect or that the connection from your PC is not up and running.
    • Ping 127.0.0.1: that's your own PC. If this fails, your TCP/IP is not functioning correctly, and your network adapter needs to be reconfigured.[3]
    • Check your wireless connection or the connection from your PC to your router, especially if it was working previously.
    • Most PC network ports have an indicator light that indicates a good connection and one that blinks as data is transferred. As the ping command transmits packets at about 1 per second, you should be able to see the data light blink.
    • Check that the router has the proper indicators light (and no faults), including the one that indicates a good connection to your PC. If a fault indicator is on, follow the cable from your PC to the router to make sure it is properly connected, then call your cable or broadband provider if necessary.


Tips

  • When would you want to use ping? Like all diagnostics it is best to use ping in a working configuration to understand how it is supposed to work. You can ping your PC using "ping -c5 127.0.0.1" . When first setting up your PC, changing your network or if browsing the internet doesn't work use ping to validate your equipment and configurations.
  • Why would you want to use ping? Ping (named after the submarine echo location) uses the simplest packet type. The response is done by the communication subsystem (TCP/IP) portion of the Operating System. It does not need any applications to be running, does not access any files and needs no configuration and has almost no impact on any other activity. It does require all of the hardware, gateways, routers, firewalls, name servers and intermediate hosts to be working. If the ping is successful and you cannot access the target host with a browser or other application, it's most likely not your problem.
  • Your options depend on the implementation. Here are a few:
    • -c Count. Send count packets and then stop. The other way to stop is type [ctrl]-C. This option is convenient for scripts that periodically check network behavior.
    • -t ping until stopped ([ctrl]-C).
    • -w Timeout. milliseconds, to wait for a response before the message is declared to be timed out or lost. Ping with a longer timeout to identify latency problems. ping -w 10000. This is usually only helpful when operating over cellular, satellite or other high latency networks.
    • -n Numeric output only. Use this to avoid contacting a nameserver.
    • -p Pattern. Pattern is a string of hexadecimal digits to pad the end of the packet with. This is rarely useful if you suspect data-dependent problem.
    • -R Use IP's Record Route option to determine what route the ping packets are taking. Target host may not provide the information.
    • -r Bypass routing tables. Use this when you suspect routing problems and ping can't find a route to the target host. This only works for hosts that can be directly reached without using any routers.
    • -s Packet size. Change the size of the packets. Check very large packets that must be fragmented.
    • -V Verbose output. Display additional ICMP packets that provide very detailed information.
    • -f Flood. Send packets as fast as possible. This used to stress test the performance of a network and should be avoided.
    • -l Preload. Send preload packets as fast as possible, then fall into a normal mode of behavior. Good for finding out how many packets your routers can quickly handle, which is in turn good for diagnosing problems that only appear with large TCP window sizes.
    • -? Help. Use this option to see the full list of Ping options and usage syntax.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.netfaqs.com/macintosh/connect/osx/osxping/index.asp
  2. ↑ http://openmaniak.com/ping.php
  3. ↑ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc737478(v=ws.10).aspx
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