PING

Command

PING -- Send ICMP echo request(s).

Synopsis

PING <hostname | ipaddr> [length [interval]]

Description

Sends ICMP echo request(s) to the specified IP address or hostname for the purposes of route testing.

An optional data portion of "length" bytes may be specified, and the echo request may optionally be repeated every "interval" seconds.

If there is a reply it will be displayed. For repeating pings the system displays the number sent/rcvd, the average round trip time in milliseconds, and the success rate. The "wait for reply" process may be cancelled at any time by entering <CR> by itself.

If you specify a hostname (e.g. gb7pzt.ampr.org) instead of a numeric IP address the request may take longer to action if the hostname isn't found in DOMAIN.SYS, because the name will have to be resolved by sending a DNS request.

Examples

PING 44.131.91.2           Single ping of minimum size
PING 44.131.91.2 50        Single ping with 50 bytes data
PING gb7pzt                Uses DNS to resolve host.
PING 44.131.91.2 512 10    Ping 512 bytes every 10 secs

The response for a single ping looks like this:

G8PZT:KIDDER} PING: Pinging 44.131.91.2: hit <RETURN> to quit...

44.131.91.2: echo reply - rtt 495 msec

And for a repeating ping it looks like this:

G8PZT:KIDDER} PING:
Target             Interval   Sent   Rcvd   %  Ave Rtt
44.131.91.2            9955      1      1  100  880
44.131.91.2            9955      2      2  100  880
44.131.91.2            9955      3      3  100  880

Limitations

The router must have an IP address and have IP routing defined for this command to work. Unrealistic ping rates are prevented. The run length of a repeating ping for non-sysops is restricted to 5 to prevent abuse.

Availability

The PING command is available to all users except guests, i.e. those who access from the public Internet without using a password.

See also

GPING(1) -- Globalnet Ping
NPING(1) -- Netrom Ping