Windows XP in a Nutshell

Name

Ping — \windows\system32\ping.exe

Synopsis

Test the “reachability” of another computer on the network or across the Internet.

To Open

Command Prompt → ping

Usage

ping target [-t] [-a] [-n count] [-l size] [-f] [-w timeout]
  [-r count] [-s count] [-j host_list | -k host_list]
  [-r count] [-s count] [-j host_list | -k host_list]
  [-i ttl] [-v tos]

Description

The primary function of Ping is to see if another computer is “alive” and reachable. Ping works on local networks and across Internet connections. For example, type the following at a command prompt:

ping oreilly.com

and you’ll get a report that looks something like this:

Pinging oreilly.com [209.204.146.22] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 209.204.146.22: bytes=32 time=78ms TTL=238
Reply from 209.204.146.22: bytes=32 time=31ms TTL=238
Reply from 209.204.146.22: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=238
Reply from 209.204.146.22: bytes=32 time=78ms TTL=238

Ping statistics for 209.204.146.22:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 15ms, Maximum =  78ms, Average =  50ms

Here, Ping sent out four pings (the default), reported the time it took for them to return (in milliseconds), and then displayed various statistics about the session. Ping is especially useful if you’re having trouble contacting a server and you want to see if the server is alive (running and accepting connections). If the server does not reply (meaning that it is down or the connection has been severed), you’ll ...