What is Ping? Definition, Uses, Features and More

What is Ping? Ping is one of the most popular protocols for sending back ICMP Echo Request (ping) and Recevalation (ping+r) packets over an Internet connection. Ping is a simple utility that allows you to know if your computer has been answered. In essence, ping simply verifies that your application has been successfully pinged. Ping uses both broadcast and non-broadcast domains and works best on Ethernet based systems.

Ping is used most commonly to test network latency by sending a probe packet, which consists of two parts, on a hop by hop basis, until it receives a reply. Pinging can send ICMP Echo Request (ping) and ICMP Echo Relay (ping+r) packets, either one at a time or in combination. This kind of operation can Ping one single IP address or cascade multiple IP addresses on a single frame of the packet transmission.

ping utility is a command-line package that offers a simple yet powerful means of sending packets over the network. ping command-line utility works with any WAN router that has got an IP address. The advantage of using this utility over other means of ping such as telnet or FTP is that you only need to have the IP address of the destination computer and not the full hostname (name-string) of the computer.

There are many useful tools for data collection via ping. One such useful tool is the ping sweep utility. This is a web-based application that collects the data that will be required for a variety of purposes such as configuration management, troubleshooting, performance monitoring and alerting. The tool has been designed to interface easily with most of the popular Linux, UNIX and Windows servers.

Another useful tool is the ping statistics tool. This is a graphical presentation of how many data packets are sent and received during normal operation. By selecting advanced features of the tool, it can show you average request times, round-trip times and packet loss rates. Ping statistic also provides information about the connection types used by the system and the percentage of response time that are delay based. It can also display different levels of packet loss.

Most of the software that is used for performing pinging can be freely downloaded from the internet. This is good news for network administrators who need to set up a fewping servers for testing purposes. This makes it easy for them to assess their infrastructure’s vulnerability to attack and fix problems before they can cause serious trouble. Happy ping folks!

Also Read: What is a USB? – Definition, Uses, Types and More