From the trenches, part one: Network troubleshooting with ping

By Tim Fenner 21 Oct 2002 | SearchWindowsManageability

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Most Windows administrators and PC users are familiar with basic TCP/IP connection testing utilities, but they don't often get to stretch the limits of those utilities' capabilities. That's too bad, because tools like ping, tracert and pathping are limber enough to stretch your system's muscles.

In this three-part article, I'll walk you through the basic uses of these tools and point out ways to use them more extensively. In this story, we'll check out the ping utility. Parts two and three cover tracert and pathping.

The ping command verifies connections to a remote computer or computers by sending out Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo packets.

So you say: "All right. Nice definition, but what does that mean to me?" What it says is this: using the ping command is like picking up the phone and dialing a number to see whether it rings on the other side. But ping does a little more. It determines whether the phone on the other side rings, whether it speaks the right language (TCP/IP, in this case) and how long it takes.

At a command prompt, type:

ping [destination computer or IP address]

Here are some examples:

• ping www.yahoo.com
  
• ping 172.16.12.2
  
• ping 127.0.0.1

Sample output below:

Pinging 127.0.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 127.0.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

To use ping to test your TCP/IP configuration, Windows Help offers these steps:

• To quickly obtain the TCP/IP configuration of a computer, open [a]command prompt, and then type ipconfig.
  
• At the command prompt, ping the loopback address by typing ping 127.0.0.1. If the ping command fails, verify that the computer was restarted after TCP/IP was installed and configured.
  
• Ping the IP address of the computer [from which you are working on]. If the ping command fails, verify that the computer was restarted after TCP/IP was installed and configured.
  
• Ping the IP address of the default gateway. If the ping command fails, verify that the default gateway IP address is correct and that the gateway (router) is operational.
  
• Ping the IP address of a remote host (a host that is on a different subnet). If the ping command fails, verify that the remote host IP address is correct, that the remote host is operational, and that all the gateways (routers) between this computer and the remote host are operational.
  
• Ping the IP address of the DNS server. If the ping command fails, verify that the DNS server IP address is correct, that the DNS server is operational, and that all the gateways (routers) between this computer and the DNS server are operational.

• ping | more

From there, you can find many ways to milk ping for all its worth. And it's worth a lot!

About the author: Tim Fenner is a network and systems administrator for a national industry association and an IT consultant for small businesses.

Reference works for this article include

• TechNet Whitepapers
  
• Microsoft Help
  
• Techrepublic downloads
  
  

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