ping – Network Connectivity Testing Tool

ping is the fundamental network diagnostic tool used by system administrators worldwide to test connectivity...

Networking Tools Linux Open Source

ping is the fundamental network diagnostic tool used by system administrators worldwide to test connectivity between hosts. It sends ICMP Echo Request packets to a target host and measures the round-trip time for responses, helping identify network latency, packet loss, and basic reachability issues.

📑 Table of Contents

Key Features

  • Connectivity Testing – Verify if a host is reachable over the network
  • Latency Measurement – Measure round-trip time in milliseconds
  • Packet Loss Detection – Identify network reliability issues
  • Continuous Monitoring – Run indefinitely to monitor connection stability

Installation

# Pre-installed on most Linux distributions
# If missing, install with:
sudo apt install iputils-ping    # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install iputils         # Fedora/RHEL

Basic Usage

# Ping a host
ping google.com

# Ping with count limit
ping -c 5 192.168.1.1

# Ping with specific interval
ping -i 0.5 example.com

# Ping with packet size
ping -s 1000 192.168.1.1

# Quiet mode (summary only)
ping -q -c 10 google.com

View Documentation

Was this article helpful?

↑