PING

Test a network connection - if successful, ping returns the ip address.

Syntax
      PING [options] destination_host

Options
    -w timeout     Timeout in milliseconds to wait for each reply.
    -i TTL         Time To Live.
    -v TOS         Type Of Service.
    -a             Resolve addresses to hostnames.
    -n count       Number of echo requests to send.
    -t             Ping the destination host until interrupted.
    -l size        Send buffer size.
    -f             Set Don't Fragment flag in packet.
    -r count       Record route for count hops.
    -s count       Timestamp for count hops.
    -j host_list   Loose source route along host_list.
    -k host_list   Strict source route along host_list.
destination_host  The name of the remote host

A response of "Request timed out" means there was no response to the ping attempt in the default time period of one second.
If the latency of the response is more than one second. Use the -w option on the ping command to increase the time-out. For example, to allow responses within five seconds, use ping -w 5000.

A successful PING does NOT always return an %errorlevel% == 0
Therefore to reliably detect a successful ping - pipe the output into FIND and look for the text "TTL"

Note that "Reply" in the output of PING does not always indicate a positive response. You may receive a message from a router such as: Reply from 192.168.1.254: Destination Net Unreachable.

Four steps to test an IP connection with ping:

1) Ping the loopback address to verify that TCP/IP is installed and configured correctly on the local computer.
PING 127.0.0.1

2) Ping the IP address of the local computer to verify that it was added to the network correctly.
PING IP_address_of_local_host

3) Ping the IP address of the default gateway to verify that the default gateway is functioning and that you can communicate with a local host on the local network.
PING IP_address_of_default_gateway

4) Ping the IP address of a remote host to verify that you can communicate through a router.
PING IP_address_of_remote_host

Examples

PING -n 1 -w 7500 Server_06

PING -w 7500 MyHost |find "TTL=" && ECHO MyHost found

PING -w 7500 MyHost |find "TTL=" || ECHO MyHost not found

PING -n 5 -w 7500 www.microsoft.com

PING -n 5 -w 7500 microsoft.com

PING is named after the sound that a sonar makes.

Ping times below 10 milliseconds often have low accuracy.

A time of 10 milliseconds is roughly equal to a distance of 930 Miles, travelling a straight line route at the speed of light.

"And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine."
- William Wordsworth, (She Was a Phantom of Delight)

Related Commands:

TRACERT - Trace route to a remote host
IPCONFIG - IP Configuration
PATHPING - Route Tracing tool (Windows 2000)
RPings - RPC Connectivity Verification Tool (Win 2K but works with NT)

Q115388 - Resolving IP Address with Leading Zero
FreePing - Freeware Windows GUI Ping
WebPing - Ping from any web browser

Equivalent Linux BASH commands:

ping - Test a network connection
trace - Find the IP address of a remote host