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How to Ping.One of the most common tools used in network troubleshooting is knowing how to ping. Ping is a network tool that works by sending an “echo request” via an ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) packet. The packet is sent from the users computer and travels through the network to the designated computer. If the designated computer is online and functioning properly, the remote computer will respond with a reply. The ping will tell you if you have network connectivity between two devices, which is the first step in troubleshooting network issues. The following is a walk through on how to perform a ping. To perform a ping you will have to open a CMD (Command) window. To open a command window, click on the start button.
The command window will launch. The command window can be seen here. 
To perform a ping you will need to know the IP address or hostname of the device that you want to ping. This walk through will demonstrate a ping using an IP address. At the cmd prompt type in the word ping, space, and the IP address as seen below. 
If the device is up and running, you will get a reply as seen below. The reply indicates a response from the remote computer and some additional statistics such as time of response and total time of the process. For troubleshooting purposes the most important aspect is the fact that a reply was received. 
Had the remote computer been having problems or not been online, there would have been no reply as seen here. The computer does not respond to the ping so there the request timed out meaning that the amount of time allowed for a response has passed. 
This is the most basic functionality of the use of the ping tool. Despite the basic aspect of this too, the importance of this tool is paramount. Once you determine whether or not a remote device is online, you can proceed to other types of troubleshooting. To leave How To Ping and go back to IT Skills, click here. To leave How To Ping and go back to the Home page, click here.
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