Ping is a computer network administration utility used to test the reachability of a host on an Internet Protocol (IP) network and to measure the round-trip time for messages sent from the originating host to a destination computer. The name comes from active sonar terminology which sends a pulse of sound and listens for the echo to detect objects underwater.[1]
Ping operates by sending Internet C
ontrol Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request packets to the target host and waiting for an ICMP response. The results of the test are printed in the form of a statistical summary of the response packets received, including the minimum, maximum, and the mean round-trip times, and sometimes the standard deviation of the mean. Ping does not evaluate or compute the time to establish the connection; it only gives the mean round-trip times of an established connection with an open session. Depending on the implementation, the ping command can be run with various command line switches to enable special operational modes. Example options include: specifying the packet size used as the probe, automatic repeated operation for sending a specified count of probes, and time stamping. Ping may be abused as a simple form of denial-of-service attack in the form of a ping flood, in which the attacker overwhelms the victim with ICMP echo request packets.
