TopTechnical DictionaryPING - network connection diagnostics

PING - network connection diagnostics

Ping checks, if the IP address is actually visible in the network by sending a special command to a specific address and awaiting a response. No response means that no device is available at the IP address.

 

The response also includes time after which it has been received (in milliseconds). It allows to evaluate the connection parameters. For local area networks, ping should not exceed 100 ms and 500 ms for the Internet. Those are not strict requirements. Ping in the Internet rarely exceeds 100 ms, or even 50 ms.

 

One of the ping parameters is TTL (Time To Live). Some devices supporting IP address ping allow to change this parameter. TTL is a maximum number of “hops” across the devices by the ping message. It limits the lifetime of data when attempting to contact an occupied address. It is estimated that less than 40 connections are required to reach any computer in the Internet.

 

Due to a potential risk of device flooding with ping commands (ping flood), some server administrators block the ping response mechanism. Simple devices, including cameras does not allow ping blocking.

 

Using ping in Windows: select Start menu and Run or press WinKey + R, enter ‘cmd’ and press Enter. In the console window enter ‘ping XXX’, where XXX is an IP address.