1.\" Copyright (c) 1985, 1991, 1993 2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 6.\" are met: 7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 8.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 11.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 12.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 13.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 14.\" without specific prior written permission. 15.\" 16.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 17.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 18.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 19.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 20.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 21.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 22.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 23.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 24.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 25.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 26.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 27.\" 28.\" @(#)ping.8 8.2 (Berkeley) 12/11/93 29.\" $FreeBSD: src/sbin/ping/ping.8,v 1.54 2006/04/05 12:30:42 glebius Exp $ 30.\" 31.Dd March 4, 2024 32.Dt PING 8 33.Os 34.Sh NAME 35.Nm ping 36.Nd send 37.Tn ICMP ECHO_REQUEST 38packets to network hosts 39.Sh SYNOPSIS 40.Nm 41.Op Fl AaDdfnoQqRrv 42.Op Fl c Ar count 43.Op Fl G Ar sweepmaxsize 44.Op Fl g Ar sweepminsize 45.Op Fl h Ar sweepincrsize 46.Op Fl i Ar wait 47.Op Fl l Ar preload 48.Op Fl M Cm mask | time 49.Op Fl m Ar ttl 50.Op Fl p Ar pattern 51.Op Fl S Ar src_addr 52.Op Fl s Ar packetsize 53.Op Fl t Ar timeout 54.Op Fl W Ar waittime 55.Op Fl z Ar tos 56.Ar host 57.Nm 58.Op Fl AaDdfLnoQqRrv 59.Op Fl c Ar count 60.Op Fl I Ar iface 61.Op Fl i Ar wait 62.Op Fl l Ar preload 63.Op Fl M Cm mask | time 64.Op Fl m Ar ttl 65.Op Fl p Ar pattern 66.Op Fl S Ar src_addr 67.Op Fl s Ar packetsize 68.Op Fl T Ar ttl 69.Op Fl t Ar timeout 70.Op Fl W Ar waittime 71.Op Fl z Ar tos 72.Ar mcast-group 73.Sh DESCRIPTION 74The 75.Nm 76utility uses the 77.Tn ICMP 78.No protocol Ap s mandatory 79.Tn ECHO_REQUEST 80datagram to elicit an 81.Tn ICMP ECHO_RESPONSE 82from a host or gateway. 83.Tn ECHO_REQUEST 84datagrams 85.Pq Dq pings 86have an IP and 87.Tn ICMP 88header, followed by a 89.Dq struct timeval 90and then an arbitrary number of 91.Dq pad 92bytes used to fill out the packet. 93The options are as follows: 94.Bl -tag -width indent 95.It Fl A 96Audible. 97Output a bell 98.Tn ( ASCII 990x07) 100character when no packet is received before the next packet 101is transmitted. 102To cater for round-trip times that are longer than the interval 103between transmissions, further missing packets cause a bell only 104if the maximum number of unreceived packets has increased. 105.It Fl a 106Audible. 107Include a bell 108.Tn ( ASCII 1090x07) 110character in the output when any packet is received. 111This option is ignored 112if other format options are present. 113.It Fl c Ar count 114Stop after sending 115(and receiving) 116.Ar count 117.Tn ECHO_RESPONSE 118packets. 119If this option is not specified, 120.Nm 121will operate until interrupted. 122If this option is specified in conjunction with ping sweeps, 123each sweep will consist of 124.Ar count 125packets. 126.It Fl D 127Set the Don't Fragment bit. 128.It Fl d 129Set the 130.Dv SO_DEBUG 131option on the socket being used. 132.It Fl f 133Flood ping. 134Outputs packets as fast as they come back or one hundred times per second, 135whichever is more. 136For every 137.Tn ECHO_REQUEST 138sent a period 139.Dq .\& 140is printed, while for every 141.Tn ECHO_REPLY 142received a backspace is printed. 143This provides a rapid display of how many packets are being dropped. 144Only the super-user may use this option. 145.Bf -emphasis 146This can be very hard on a network and should be used with caution. 147.Ef 148.It Fl G Ar sweepmaxsize 149Specify the maximum size of 150.Tn ICMP 151payload when sending sweeping pings. 152This option is required for ping sweeps. 153.It Fl g Ar sweepminsize 154Specify the size of 155.Tn ICMP 156payload to start with when sending sweeping pings. 157The default value is 0. 158.It Fl h Ar sweepincrsize 159Specify the number of bytes to increment the size of 160.Tn ICMP 161payload after 162each sweep when sending sweeping pings. 163The default value is 1. 164.It Fl I Ar iface 165Source multicast packets with the given interface address. 166This flag only applies if the ping destination is a multicast address. 167.It Fl i Ar wait 168Wait 169.Ar wait 170seconds 171.Em between sending each packet . 172The default is to wait for one second between each packet. 173Only the super-user may specify values less than 0.002 second 174(i.e., 2 milliseconds). 175This option is incompatible with the 176.Fl f 177option. 178.It Fl L 179Suppress loopback of multicast packets. 180This flag only applies if the ping destination is a multicast address. 181.It Fl l Ar preload 182If 183.Ar preload 184is specified, 185.Nm 186sends that many packets as fast as possible before falling into its normal 187mode of behavior. 188Only the super-user may use this option. 189.It Fl M Cm mask | time 190Use 191.Dv ICMP_MASKREQ 192or 193.Dv ICMP_TSTAMP 194instead of 195.Dv ICMP_ECHO . 196For 197.Cm mask , 198print the netmask of the remote machine. 199Set the 200.Va net.inet.icmp.maskrepl 201MIB variable to enable 202.Dv ICMP_MASKREPLY . 203For 204.Cm time , 205print the origination, reception and transmission timestamps. 206.It Fl m Ar ttl 207Set the IP Time To Live for outgoing packets. 208If not specified, the kernel uses the value of the 209.Va net.inet.ip.ttl 210MIB variable. 211.It Fl n 212Numeric output only. 213No attempt will be made to lookup symbolic names for host addresses. 214.It Fl o 215Exit successfully after receiving one reply packet. 216.It Fl p Ar pattern 217You may specify up to 16 218.Dq pad 219bytes to fill out the packet you send. 220This is useful for diagnosing data-dependent problems in a network. 221For example, 222.Dq Li \-p ff 223will cause the sent packet to be filled with all 224ones. 225.It Fl Q 226Somewhat quiet output. 227.No Don Ap t 228display ICMP error messages that are in response to our query messages. 229Originally, the 230.Fl v 231flag was required to display such errors, but 232.Fl v 233displays all ICMP error messages. 234On a busy machine, this output can be overbearing. 235Without the 236.Fl Q 237flag, 238.Nm 239prints out any ICMP error messages caused by its own ECHO_REQUEST 240messages. 241.It Fl q 242Quiet output. 243Nothing is displayed except the summary lines at startup time and 244when finished. 245.It Fl R 246Record route. 247Includes the 248.Tn RECORD_ROUTE 249option in the 250.Tn ECHO_REQUEST 251packet and displays 252the route buffer on returned packets. 253Note that the IP header is only large enough for nine such routes; 254the 255.Xr traceroute 8 256command is usually better at determining the route packets take to a 257particular destination. 258If more routes come back than should, such as due to an illegal spoofed 259packet, ping will print the route list and then truncate it at the correct 260spot. 261Many hosts ignore or discard the 262.Tn RECORD_ROUTE 263option. 264.It Fl r 265Bypass the normal routing tables and send directly to a host on an attached 266network. 267If the host is not on a directly-attached network, an error is returned. 268This option can be used to ping a local host through an interface 269that has no route through it 270(e.g., after the interface was dropped by 271.Xr routed 8 ) . 272.It Fl S Ar src_addr 273Use the following IP address as the source address in outgoing packets. 274On hosts with more than one IP address, this option can be used to 275force the source address to be something other than the IP address 276of the interface the probe packet is sent on. 277If the IP address 278is not one of this machine's interface addresses, an error is 279returned and nothing is sent. 280.It Fl s Ar packetsize 281Specify the number of data bytes to be sent. 282The default is 56, which translates into 64 283.Tn ICMP 284data bytes when combined 285with the 8 bytes of 286.Tn ICMP 287header data. 288This option cannot be used with ping sweeps. 289.It Fl T Ar ttl 290Set the IP Time To Live for multicasted packets. 291This flag only applies if the ping destination is a multicast address. 292.It Fl t Ar timeout 293Specify a timeout, in seconds, before ping exits regardless of how 294many packets have been received. 295.It Fl v 296Verbose output. 297.Tn ICMP 298packets other than 299.Tn ECHO_RESPONSE 300that are received are listed. 301.It Fl W Ar waittime 302Time in milliseconds to wait for a reply for each packet sent. 303If a reply arrives later, the packet is not printed as replied, but 304considered as replied when calculating statistics. 305.It Fl z Ar tos 306Use the specified type of service. 307.El 308.Pp 309When using 310.Nm 311for fault isolation, it should first be run on the local host, to verify 312that the local network interface is up and running. 313Then, hosts and gateways further and further away should be 314.Dq pinged . 315Round-trip times and packet loss statistics are computed. 316If duplicate packets are received, they are not included in the packet 317loss calculation, although the round trip time of these packets is used 318in calculating the round-trip time statistics. 319When the specified number of packets have been sent 320(and received) 321or if the program is terminated with a 322.Dv SIGINT , 323a brief summary is displayed, showing the number of packets sent and 324received, and the minimum, mean, maximum, and standard deviation of 325the round-trip times. 326.Pp 327If 328.Nm 329receives a 330.Dv SIGINFO 331(see the 332.Cm status 333argument for 334.Xr stty 1 ) 335signal, the current number of packets sent and received, and the 336minimum, mean, and maximum of the round-trip times will be written to 337the standard error output. 338.Pp 339This program is intended for use in network testing, measurement and 340management. 341Because of the load it can impose on the network, it is unwise to use 342.Nm 343during normal operations or from automated scripts. 344.Sh ICMP PACKET DETAILS 345An IP header without options is 20 bytes. 346An 347.Tn ICMP 348.Tn ECHO_REQUEST 349packet contains an additional 8 bytes worth of 350.Tn ICMP 351header followed by an arbitrary amount of data. 352When a 353.Ar packetsize 354is given, this indicated the size of this extra piece of data 355(the default is 56). 356Thus the amount of data received inside of an IP packet of type 357.Tn ICMP 358.Tn ECHO_REPLY 359will always be 8 bytes more than the requested data space 360(the 361.Tn ICMP 362header). 363.Pp 364If the data space is at least eight bytes large, 365.Nm 366uses the first eight bytes of this space to include a timestamp which 367it uses in the computation of round trip times. 368If less than eight bytes of pad are specified, no round trip times are 369given. 370.Sh DUPLICATE AND DAMAGED PACKETS 371The 372.Nm 373utility will report duplicate and damaged packets. 374Duplicate packets should never occur when pinging a unicast address, 375and seem to be caused by 376inappropriate link-level retransmissions. 377Duplicates may occur in many situations and are rarely 378(if ever) 379a good sign, although the presence of low levels of duplicates may not 380always be cause for alarm. 381Duplicates are expected when pinging a broadcast or multicast address, 382since they are not really duplicates but replies from different hosts 383to the same request. 384.Pp 385Damaged packets are obviously serious cause for alarm and often 386indicate broken hardware somewhere in the 387.Nm 388packet's path (in the network or in the hosts). 389.Sh TRYING DIFFERENT DATA PATTERNS 390The 391(inter)network 392layer should never treat packets differently depending on the data 393contained in the data portion. 394Unfortunately, data-dependent problems have been known to sneak into 395networks and remain undetected for long periods of time. 396In many cases the particular pattern that will have problems is something 397that does not have sufficient 398.Dq transitions , 399such as all ones or all zeros, or a pattern right at the edge, such as 400almost all zeros. 401It is not 402necessarily enough to specify a data pattern of all zeros (for example) 403on the command line because the pattern that is of interest is 404at the data link level, and the relationship between what you type and 405what the controllers transmit can be complicated. 406.Pp 407This means that if you have a data-dependent problem you will probably 408have to do a lot of testing to find it. 409If you are lucky, you may manage to find a file that either 410cannot 411be sent across your network or that takes much longer to transfer than 412other similar length files. 413You can then examine this file for repeated patterns that you can test 414using the 415.Fl p 416option of 417.Nm . 418.Sh TTL DETAILS 419The 420.Tn TTL 421value of an IP packet represents the maximum number of IP routers 422that the packet can go through before being thrown away. 423In current practice you can expect each router in the Internet to decrement 424the 425.Tn TTL 426field by exactly one. 427.Pp 428The 429.Tn TCP/IP 430specification recommends setting the 431.Tn TTL 432field for 433.Tn IP 434packets to 64, but many systems use smaller values 435.No ( Bx 4.3 436uses 30, 437.Bx 4.2 438used 15). 439.Pp 440The maximum possible value of this field is 255, and most 441.Ux 442systems set 443the 444.Tn TTL 445field of 446.Tn ICMP ECHO_REQUEST 447packets to 255. 448This is why you will find you can 449.Dq ping 450some hosts, but not reach them with 451.Xr telnet 1 452or 453.Xr ftp 1 . 454.Pp 455In normal operation 456.Nm 457prints the ttl value from the packet it receives. 458When a remote system receives a ping packet, it can do one of three things 459with the 460.Tn TTL 461field in its response: 462.Bl -bullet 463.It 464Not change it; this is what 465.Bx 466systems did before the 467.Bx 4.3 tahoe 468release. 469In this case the 470.Tn TTL 471value in the received packet will be 255 minus the 472number of routers in the round-trip path. 473.It 474Set it to 255; this is what current 475.Bx 476systems do. 477In this case the 478.Tn TTL 479value in the received packet will be 255 minus the 480number of routers in the path 481.Em from 482the remote system 483.Em to 484the 485.Nm Ns Em ing 486host. 487.It 488Set it to some other value. 489Some machines use the same value for 490.Tn ICMP 491packets that they use for 492.Tn TCP 493packets, for example either 30 or 60. 494Others may use completely wild values. 495.El 496.Sh EXIT STATUS 497The 498.Nm 499utility returns an exit status of zero if at least one response was 500heard from the specified 501.Ar host ; 502a status of two if the transmission was successful but no responses 503were received; or another value 504(from 505.In sysexits.h ) 506if an error occurred. 507.Sh SEE ALSO 508.Xr netstat 1 , 509.Xr ifconfig 8 , 510.Xr ping6 8 , 511.Xr routed 8 , 512.Xr traceroute 8 , 513.Xr traceroute6 8 514.Sh HISTORY 515The 516.Nm 517utility appeared in 518.Bx 4.3 . 519.Sh AUTHORS 520The original 521.Nm 522utility was written by 523.An Mike Muuss 524while at the US Army Ballistics 525Research Laboratory. 526.Sh BUGS 527Many Hosts and Gateways ignore the 528.Tn RECORD_ROUTE 529option. 530.Pp 531The maximum IP header length is too small for options like 532.Tn RECORD_ROUTE 533to be completely useful. 534.No There Ap s 535not much that can be done about this, however. 536.Pp 537Flood pinging is not recommended in general, and flood pinging the 538broadcast address should only be done under very controlled conditions. 539.Pp 540The 541.Fl v 542option is not worth much on busy hosts. 543