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PING....not pong!!

The ping command is a very helpful tool to quickly and easily check your network link between 2 machines. It basically sends a packet of data to the destination machine, if you get a reply, it means your link is up. If you don't get a reply, it means you have a network problem.

Example below shows that I can see the machine with IP address 10.0.0.2

[root@server sysconfig]# ping 10.0.0.2
PING 10.0.0.2 (10.0.0.2) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 10.0.0.2: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.209 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.0.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.179 ms

--- 10.0.0.2 ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 2 received, 0% packet loss, time 1000ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.179/0.194/0.209/0.015 ms, pipe 2

Example below shows that I cannot see the machine with IP address 10.0.0.3

[root@server sysconfig]# ping 10.0.0.3
PING 10.0.0.3 (10.0.0.3) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 10.0.0.1 icmp_seq=0 Destination Host Unreachable
From 10.0.0.1 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 10.0.0.1 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable

--- 10.0.0.3 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 0 received, +3 errors, 100% packet loss, time 4001ms
, pipe 4

Its as easy as that. When ever you suspect network or connection problems, try and PING the server first!!