Ping IP or Domain

Ping test sends ICMP echo request packets (RFC 792) from an external server to a target IPv4 address, IPv6 address, or hostname, and measures round-trip time (RTT) for each packet. The tool transmits 5 packets with a 10-second deadline. Results include per-packet RTT in milliseconds, total packets transmitted and received, percentage packet loss, and min/avg/max/mdev latency — identical in format to the system ping command output.

Ping operates by sending ICMP echo request packets (type 8, code 0) and listening for ICMP echo reply packets (type 0, code 0), as defined in RFC 792. RFC 1122 §3.2.2.6 ("Requirements for Internet Hosts — Communication Layers") requires all hosts to respond to ICMP echo requests unless administratively disabled by firewall policy or host configuration.

This tool invokes the system ping command with flags -c 5 (5 packets), -w 10 (10-second overall deadline), and -n (numeric output — no reverse DNS resolution on reply addresses). For IPv6 targets, ping6 is selected automatically based on the resolved address family — no manual protocol selection is required.

Results stream to the browser in real time via Server-Sent Events (SSE) as each ICMP reply arrives — rather than waiting for all 5 packets to complete before displaying output.

TTL in the reply packet reveals the remaining hop count. Common OS starting values: Linux and macOS begin at 64; Windows begins at 128; Cisco routers and network appliances begin at 255. A reply TTL of 55 from a Linux host indicates approximately 9 hops (64 − 55). TTL-based OS fingerprinting is a heuristic, not a guarantee — OS and hop count both contribute to the observed TTL.

Firewalls frequently block ICMP. A no-reply result does not confirm the host is offline — ICMP may be filtered at the network perimeter via ACL, at the host OS via iptables or Windows Firewall, or by cloud provider security groups (AWS Security Groups, GCP Firewall Rules). If ping returns 100% packet loss, use the Port Checker to test TCP reachability on a specific port.

Diagnosing network-layer connectivity. A sysadmin investigating intermittent application timeouts pings the backend server at 203.0.113.42. A 0% packet loss result with consistent RTT under 5 ms rules out network-layer packet drops and redirects the investigation to the application or transport layer — the host is up and reachable; the problem lies elsewhere in the stack.

Confirming external reachability of a new cloud instance. A DevOps engineer provisioning a new server at 198.51.100.10 pings the public IP from this external tool before opening firewall rules. A successful ping confirms ICMP is not blocked by the provider's default security group. The engineer then uses the Port Checker to confirm TCP 443 is open before routing production traffic to the instance.

Email deliverability troubleshooting. A mail server administrator investigating outbound email bounce rates pings the receiving MX host to confirm it is reachable from an external network before proceeding to Reverse DNS Lookup to verify the PTR record and IP Blacklist Checker to rule out DNSBL listings. An RTT above 200 ms to a same-region MX host signals a routing anomaly worth escalating before checking DNS configuration.