The basic ping command syntax is "ping hostname". For example, "ping ipBalance.com" from DOS prompt and the output might look like:
Pinging www.ipBalance.com [71.18.254.xxx] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 71.18.254.xxx: bytes=32 time=49ms TTL=49
Reply from 71.18.254.xxx: bytes=32 time=49ms TTL=49
Reply from 71.18.254.xxx: bytes=32 time=49ms TTL=48
Reply from 71.18.254.xxx: bytes=32 time=49ms TTL=48
Ping statistics for 71.18.254.xxx:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 49ms, Maximum = 49ms, Average = 49ms
C:\Documents and Settings\DOS>
If ICMP is blocked by network admin, you will se below.
Pinging www.ipBalance.com [71.18.254.xxx] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 71.18.254.xxx:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss)
TTL reply
Ping sends an ICMP echo request packet that ICMP type is 8, code 0. (with the TTL value, default 128) . Ping expects back an ICMP ‘echo reply’ packet that ICMP type is 0. The round trip time is displayed in millisecond.
TTL Expired in Transit/TTL Time exceed
Most devices initialize 128 or higher TTL value of outgoing IP Packets. Outside of devices that are far away than TTL hop, those devices are not able to communicate with origin.
For example, if you are 17 hops away from website www.ipBalance.com, set TTL 12 when you ping out to the site. the IP Packets will not reach the site. B/C TTL will be ‘expire in transmit’ before they reach the site.
Simply, you can tested it. Do traceroute to www.yahoo.com from your dos prompt.
Tracing route to www.yahoo-ht3.akadns.net [69.147.114.210]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms asqlr90-vlan215.mcil.com [154.139.198.130]
2 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms asqlr1-vlan64.mscil.com [154.139.254.141]
3 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms asqar1-vlan30.mscil.com [154.139.255.1]
4 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms asqir2-vlan49.mscil.com [166.141.0.39]
5 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms asqir1-vlan22.mscilink.com [192.135.72.201]
6 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms GigiEthernet1-0.ALT.NET [137.39.253.177]
7 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 169.at-6-0-0.ALT.NET [152.163.34.182]
8 3 ms 3 ms 3 ms 0.so-0-0-0.ALT.NET [152.163.136.209]
9 4 ms 3 ms 3 ms 0.ge-7-1-0.ALT.NET [152.163.141.161]
10 4 ms 4 ms 4 ms telia-gw.n54ny.ip.att.net [192.205.32.49]
11 5 ms 5 ms 5 ms tbr1.wswdc.ip.att.net [12.123.8.98]
12 5 ms 4 ms 4 ms 12.122.113.17
13 5 ms 5 ms 5 ms 12.86.111.22
14 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms ge-3-1-0-p170.msr2.re1.yahoo.com [216.115.108.69
]
15 5 ms 5 ms 6 ms gi1-23.bas-a2.re3.yahoo.com [66.196.112.55]
16 5 ms 5 ms 5 ms f1.www.vip.re3.yahoo.com [69.147.114.210]
Trace complete.
Total 16 hop to reach www.yahoo.com.
From DOS prompt, type ping -i 5 www.yahoo.com (it manually set TTL 5 on ICMP packet)
Pinging www.yahoo-ht3.akadns.net [209.191.93.52] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.135.72.201: TTL expired in transit.
Reply from 192.135.72.201: TTL expired in transit.
Reply from 192.135.72.201: TTL expired in transit.
Reply from 192.135.72.201: TTL expired in transit.
Ping statistics for 209.191.93.52:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms
C:\Documents and Settings\DOS>
As you can see above result, hop 5 192.135.72.201 device is responsed to you. Of cause TTL expired in transit, b/c 192.135.72.201 is not final destination. So won’t get echo reply.
How to Discover your TTL on your device
To discover the default TTL value of your device, ‘ping localhost’ and examine the TTL reply value. For older Windows machines this value is 32. For newer Windows machines, this value is 128.
Pinging localhost [127.0.0.1] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Ping statistics for 127.0.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms
The table below lists possible ICMP-type values.
| ICMP Type | Literal |
|---|---|
| 0 | echo-reply |
| 3 | destination unreachable code 0 = net unreachable code 1 = host unreachable code 2 = protocol unreachable code 3 = port unreachable code 4 = fragmentation needed and DF set code 5 = source route failed |
| 4 | source-quench |
| 5 | redirect code 0 = redirect datagrams for the network code 1 = redirect datagrams for the host code 2 = redirect datagrams for the type code of service and network code 3 = redirect datagrams for the type of service and host |
| 6 | alternate-address |
| 8 | echo |
| 9 | router-advertisement |
| 10 | router-solicitation |
| 11 | time-exceeded code 0 = time to live exceeded in transit code 1 = fragment reassembly time exceeded |
| 12 | parameter-problem |
| 13 | timestamp-request |
| 14 | timestamp-reply |
| 15 | information-request |
| 16 | information-reply |
| 17 | mask-request |
| 18 | mask-reply |
| 31 | conversion-error |
| 32 | mobile-redirect |
The below chart shown possible output characters from the ping :
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| ! | Each exclamation point indicates receipt of a reply. |
| . | Each period indicates the network server timed out while waiting for a reply. |
| U | A destination unreachable error PDU was received. |
| Q | Source quench (destination too busy). |
| M | Could not fragment. |
| ? | Unknown packet type. |
| & | Packet lifetime exceeded. |
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