How do I carry out a PING test?

General Support > Basic Network Tests
A ping test is extremely easy to carry out.  Here's how....

Carrying our a "ping" is extremely easy.  Here's how (for a Windows PC)...

 
  1. Click on "Start"
  2. Click on "run" - if you can't see it, try looking in "All Programs | Accessories | Run"
  3. Type: cmd
  4. When the screen opens, type in the service you want to test e.g. type: ping www.network-online.co.uk

When you do this, 2 things will happen.

  1. A DNS lookup will occur that will translate your request to a server IP address
  2. It will attempt to "ping" the IP address.

Here is what a typical ping test and result looks like..

C:\>ping www.network-online.co.uk

pinging www.network-online.co.uk [82.113.143.116] with 32 bytes of data:

Tracing route to network-online.co.uk [82.113.143.116] over a maximum of 30 hops:

Reply from 82.113.143.116: bytes=32 time=42ms TTL=117
Reply from 82.113.143.116: bytes=32 time=42ms TTL=117
Reply from 82.113.143.116: bytes=32 time=42ms TTL=117

Reply from 82.113.143.116: bytes=32 time=42ms TTL=117

Ping Statistics for 82.113.143.116

As you can see from the second line above, a DNS lookup has taken place that has translated www.network-online.co.uk into an IP address of 82.113.143.116

The above test was for a web site (www), but if you wanted to check the IP address of the mailservice for network-online.co.uk, your ping test would be...

ping mail.network-online.co.uk

A test of the FTP service would be...

ping ftp.network-online.co.uk

In each of these tests, your computer will return the IP address that it thinks is correct for the ping test you are attempting to complete.  If you know what the correct IP address is for a service, but your computer is using a different IP address, it means that the DNS servers you are using contain out-of-date information about that service.  There isn't much you can do about this and you will just have to wait until the DNS Servers you use (usually those of your ISP) update themselves.  Updates can take up to 72 hours to complete.