Filetonic / What does Ping mean?

What does Ping mean?

Celeste Stewart Ah, “ping.” I don’t have enough fingers to count how many times I’ve been on the phone with technical support and being asked if I’ve “pinged” this or that. Huh? Pinging at its most basic is a verification process that confirms whether or not a Web site or IP address exists and can accept requests. The ping utility or command helps you to determine whether or not a host computer that you are trying to connect is functioning. You can also use ping to determine the amount of time it takes for a functioning host computer to respond to your request.

Pinging is basically checking to see if another party (Web site) is online or not. The ping utility sends a packet to the designated address and waits for a response - much like sonar. The term ping is both a nod to submarine sonar terminology (you know how those radars make a “pinging” sound when echoing?) and an acronym for “Packet Internet Gopher.”

Want to see ping in action? It’s kind of fun in a techno-geeky sort of way. Plus, by learning how to ping, you’ll hopefully be better prepared with a snappy comeback than I was the next time a tech support guy asks you if you have pinged or not.

You can either use the domain name or the IP address if you know it. To do so, you must first go to a MS-DOS prompt. Do this by going to the Start button, All Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt. You’ll see a black screen with text - the old command prompt screen.

When typing in a domain name, use the basic “www.domainname.com” convention. For example, if pinging Microsoft, you’ll enter “www.microsoft.com.” At the command prompt, type in the word “ping” followed by the web address. For example:

C:\>ping www.microsoft.com

The ping utility will send 32 bytes of data and wait for a response before reporting the results back to you. Statistics such as Packets Sent, Packets Received, and Packets Lost as well as roundtrip in milliseconds will be displayed.

This information is helpful in ruling out connectivity issues during troubleshooting. If you have a computer problem and must contact technical support, you may be asked to ping the related website.

The term “ping” is also used in the blogosphere with a similar meaning though the process is reversed. Rather than pinging a Web site to get a response, bloggers use pinging to send an alert about the updated status of a blog or website’s content. For example, many sites, such as Technorati and Feedburner, have a “ping us” feature where you can enter your URL whenever you’ve updated your content. You can also set up your blog software to “ping” the site automatically whenever you’ve updated your content.