Question: What is Ping and How does it work?

Solution: A Ping utility is essentially a system administrator's tool that is used to see if a computer is operating and also to see if network connections are intact.

Ping uses the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo function which is detailed in RFC 792. A small packet of information containing an ICMP ECHO_REQUEST is sent through the network to either a particular IP address or a domain name. This packet contains 64 bytes - 56 data bytes and 8 bytes of protocol reader information.

The computer that sent the packet then waits (or 'listens') for a ECHO_REPLY packet from the specified IP address. The ping program then evaluates this reply, and a report is shown. You can check several things with the ping program: can you reach another computer, how long does it take to bounce a packet off of another site. The time taken to Send and Receive a Data Packet is calculated in Milliseconds.