The Exciting World of Ping

If you hear your IT guy snicker as he walks away, the joke could be on you.  Was it plugged in?  Was it even on?  Did you try a reboot?  (The latter tends to fix 89.25% of all computer issues.)For the IT folks out there, sometimes the joke is on us, too.  To that end, take this advice to live by:  when in doubt, PING!This is the most useful tool in the computer world.  With a ping, you’re sending a packet of data to an IP address or hostname, and if it’s alive (connected to the network/internet), it will respond in 4 short bursts.  Most obviously you’re determining network status, but it can do so much more.Here are the syntax options I frequent:ping -a  <ADDRESS or HOST>this will resolve the hostname of the known IP address.  In the example below, BOOBOO responded:ping -n <value> <ADDRESS or HOST>This will send a specific number of echo requests.  In the example below, I sent 7 pings to BOOBOO, and she got back to me 7 times:want to PING forever?  You CAN!  Just do this:  ping < ADDRESS or HOST > -t(my screenshot was too long to paste)Lastly, if something looks “weird” when you ping, it could be replying with an IPv6 address.  Force that result back down to IPv4:  ping < ADDRESS or HOST > -4And remember, opposite is opposite:  ping < ADDRESS or HOST > -6Now, go solve problems.  And may your request never time out.