What is Ping ?
Ping is a tool often used for network diagnostics, as well as for keeping connections from timing out. In its simplest terms, ping reports back how much time it takes for a message to reach one host and then come back again. This is referred to as roundtrip time.
Ping also records packet loss. Packet loss occurs when a packet is lost or rejected due to signal degradation, channel congestion or corruption. High packet loss and high round trip time result in slower Internet speeds, which is most noticeable in gaming or multimedia streaming as choppiness, lag or dropped connections.
It is available for virtually all operating systems that have networking capability, including most embedded network administration software.
Ping measures the round-trip time for messages sent from the originating host to a destination computer that are echoed back to the source.