Glossary // Ping

The ping command is a lightweight network connectivity program that encapsulates ICMP echo request/reply payloads into routable IP packets that will test the reachability of any host on the internet with an IP address. Not only will it test whether or not you can reach a remote host, but it will also provide feedback in the latency statistics as well in the context of packet loss and delays of the round trip. 

A command prompt summoned from a Windows operating environment will execute a ping to a specified IP address with 32 bytes of data and provide a very succinct readout of any packet loss using only four echo requests. Using a Linux machine or the Darwin derived macOS terminal shell, the ping utility runs in more of a continuous fashion, issuing an echo request once every second until you stop the job with a Control-Z. There will be no statistics from the CLI unless you specifically limit the count using the -c switch.