A computer user can send a ping using Linux user datagram protocol (UDP) or Windows internet control message protocol (ICMP) echo messages to see how long it takes
to reach a remote host, return, and report any loss packets. The
ping is also a way to check if a remote host is active or inactive by sending a
request and waiting for a packet response within a timeout period of 500
milliseconds. The ping process verifies a computer’s connection to the internet
and that it can reach a destination.
I evaluated
three different pings. A ping to google.com resulted in four sent packets, four
received packets and zero packets lost. The approximate round-trip times for
the ping to google.com ping in milli-seconds was a minimum of 25ms, maximum
28ms, and an average of 26ms. A ping to Australia.gov.au resulted in four
packets sent, four packets received, and zero packets lost. The round-trip
times for the ping to Australia.gov.au were a minimum of 15ms, maximum of 20ms,
and an average of 17ms. A ping to Japan.go.jp resulted in four packets sent,
four packets received, and zero packets lost. The round-trip times for the ping
to Japan.go.jp were a minimum of 14ms, maximum of 18ms, and an average of 16ms.
A tracing
route works similarly to a ping but sends three packets of data to test each
hop (Cisco, 2015). A hop refers to a packet passing between routers. However, a
traceroute is used to identify a problematic server causing an error. I
evaluated three different tracing routes. A tracert to google.com with 30 hops
resulted in a minimum 5ms, maximum 42ms, and an average of 23ms. A tracert to
Australia.gov.au with 30 hops resulted in a minimum of 5ms, a maximum of 46ms,
and an average of 17ms. A traceroute to Japan.go.jp with 30 hops resulted in a
minimum of 5ms, a maximum of 27ms, and an average of 17ms.
Both
traceroutes to Japan, and Australia resulted in each having requests timed out
for exceeding the expected 5-second response time. The timed-out requests were
annotated with stars due to possible firewall blocking the ICMP, a router on
the path not sending back the ICMP, or the target IP address not responding.
Although, both traceroutes to Japan and Australia continued on their way and
reached their targets.
Ping of less than 20ms or less are great, between 20-50ms are average, and 50-100ms are considered poor. I was surprised to learn his ping rates to
Japan (16ms), and Australia (17ms) were less than the ping rate to Google
(26ms). The ping rates were excellent and showed the computer was connected to
the internet and reached its target destinations. A ping can be unsuccessful if a target computer is turned off, blocked by a firewall or router. The importance of traceroutes is that their round-trip times should be
consistent. If high latency exists at the beginning of a trace, there could be a problem with one’s local network.