How to Ping a Server Name

Ping is a network program that sends short data packages ("echo requests") to a particular host and then listens to a response. Ping also measures the roundtrip time of a package---the time elapsed between when a package is sent and a response is received. Ping enables you to find out a server IP address and determines the accessibility of the server.


Instructions

1. In Windows XP, click Start and Run. Then type "cmd" and press Enter. In Windows Vista, click Start, then type "cmd" and press Enter. This will open the command prompt window with a black background.
   
2. Type "ping <server name>" and press Enter. A server name can be either a computer or website name. For example: ping yahoo.com
   
3. Read the server IP address. The first line of the ping output contains the server IP address (in brackets). Below is an example of such a line. The IP address is 209.191.93.53. "Pinging yahoo.com [209.191.93.53] with 32 bytes of data"
   
4. Analyze the ping statistics. The last three lines of the output contain the ping information. For example: "Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss), Approximate roundtrip times in milliseconds: Minimum = 67ms, Maximum = 68ms, Average = 67ms" Note that shorter roundtrip times mean better connection to a server. A high percentage of lost packages is indicative of a poor connection.