The Ping program was written by Mike Muss. Ping program tests the connectivity between two systems running TCP/ IP. With it one host may test whether another host is reachable. It uses the ICMP echo request and echo reply messages. The program sends an ICMP echo request message to a host, expecting an ICMP echo reply to be returned. Thus, connectivity is confirmed.
Uses of ping:
1. To measure round trip time to the host.
2. To examine and use the IP record route option.
3. To examine the IP timestamp option.
