Wikipedia
Ping is a computer network administration software utility used to test the reachability of a host on an Internet Protocol (IP) network 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 The name comes from active sonar terminology that sends a pulse of sound and listens for the echo to detect objects under waterPing operates by sending Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request packets to the target host and waiting for an ICMP echo reply
Ping (networking utility) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia