File: inetutils.info,  Node: ping6 invocation,  Next: traceroute invocation,  Prev: ping invocation,  Up: Top

8 'ping6': Packets to IPv6 network hosts
****************************************

'ping6' uses ICMPv6 datagrams to get a response from the chosen
destination host.  The most common use is to probe whether the remote
system is responsive.  Observe that this program only uses IPv6
datagrams.

   Each datagram, of type 'ECHO_REQUEST', carries some header
information and some additional payload, usually a time stamp.  Making a
suitable choice of payload, it is possible to probe different host or
router properties on the way as the emitted datagram travels to its
destination.

Synopsis:

     ping6 [OPTION...] HOST

Sending simple, timed echo requests is the standard use of 'ping6', but
is by far not the only use case.

   This command is a close parallel to 'ping', except that it handles
IPv6 and is thus not able to handle peculiarities of IPv4.

8.1 Command line options
========================

'-c N'
'--count=N'
     Stop after sending and receiving answers to a total of N packets.

'-d'
'--debug'
     Set the SO_DEBUG option on the socket being used.

'-f'
'--flood'
     Flood ping.  Outputs packets as fast as they come back, or one
     hundred times per second, whichever is more.  For every
     ECHO_REQUEST packet sent, a period '.' is printed, while for every
     ECHO_REPLY received in reply, a backspace is printed.

     This provides a rapid display of how many packets are being
     dropped.  Only the super-user may use this option.  This mode can
     be very hard on a network.  It should be used with caution!

'--hoplimit=N'
     Limit maximal distance to N.  Acceptable values are 1 to 255,
     inclusive.

'-i N'
'--interval=N'
     Wait N seconds until sending next packet.  The default is to wait
     for one second between packets.  This option is incompatible with
     the option '-f'.

'-l N'
'--preload=N'
     Sends N packets as fast as possible before falling back to the
     normal mode of operation.

'-n'
'--numeric'
     Numeric output only.  No attempt will be made to resolve symbolic
     names for host addresses.

'-p PATTERN'
'--pattern=PATTERN'
     Up to 16 hexadecimal pad bytes are given as PATTERN.  These are use
     for filling out the packets you send.  This option is useful for
     diagnosing data-dependent problems within a network.  As an
     example, '-p ff' will cause the sent packets to have payloads with
     every bit set to one.

'-q'
'--quiet'
     Do not print timing result of each transmitted packet.

'-r'
'--ignore-routing'
     Bypass the normal routing tables and send directly to a host on an
     attached network.  If the host is not on a directly attached
     network, an error is returned.  This option can be used to ping a
     local host through an interface, for which there is no assigned
     route, such as when the interface was dropped by 'routed'.

'-s N'
'--size=N'
     Specifies the number of data bytes to be sent.  The default is 56,
     which translates into 64 ICMP data bytes, taking the 8 bytes of
     ICMP header data into account.

'-T NUM'
'--tos=NUM'
     Set the traffic class to NUM on transmitted packets.

'--ttl=N'
     Synonym for '--hoplimit'.

'-v'
'--verbose'
     Produce more verbose output, giving more statistics.

'-w N'
'--timeout=N'
     Stop after N seconds.

   The documentation of 'ping' provides several pieces of information,
and discussions, relevant to the use of 'ping6'.  Keep in mind, though,
that the differing address family causes some discrepancy.  *Note ping
invocation::.