Ping a hostname on the network

Question

How may I ping a hostname on a network?

Answer 1

The System.Net.NetworkInformation Namespace is what you need. This link has more details

public static string PingHost(string host)
{
    //string to hold our return messge
    string returnMessage = string.Empty;

    //IPAddress instance for holding the returned host
    IPAddress address = GetIpFromHost(ref host);

    //set the ping options, TTL 128
    PingOptions pingOptions = new PingOptions(128, true);

    //create a new ping instance
    Ping ping = new Ping();

    //32 byte buffer (create empty)
    byte[] buffer = new byte[32];

    //first make sure we actually have an internet connection
    if (HasConnection())
    {
        //here we will ping the host 4 times (standard)
        for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
        {
            try
            {
                //send the ping 4 times to the host and record the returned data.
                //The Send() method expects 4 items:
                //1) The IPAddress we are pinging
                //2) The timeout value
                //3) A buffer (our byte array)
                //4) PingOptions
                PingReply pingReply = ping.Send(address, 1000, buffer, pingOptions);

                //make sure we dont have a null reply
                if (!(pingReply == null))
                {
                    switch (pingReply.Status)
                    {
                        case IPStatus.Success:
                            returnMessage = string.Format("Reply from {0}: bytes={1} time={2}ms TTL={3}", pingReply.Address, pingReply.Buffer.Length, pingReply.RoundtripTime, pingReply.Options.Ttl);
                            break;
                        case IPStatus.TimedOut:
                            returnMessage = "Connection has timed out...";
                            break;
                        default:
                            returnMessage = string.Format("Ping failed: {0}", pingReply.Status.ToString());
                            break;
                    }
                }
                else
                    returnMessage = "Connection failed for an unknown reason...";
            }
            catch (PingException ex)
            {
                returnMessage = string.Format("Connection Error: {0}", ex.Message);
            }
            catch (SocketException ex)
            {
                returnMessage = string.Format("Connection Error: {0}", ex.Message);
            }
        }
    }
    else
        returnMessage = "No Internet connection found...";

    //return the message
    return returnMessage;
}

Answer 2

I would use the Ping class.

Answer 3

Try this

 using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.NetworkInformation;
using System.Text;

namespace Examples.System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingTest
{
    public class PingExample
    {
        // args[0] can be an IPaddress or host name.
        public static void Main (string[] args)
        {
            Ping pingSender = new Ping ();
            PingOptions options = new PingOptions ();

            // Use the default Ttl value which is 128,
            // but change the fragmentation behavior.
            options.DontFragment = true;

            // Create a buffer of 32 bytes of data to be transmitted.
            string data = "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa";
            byte[] buffer = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes (data);
            int timeout = 120;
            PingReply reply = pingSender.Send (args[0], timeout, buffer, options);
            if (reply.Status == IPStatus.Success)
            {
                Console.WriteLine ("Address: {0}", reply.Address.ToString ());
                Console.WriteLine ("RoundTrip time: {0}", reply.RoundtripTime);
                Console.WriteLine ("Time to live: {0}", reply.Options.Ttl);
                Console.WriteLine ("Don't fragment: {0}", reply.Options.DontFragment);
                Console.WriteLine ("Buffer size: {0}", reply.Buffer.Length);
            }
        }
    }
}