Reason behind the default count of replies on ping

[shanmuganathan]

Hi,
Can anybody tell me why the default count of replies is 4 when we do a ping without any switches(-t,-a etc)?

Thanks in Advance.

Regards,
Shanmug.

[Vibhor Kumar Agarwal]

Can't be sure, but i think its default because this will ensure you whether the machine you are pinging is alive or not.

If its less then sometimes the packets reach late so you won't get anything.
If its more there will be a lot of traffic on the network.

[Antoniov.]

Ping tell you if target host is alive and tell you time to connect.
To calculate average time, it's useful execute ping many times. However, if target host is not alive you don't receive any answer and ping could wait for some time.
The 4 time is good compromise: if host is not reachable you wait for limited time.

Antonio Vigliotti

[Ashly A K]

hi!


I think, since it is 4, you can find the % very easly...ie : 1 reply = 25% 2 replesis= 50% so on...