computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, e ...

, a

ping Ping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Ping, a domesticated Chinese duck in the illustrated book '' The Story about Ping'', first published in 1933 * Ping, a minor character in ''Seinfeld'', an NBC sitcom * Ping, a c ...

sweep is a method that can establish a range of

IP addresses An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface ident ...

which map to live hosts. The classic tool used for ping sweeps is ,Stuart McClure, Joel Scambray, George Kurtz, ''Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions'', Edition 6, McGraw Hill Professional, 2009, , pp. 44–51Teo, Lawrence (December, 2000).
Network Probes Explained: Understanding Port Scans and Ping Sweeps
',

Linux Journal ''Linux Journal'' (''LJ'') is an American monthly technology magazine originally published by Specialized System Consultants, Inc. (SSC) in Seattle, Washington since 1994. In December 2006 the publisher changed to Belltown Media, Inc. in Houston ...

which traditionally was accompanied by to generate the list of hosts for large subnets, although more recent versions of include that functionality.Mike Shema, Chris Davis, ''Anti-hacker tool kit'', Edition 3, McGraw Hill Professional, 2006, , pp. 403–406 Well-known tools with ping sweep capability include

nmap Nmap (Network Mapper) is a network scanner created by Gordon Lyon (also known by his pseudonym ''Fyodor Vaskovich''). Nmap is used to discover hosts and services on a computer network by sending packets and analyzing the responses. Nmap provides ...

for

Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and ot ...

and

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

systems, and the Pinger software from Rhino9 for

Windows NT Windows NT is a proprietary graphical operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems sc ...

.Stuart McClure and Joel Scambray, ''An arsenal of attack tools is an essential part of any strong security defense'',

InfoWorld ''InfoWorld'' (abbreviated IW) is an information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a web-only publication. Its parent company today is International Data Group, and its siste ...

, Jul 24, 2000, Vol. 22, No. 30, ISSN 0199-6649, p. 59Susan Elizabeth Young, Dave Aitel, ''The hacker's handbook: the strategy behind breaking into and defending Networks'', CRC Press, 2004, , p. 75 There are many other tools with this capability, including: Hping, IEA's aping, Simple Nomad's ICMPEnum, SolarWind's Ping Sweep, and Foundstone's SuperScan. There is also a ping sweep tool for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS called Fing made by Overlook Soft. Pings can be detected by protocol loggers like .

References

{{reflist Internet protocols Computer network analysis