Ping

Ping

The Ping tool uses ICMP Echo messages to test network connectivity and measure round-trip delay between the router and target hosts. It is the most fundamental network diagnostic tool for verifying IP connectivity and diagnosing network issues.

Overview

Ping operates by sending ICMP Echo Request packets to a target host and waiting for ICMP Echo Reply responses. The tool reports the success or failure of each packet, along with round-trip time statistics. This allows network administrators to quickly determine:

• Whether a host is reachable
• The latency to a target destination
• Packet loss percentage
• Path viability through the network

Basic Usage

Send ICMP echo requests to a target host:

/ping 10.0.0.1 count=10

Output:

  SEQ HOST              SIZE TTL TIME  STATUS
    0 10.0.0.1           56  64 1ms
    1 10.0.0.1           56  64 1ms
    2 10.0.0.1           56  64 1ms
    ...
  sent=10 received=10 packet-loss=0% min-rtt=1ms avg-rtt=1ms max-rtt=2ms

Properties

Core Parameters

Property	Description
address	Target IP address or hostname to ping
count	Number of ping packets to send (default: unlimited until interrupted)
interval	Time between packets in seconds (default: 1s)
size	Packet size in bytes (default: 56 bytes)
ttl	Time-to-live value for outgoing packets
timeout	Wait time for replies in seconds

Source and Routing Parameters

Property	Description
src-address	Source IP address to use in outgoing packets
interface	Interface to send packets from
routing-table	Routing table to use for lookups
routing-mark	Firewall routing mark to match

Advanced Parameters

Property	Description
do-not-fragment	Set the DF (Don’t Fragment) flag
adaptive	Adapt interval to round-trip time
packet-loss-threshold	Percentage of packet loss that triggers logging
network	Limit to specific network for broadcast/multicast pings

Examples

Basic Connectivity Test

/ping 8.8.8.8 count=4

Expected output:

  SEQ HOST              SIZE TTL TIME  STATUS
    0 8.8.8.8           56  64 10ms
    1 8.8.8.8           56  64 11ms
    2 8.8.8.8           56  64 10ms
    3 8.8.8.8           56  64 11ms
  sent=4 received=4 packet-loss=0% min-rtt=10ms avg-rtt=10ms max-rtt=11ms

Test Through Specific Interface

/ping 10.0.0.1 interface=ether1 count=3

Verify Gateway Failover

/ping 192.168.1.254 count=3
/ping 10.0.0.1 routing-table=vpn count=3

MTU Path Discovery

/ping 10.0.0.1 size=1472 count=3
/ping 10.0.0.1 size=1500 do-not-fragment=yes count=3

If packets with size=1472 succeed but 1500 fails with “DF bit set”, there’s an MTU issue on the path.

Script-Based Monitoring

:local target "8.8.8.8"
:local count 3
:local result [/ping $target count=$count];
:if ($result = 0) do={
    :log warning "Ping to $target failed - host unreachable"
} else={
    :log info "Ping to $target OK - $result replies received"
}

Ping Variants

IPv4 Ping

Standard IPv4 ICMP echo:

/ping 192.168.1.1 count=5 interval=2
/ping 8.8.8.8 count=3

IPv6 Ping

IPv6 ICMP echo requests use the /ping command with IPv6 addresses:

/ping 2001:db8::1 count=5
/ping ff02::1%ether1  ; Multicast ping on local segment

DNS Name Resolution

Ping by hostname to test DNS resolution:

/ping google.com count=4
/ping mikrotik.com count=3

Continuous Ping

Run ping until interrupted (Ctrl+C):

/ping 10.0.0.1

Finite Ping

Send a specific number of packets:

/ping 10.0.0.1 count=100

Special Ping Types

MAC Ping

Ping devices on the same broadcast domain using MAC addresses. This bypasses IP layer and communicates directly at layer 2.

First, enable the MAC ping server:

/tool mac-server ping set enabled=yes

Then ping by MAC address:

/ping 00:0C:42:72:A1:B0

To restrict to a specific interface:

/ping 00:0C:42:72:A1:B0%ether1

Note

MAC ping only works on devices within the same broadcast domain (same VLAN or directly connected).

Multicast Ping

Send ICMP echo to multicast addresses to discover multiple responders:

/ping ff02::1 count=3

• ff02::1 - IPv6 all-nodes multicast group (discovers all IPv6-enabled hosts on local segment)
• 224.0.0.1 - IPv4 all-hosts multicast group

This is useful for:

• Discovering all hosts on a local network segment
• Verifying multicast functionality
• Network inventory and discovery

Broadcast Ping

Ping a broadcast address to discover all responsive hosts:

/ping 192.168.1.255 count=2
/ping 10.0.0.255 count=2

Broadcast pinging may not work on all networks due to firewall configurations or switch ACLs.

Advanced Usage

Custom Packet Size

Test path MTU and fragmentation behavior with custom packet sizes:

/ping 10.0.0.1 size=1472 count=10
/ping 10.0.0.1 size=1500 do-not-fragment=yes count=5

Source Address Specification

Ping from a specific source IP:

/ping 10.0.0.1 src-address=192.168.1.100
/ping 2001:db8::1 src-address=2001:db8::100

Useful when the router has multiple IP addresses on different interfaces.

Interface-Specific Ping

Send packets from a specific interface:

/ping 10.0.0.1 interface=ether1
/ping 192.168.1.1 interface=wlan1

Routing Table Selection

Use a specific routing table:

/ping 10.0.0.1 routing-table=main
/ping 8.8.8.8 routing-table=vpn

Adaptive Ping

Adaptive mode adjusts interval based on round-trip time:

/ping 10.0.0.1 adaptive=yes

TTL Specification

Set custom TTL to test specific hop behavior:

/ping 10.0.0.1 ttl=1
/ping 192.168.1.100 ttl=64

Troubleshooting with Ping

Network Connectivity Test Sequence

Follow this systematic approach to diagnose connectivity issues:

Step 1: Local Interface Test

Ping the router’s own interface to verify basic IP stack:

/ping 192.168.1.1 count=3

Step 2: Directly Connected Host

Ping a host on the same subnet:

/ping 192.168.1.10 count=3

Step 3: Default Gateway

Ping the default gateway:

/ping 192.168.1.254 count=3

Step 4: Remote Host

Ping an external IP address:

/ping 8.8.8.8 count=3

Step 5: DNS Resolution Test

Ping a domain name to test DNS:

/ping google.com count=3

Interpreting Results

Successful Response

  SEQ HOST              SIZE TTL TIME  STATUS
    0 8.8.8.8           56  64 10ms

• SEQ: Sequence number
• SIZE: Packet size in bytes
• TTL: Time-to-live received
• TIME: Round-trip time in milliseconds
• STATUS: Reply status

No Response (Packet Loss)

If you see no replies with 100% packet loss:

/ping 10.0.0.1 count=5
  sent=5 received=0 packet-loss=100% min-rtt=0ms avg-rtt=0ms max-rtt=0ms

Causes may include:

• Firewall blocking ICMP
• Host is offline
• Incorrect IP address
• Routing problem
• Network cable disconnected

Intermittent Responses

Partial packet loss indicates:

  sent=10 received=7 packet-loss=30% min-rtt=5ms avg-rtt=12ms max-rtt=50ms

• Congested link
• Unstable network connection
• Intermittent firewall drops
• Wireless interference

Common Error Patterns

”no route to host”

The router cannot find a route to the destination:

/ping 10.100.0.1

Check routing table:

/ip route print

“address unreachable”

The router knows how to reach the network but cannot:

/ip route print where dst-address=10.100.0.0/24

Verify gateway is reachable and ARP is resolved.

High Latency

Latency over 100ms may indicate:

• Congested link
• Distance to remote host
• Network equipment processing delays
• Wireless hop interference

Monitoring and Automation

Script Integration

Use ping in scripts for monitoring:

:local target "8.8.8.8"
:local result [/ping $target count=3];
:if ($result = 0) do={
    :log warning "Ping to $target failed!"
}

Health Checks

Regular ping monitoring:

/system scheduler add name=ping-gateway interval=1m on-event={
    /ping 192.168.1.254 count=1
}

Netwatch

Use Netwatch for automated host monitoring:

/tool netwatch add host=8.8.8.8 interval=30s timeout=1000ms \
    up-script="/log info \"Host up\"" \
    down-script="/log error \"Host down\""

Performance Considerations

ICMP Rate Limiting

Some hosts or firewalls rate-limit ICMP responses. Increase interval:

/ping 10.0.0.1 interval=2 count=10

Large Scale Pings

For scanning multiple hosts:

:for i from=1 to=254 do={
    /ping 192.168.1.$i count=1
}

Impact on CPU

Continuous ping with small intervals increases CPU load:

/ping 10.0.0.1 interval=0.1  ; High CPU usage

Related Commands

• /tool mac-server ping - MAC-level ping server configuration
• /tool traceroute - Path tracing to destination
• /tool mac-telnet - Connect via MAC address
• /tool ssh - Secure shell access
• /tool fetch - Transfer files over network

Related Resources

• Official MikroTik Ping Documentation
• ICMP Protocol (RFC 792)
• Diagnostics Overview
• IP Scan
• Traceroute