fping(1M)                                                         fping(1M)

NAME
     fping - send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network hosts

SYNOPSIS
     fping [-a] [-d] [-e] [-f] [-in] [-q] [-rn] [-s] [-tn] [-u] [host ...]

DESCRIPTION
     fping is a ping(1M) like program which uses the Internet Control Mes-
     sage Protocol (ICMP) echo request to determine if a host is up. fping
     is different from ping in that you can specify any number of hosts on
     the command line, or specify a file containing the lists of hosts to
     ping. Instead of trying one host until it timeouts or replies, fping
     will send out a ping packet and move on to the next host in a round-
     robin fashion. If a host replies, it is noted and removed from the
     list of hosts to check. If a host does not respond within a certain
     time limit and/or retry limit it will be considered unreachable.

     fping expects stdin arguments when called without arguments.

     fping does not give statistics on how long it took for a host to
     reply, as its main goal is simply to determine if a system is up.
     Unlike ping, fping is meant to be used in scripts and its output is
     easy to parse.

OPTIONS
     -a   Show systems that are alive.

     -d   Determines the addresses of returned ping packets.

     -e   Indicates the time elapsed since the last packet throughput.

     -f   Read list of system from a file.

     -in  Minimum time (in milliseconds) that must elapse before a ping
          packet is sent to the next host (default value is 10 milliseconds).

     -q   Does not show the results on the host, only the end status is
          set.

     -rn  Retry limit (default 3). This is the number of times an attempt
          at pinging a host will be made, not including the first try.

     -s   Saves the end results.

     -tn  Timeout of a host in milliseconds (default value is 2500). This
          is the minimum amount of time that must elapse between the time
          one ping packet is sent to a host and the next.

     -u   Show systems that are unreachable.

     host Host to be pinged.




Page 1                       Reliant UNIX 5.44                Printed 11/98

fping(1M)                                                         fping(1M)

EXAMPLES
     You can use the following command to list all hosts of a given network
     that are reachable:

          fping -d -f /etc/inet/hosts

     You can use the following command to check whether a number of hosts
     is currently reachable in the network:

          fping -a host1 host2 host3 ...

RETURN CODES
     0    All the hosts are reachable.

     1    Some hosts were unreachable.

     2    Any IP addresses were not found.

     3    Invalid command line arguments.

     4    System call failure.

RESTRICTIONS
     If certain options are used (i.e, a low value for -i and -t, and a
     high value for -r) it is possible to flood the network. This program
     must be installed as setuid root in order to open up a raw socket, or
     must be run by root. In order to stop mere mortals from hosing the
     network (when fping is installed setuid root), normal users can't
     specify the following:

     -in  where n < 10 msec

     -rn  where n > 20

     -tn  where n < 250 msec

SEE ALSO
     ifconfig(1M), netstat(1M), ping(1M).
















Page 2                       Reliant UNIX 5.44                Printed 11/98