1BING(8) UNIX System Manager's Manual BING(8)
2
6 bing - compute point to point throughput using two sizes of ICMP
7 ECHO_REQUEST packets to pairs of remote hosts.
8
10 bing [dDnrRPvVwz] [-c count] [-e samples] [-f samplefile] [-i wait] [-p
11 pattern] [-s small packetsize] [-S big packetsize] host1 host2 [...]
12
14 Bing determines bandwidth on a point-to-point link by sending ICMP
15 ECHO_REQUEST packets and measuring their roundtrip times for different
16 packet sizes on each end of the link.
17 host1 is supposed to be the nearest end of the link, while host2 is the
19 other end.
20 The options are as follows:
22 -c count
24 Stop after count resets of the stats. Useful only in conjunction
25 with the -e option. Defaults to 1.
26 -d Set the SO_DEBUG option on the socket being used.
28 -D Display the measured throughput at every received packet. By
30 default, it is displayed only when the computed value changes,
31 which itself changes only when the minimum roundtrip time for one
32 of the packet sizes changes.
33 -e samples
35 Reset stats after sending samples ECHO_REQUEST packets.
36 -f samplefile
38 Saves the bandwidth measurements to the file samplefile.
39 -i wait
41 Wait wait seconds for each ECHO_REPLY packet. The default is to
42 wait for four seconds.
43 -n Numeric output only. No attempt will be made to lookup symbolic
45 names for host addresses.
46 -P Be pedantic regarding round-trip times.
48 Normally, bing assumes that the roundtrip time for a small packet
50 should always be smaller than the roundtrip time for a big packet
51 to the same host, that for a given size the roundtrip time for
52 host1 should always be smaller than the roundtrip time for host2,
53 and that the increase in the roundtrip time between host1 and
54 host2 should always be bigger for big packets than for small pack‐
55 ets.
56 Bing takes advantage of this to better determine the minimum
58 roundtrip times.
59 Option -P disables this behaviour, in the unlikely event it could
61 be of any use someday. Even IP/X25 links are not weird enough to
62 require this, though.
63 -p pattern
65 You may specify up to 16 ``pad'' bytes to fill out the packet you
66 send. This is useful for diagnosing data-dependent problems in a
67 network. For example, ``-p ff'' will cause the sent packet to be
68 filled with all ones.
69 -R Record route. Includes the RECORD_ROUTE option in the ECHO_REQUEST
71 packet and displays the route buffer on returned packets. Note
72 that the IP header is only large enough for nine such routes. Many
73 hosts ignore or discard this option.
74 -r Bypass the normal routing tables and send directly to a host on an
76 attached network. If the host is not on a directly-attached net‐
77 work, an error is returned. This option can be used to ping a
78 local host through an interface that has no route through it
79 (e.g., after the interface was dropped by routed(8)).
80 -s small packetsize
82 Specifies the number of data bytes to be sent in the small pack‐
83 ets. The default and minimum value is 44.
84 -S big packetsize
86 Specifies the number of data bytes to be sent in the big packets.
87 The default is 108. The size should be chosen so that big packet
88 roundtrip times are long enough to be accurately measured (depend‐
89 ing on clock resolution and number of hops).
90 -u size increment
92 Specifies that bing should start sending packets of the size of
93 small packetsize and then increase the size by size increment
94 until it reaches big packetsize.
95 -v Verbose output. ICMP packets other than ECHO_RESPONSE that are
97 received are listed.
98 -V Very verbose output. The roundtrip time of each received echo is
100 displayed.
101 -w Display possible warnings about roundtrip times all the time. By
103 default, warnings are printed only at the end.
104 -z Fill packets with uncompressible (pseudo-random) data.
106 Round-trip times and packet loss statistics are computed. If duplicate
108 packets are received, they are not included in the packet loss calcula‐
109 tion, although the round trip time of these packets is used in calcu‐
110 lating the minimum/average/maximum round-trip time numbers. When the
111 specified number of loops have been made or if the program is termi‐
112 nated with a SIGINT, a brief summary is displayed.
113 This program is intended for use in network testing, measurement and
115 management. Because of the load it can impose on the network, it is
116 unwise to use bing during normal operations or from automated scripts.
117
119 Many Hosts and Gateways ignore the RECORD_ROUTE option.
120 The maximum IP header length is too small for options like RECORD_ROUTE
122 to be completely useful. There's not much that that can be done about
123 this, however.
124 Some of the final stats (average throughputs) almost never give a even
126 marginally correct result.
127
129 netstat(1), ifconfig(8), ping(8), routed(8), traceroute(8)
130
132 Pierre Beyssac <pb@fasterix.freenix.fr>
133 Port to Windows: Francois Gouget <fgouget@mygale.org>
135 April 3, 1995 BING(8)