pingen

Pingen is the act of sending one or more ICMP Echo Request packets to a specific network host to determine reachability and to estimate the latency of the path. The term is a German-language verb form analogous to the English "to ping" and is used in German-speaking IT contexts to describe running a ping test.

The practice traces to the ping utility, developed for Unix in 1983 by Mike Muuss to map multihop connectivity. The tool's name "ping" is a naval sonar term, and "pingen" mirrors that etymology in German.

How it works: A host sends ICMP Echo Request messages; the recipient replies with ICMP Echo Reply. The requester measures round-trip time, and reports statistics such as packet loss, minimum, maximum, and average RTT. Typical options control packet size, count, and interval.

Uses and limitations: Ping is a quick connectivity check, useful for diagnosing outages, measuring latency, and monitoring availability. However, many networks and devices block or deprioritize ICMP traffic, which can yield false negatives. High-volume pinging can constitute a small denial-of-service risk if misused.

Variants: Some tools implement TCP-based or UDP-based probes to imitate ping behavior when ICMP is blocked, such as tcping or tcptraceroute. Some monitoring systems perform continuous pings as availability checks.

See also: Ping (networking), ICMP, network utility.