Cisco IOS Ping Indicators and What is Ping

The Ping Command

Using the ping command is an effective way to test connectivity. The test is often referred to as testing the protocol stack, because the ping command moves from Layer 3 of the OSI model to Layer 2 and then Layer 1. Ping uses the ICMP protocol to check for connectivity.

IOS Ping Indicators

A ping from the IOS will yield to one of several indications for each ICMP echo that was sent. The most common indicators are:

Hotkeys for Cisco IOS CLI / Cisco IOS Keyboard Shortcuts

Before getting into the various shorthand versions of commands that can be used in the IOS, let’s look at the editing commands available. Editing commands (sometimes referred to as “hot keys”) allow you to quickly navigate the command line. For example, these can be used to move the cursor forward or back a word, move the cursor to the beginning or end of a line, and so forth. There are a number of these editing commands available, and to remember them, I suggest creating associations between the shortcuts and what they do. For example, pressing CTRL+A will move your cursor to the beginning of a line.