What does Ping do?

• A. Verifies that a port is open
• B. Sends a message from one computer to another to verify it is reachable or active
• C. Measures network latency
• D. Logs failed connections

Answer: (B)

Ping is a simple diagnostic that checks whether another computer on the network can be reached. It sends an ICMP Echo Request and waits for an ICMP Echo Reply. If a reply comes back, the destination is reachable and active; the round-trip time gives a sense of latency. It doesn’t verify that a specific port on that host is open—that task requires port scanning or a TCP/UDP connection attempt. It also doesn’t log failed connections by itself; it just probes and reports whether a response was received, with any logging coming from other tools or systems.