Friday, June 29, 2012

Get a beep when you can't ping a host


I finally have a Macbook Pro! Fun! Hey did you know (as if this was the coolest thing about getting a Mac) that you can use the -A switch to have it start beeping when your target host is no longer pingable or vice versa?

Beep when host is not pingable:
ping -A google.com

Beep when host is replying to ping:
ping -a google.com


Don't forget that... A. Unix based OS's like Mac ping forever by default without the -c option (check the man page with "man ping") and B. It doesn't accept the option after the hostname -- it must come before the hostname. Enjoy!!

UPDATE: Funny, I haven't looked at the man page for ping in ages and you can apparently do this on Red Hat, etc., too. (Duh.) Who ever looks at the man page for something as simple as ping? LOL.

2 comments:

  1. Have you built a HackinTosh? It's a fun way to geek out AND mess with the Apple Fanboys!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, I was just about to start such a project when my employer bought me this one...Saved me some time. ;)

    ReplyDelete

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