Ping short for Packet InterNet Groper and it is a utility used to verify whether or not a network data packet is capable of being distributed to an address without errors that utility is commonly used to check for network errors. Ping is a network diagnostic tool used primarily to test the connectivity between two nodes or devices and Ping a destination node, an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request packet is sent to that node. If a connection is available, the destination node responds with an echo reply. Ping calculates the round-trip time of the data packet's route from its source to the destination and back, and determines whether any packets were lost during the trip. The network ping tool was created by Mike Muuss in 1983. It contains almost one thousand lines of code and has become the standard packaged tool for various network applications and operating systems.