Introducing a variable into the ping command

What is quick (efficient) way to ping various {a,b,c} servers?

When I switch networks, which I do frequently, it's not always easy to tell
that I'm "on" the new network - so - I ping until the ping starts
responding, and when the network goes down, the ping stops responding.

No big deal, right? It's simple stuff:

Start Run %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /K "C:\Windows\System32\PING.exe -t www.google.com"

But sometimes I want to ping some other main server, not just google.

Is there a way to introduce a variable into that equation easily?

a = google.com
b = microsoft.com
c = apple.com
etc.

On 01/22/2018 08:28 PM, Timofei Krasniqi wrote:
What is quick (efficient) way to ping various {a,b,c} servers?

ICMP ping isn't the best tool to use to 'touch' a (each and every)
server; some servers don't 'like to' echo ICMP pings.

Steve Gibson's ID Serve works better. https://www.grc.com/id/idserve.htm

That remark doesn't solve your automating variable servers issue, it is
just about 'what's wrong with/ limiting about/ ping (for this purpose)?'

--
Mike Easter

Of recent note Mike Easter wrote:


Steve Gibson's ID Serve works better. https://www.grc.com/id/idserve.htm

Thanks for the hint.

I tested idserve manually, and while I like the audible clicks, it doesn't
seem to repeatedly check the server to see if the network is "alive".

Start Run %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /K "C:\Program Files\idserve\idserve.exe 207.46.230.219"
It's completely manual. Click. Click. Click click click. Click. Click.

Is there a way to make it loop easily?
Actually, all I need is a click when the network connects and a bong when
it disconnects.

I would think everyone would benefit from such a program.

Timofei Krasniqi wrote:
Actually, all I need is a click when the network connects and a bong when
it disconnects.

Here's a tool:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/multiple_ping_tool.html PingInfoView is a
small utility that allows you to easily ping multiple host names and IP
addresses, and watch the result in one table. It automatically ping to
all hosts every number of seconds that you specify, and displays the
number of succeed and failed pings, as well as the average ping time.
You can also save the ping result into text/html/xml file, or copy it to
the clipboard.

--
Mike Easter

Timofei,

Is there a way to introduce a variable into that equation easily?

Nope, not when using it that way.

But what about using a couple of shortcuts ? Than its becomes as easy as
clicking one.

Is there a way to make it loop easily?

If you want more control over what happens, you could use a batch (.bat) or
maybe even a VBScript (.vbs) file.

Actually, all I need is a click when the network connects and a bong when
it disconnects.

.... especially whe you want to do something like that.

For the batch file you could append a "find" to your command testing for the
connected/disconnected result (the result will be in the "errorlevel"
variable, which you can test).

Pseudo code (for both a batch or VBScript solution)

do a single ping and check for OK result
If not, jump to previous line
Play a 'click' sound
do a single ping and check for failed result
If not, jump to previous line
Play a 'bong' sound
jump to first line

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

In message , R.Wieser
writes:
Timofei,

Is there a way to introduce a variable into that equation easily?

Nope, not when using it that way.

But what about using a couple of shortcuts ? Than its becomes as easy as
clicking one.

Is there a way to make it loop easily?

If you want more control over what happens, you could use a batch (.bat) or
maybe even a VBScript (.vbs) file.

Actually, all I need is a click when the network connects and a bong when
it disconnects.

... especially whe you want to do something like that.

For the batch file you could append a "find" to your command testing for the
connected/disconnected result (the result will be in the "errorlevel"
variable, which you can test).

Pseudo code (for both a batch or VBScript solution)

do a single ping and check for OK result
If not, jump to previous line
Play a 'click' sound
do a single ping and check for failed result
If not, jump to previous line
Play a 'bong' sound
jump to first line

Regards,
Rudy Wieser


I would suggest some waits in there, otherwise (a) it _might_ impact
your network (and CPU, though only marginally) usage (b) it might
irritate the owners of the hosts you're pinging.

Both of these are almost certainly unimportant, but on principle, I'd
put them in. Either that or select hosts (at least for the fail test)
that are slow to respond, if any such exist.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Who's General Failure & why's he reading my disk? (Stolen from another .sig)

On Tue, 23 Jan 2018 04:28:19 +0000 (UTC), Timofei Krasniqi wrote:
What is quick (efficient) way to ping various {a,b,c} servers?

When I switch networks, which I do frequently, it's not always easy to tell
that I'm "on" the new network - so - I ping until the ping starts
responding, and when the network goes down, the ping stops responding.

No big deal, right? It's simple stuff:

Start Run %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /K "C:\Windows\System32\PING.exe -t www.google.com"

But sometimes I want to ping some other main server, not just google.

Is there a way to introduce a variable into that equation easily?

a = google.com
b = microsoft.com
c = apple.com
etc.

You can use a batch file that prompts for the server name to ping. e.g.

@echo off
setlocal
set n=%1
if "%n%" == "" (
set /p "n=Enter host/IP (leave empty for www.google.com): "
)
if "%n%" == "" set n=www.google.com
ping -t %n%

You can create a shortcut file to the batch file and directly pass the
server name, so that it won't ask for the server name. Use that shortcut for
your main pinger. The command line for the shortcut should be e.g.

pinger.bat www.google.com

Create another shortcut file without specifying the server name, and use
that when you need to ping another server.

On 1/22/2018 11:28 PM, Timofei Krasniqi wrote:
What is quick (efficient) way to ping various {a,b,c} servers?

When I switch networks, which I do frequently, it's not always easy to
tell that I'm "on" the new network - so - I ping until the ping starts
responding, and when the network goes down, the ping stops responding.

No big deal, right? It's simple stuff:

Start Run %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /K "C:\Windows\System32\PING.exe
-t www.google.com"

But sometimes I want to ping some other main server, not just google.

Is there a way to introduce a variable into that equation easily?

a = google.com
b = microsoft.com
c = apple.com
etc.
Would "Choice" cmd in batch help? Or use a batch to call ChangePing xxx
where xxx is server name with a default specified within batch or error
note.

--
Zaidy036

Of recent note JJ wrote:


@echo off
setlocal
set n=%1
if "%n%" == "" (
set /p "n=Enter host/IP (leave empty for www.google.com): "
)
if "%n%" == "" set n=www.google.com
ping -t %n%

This worked perfectly!
Thank you so very much for helping me and others at the same time.

To give back in return, here is a quick step by step tutorial
that should work if people just cut and paste what is below.

This solution will be archived for posterity to:
http://tinyurl.com/microsoft-public-windowsxp-gen

1) Obtain the pinger batch script courtesy of
From: JJ
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2018
Newsgroups: alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.ge neral
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/ACEjdOaZU_o

2) Create the "pinger.bat" script in your scripts directory:
@echo off
setlocal
set n=%1
if "%n%" == "" (
set /p "n=Enter host/IP (leave empty for www.google.com): "
)
if "%n%" == "" set n=www.google.com
ping -t %n%

3) Creat a new "App Path" 'String' key so that "Start Run" works perfectly:
Start Run pinger OK

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\pinger.exe
(Default) = C:\path\scripts\pinger.bat

Note that "pinger.exe" is just an arbitrary name which must end with
".exe" where an actual file "pinger.exe" should not actually exist.

4) Create a shortcut to pinger.bat in your start menu hierarchy:
Start Programs Scripts pinger.bat.lnk
(Press return to take the default.)

Or, change the shortcut to automatically ping the desired server:
Change target from: Target = C:\path\scripts\pinger.bat
Change target from: Target = C:\path\scripts\pinger.bat www.google.com

Comment: Syntax: {pinger.bat} or {pinger.bat www.google.com}

Use Model:
To check the network using your start menu:
Start Programs Scripts pinger.lnk

To check the network using your Run command:
Start Run pinger OK

Of recent note Mike Easter wrote:


http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/multiple_ping_tool.html PingInfoView is a
small utility that allows you to easily ping multiple host names and IP
addresses, and watch the result in one table. It automatically ping to
all hosts every number of seconds that you specify, and displays the
number of succeed and failed pings, as well as the average ping time.
You can also save the ping result into text/html/xml file, or copy it to
the clipboard.

Thank you Mr. Easter for that very nice help!
To give back for others to learn by reading what I did by doing, I agree
this tool also has promise when set up similarly to JJ's pinger.bat file.

Start Run pinginfoview OK
or
Start Programs Network PingInfoView.lnk

Especially as pinginfoview can do a few things the batch file doesn't.
(PingInfoView) Options Beep on Failed Pings (Default = C:\WINDOWS\Media\tada.wav)
(PingInfoView) Options Advanced Options Execute the following command on failed ping:
(PingInfoView) File Ping Options Address list to ping: www.google.com
(PingInfoView) File Ping Options Ping again every [30] seconds
(PingInfoView) File Ping Options Ping Timeout (in ms): [1000]
(PingInfoView) File Ping Options Ping Size (in bytes): [32]
(PingInfoView) File Ping Options Start pinging immediately without displaying this dialog box

Of recent note Zaidy036 wrote:


Would "Choice" cmd in batch help? Or use a batch to call ChangePing xxx
where xxx is server name with a default specified within batch or error
note.

The ideal network-switch checker, given the observation that it takes a
minute or two for the network switch to take effect (empirical observation)
would be the following user sequence.

A) User switches to new network (knowing it takes a minute or two and
sometimes fails).

B) User initiates the JJ pinger or Mike pinginfoview method.

C) User doesn't want to wait watching the paint dry, so the user does a few
things in the foreground.

D) When the network is established, a "success" beep is heard in the
background.

E) If the network fails (it happens a lot), a "fail" beep is heard in the
background.

Note that the success beep is actually more important than the fail beep
because of two different reasons.

1) The user doesn't want to watch the grass grow waiting for a successful
connection, so they just "do stuff" in the foreground until the success
beep is heard in the background.

2. The user will notice a failure of the network because the socket will
"hang" when the network drops.

So a success beep is more important, in an efficient use model, than the
failure beep.

Unfortunately, PingInfoView seems to only do stuff on failures.
I don't see a way to add a single success beep yet.

Note that you don't want a million success beeps. Just one.

Of recent note Timofei Krasniqi wrote:


Thank you Mr. Easter for that very nice help!

BTW, I realize this pushes the goalpost further past the endzone, and hence
maybe it's a separate question, but is there a way to get the
'whatismyipaddress.com' from this command line?

With that addition, the network would be proved working *and* the actual
network would be known (because it could be the wrong network working).

Of recent note Timofei Krasniqi wrote:


Use Model:
To check the network using your start menu:
Start Programs Scripts pinger.lnk

To check the network using your Run command:
Start Run pinger OK

I found, in testing, a huge flaw in the Nirsoft method!

The "socket" for the pinger method hangs, which is what you want!
http://i.cubeupload.com/Uk2KfP.jpg

But, for whatever reason, Nirsoft just picks up with the "new" socket!
http://i.cubeupload.com/IZ7UPh.jpg

Unless that propensity to pick up where Nirsoft left off is able to be
turned off, it makes the NirSoft method useless because it's "reliable".

What we want is a tool to detect the network change!

On 23 Jan 2018, Timofei Krasniqi wrote
in alt.windows7.general:

BTW, I realize this pushes the goalpost further past the endzone,
and hence maybe it's a separate question, but is there a way to
get the 'whatismyipaddress.com' from this command line?

I retrieve my external IP address once a day from

http://www.nirsoft.net/show_my_ip_address.php

using wget to download a copy of that web page. I then use FINDSTR and
PERL to parse that page and write my IP address to a log file. I've
been doing this for a few years because I became curious about how
often my ISP changes my address.

The Nirsoft page only lists my IPv4 address. Your whatismyipaddress
page only lists my IPv6 address. Now I'm starting to wonder if my IPv6
address changes independently of my IPv4 address. I'll have to figure
out how to add that to my log.

So, the answer to your question is, "yes, you can," or at least you
could if WGET didn't object to the SSL certificate of that web site. It
does seem to have a lot of spammy 3rd-party ads on it. But otherwise,
you can use wget, a commandline file downloader. This is a unix/linux
utility ported to Windows. There are a few versions of it around. The
one I'm using came from he

http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/wget.htm

There are newer versions around.

An alternative utility is Curl.

Nil wrote:

An alternative utility is Curl.

I like

curl icanhazip.com

in linux.

The WAN IP result is 'clean' and free of any html.

I believe there are Win32 & Win64 available as well.

https://curl.haxx.se/download.html

--
Mike Easter