NAME

       bing  — compute point to point throughput using two sizes of ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to pairs of remote
       hosts.

SYNOPSIS

       bing [-dDnrRPvVwz] [-c count] [-e samples] [-f samplefile] [-i wait] [-p pattern] [-s  small  packetsize]
            [-S big packetsize] [-u size increment] host1 host2 [...]

DESCRIPTION

       Bing  determines  bandwidth  on  a point-to-point link by sending ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets and measuring
       their roundtrip times for different packet sizes on each end of the link.

       host1 is supposed to be the nearest end of the link, while host2 is the other end.

       The options are as follows:

       -c count
               Stop after count resets of the stats. Useful only in conjunction with the -e option. Defaults  to
               1.

       -d      Set the SO_DEBUG option on the socket being used.

       -D      Display  the measured throughput at every received packet.  By default, it is displayed only when
               the computed value changes, which itself changes only when the minimum roundtrip time for one  of
               the packet sizes changes.

       -e samples
               Reset stats after sending samples ECHO_REQUEST packets.

       -f samplefile
               Saves the bandwidth measurements to the file samplefile.

       -i wait
               Wait wait seconds for each ECHO_REPLY packet.  The default is to wait for four seconds.

       -n      Numeric output only.  No attempt will be made to lookup symbolic names for host addresses.

       -P      Be pedantic regarding round-trip times.

               Normally,  bing  assumes that the roundtrip time for a small packet should always be smaller than
               the roundtrip time for a big packet to the same host, that for a given size  the  roundtrip  time
               for  host1  should  always be smaller than the roundtrip time for host2, and that the increase in
               the roundtrip time between host1 and host2 should always be bigger for big packets than for small
               packets.

               Bing takes advantage of this to better determine the minimum roundtrip times.

               Option -P disables this behaviour, in the unlikely event it could be of  any  use  someday.  Even
               IP/X25 links are not weird enough to require this, though.

       -p pattern
               You  may  specify  up  to  16  ``pad'' bytes to fill out the packet you send.  This is useful for
               diagnosing data-dependent problems in a network.  For example, “-p ff” will cause the sent packet
               to be filled with all ones.

       -R      Record route.  Includes the RECORD_ROUTE option in the ECHO_REQUEST packet and displays the route
               buffer on returned packets.  Note that the IP header is only large enough for nine  such  routes.
               Many hosts ignore or discard this option.

       -r      Bypass the normal routing tables and send directly to a host on an attached network.  If the host
               is  not  on a directly-attached network, an error is returned.  This option can be used to ping a
               local host through an interface that has no route through  it  (e.g.,  after  the  interface  was
               dropped by routed(8) ).

       -s packetsize
               Specifies  the  number  of  data  bytes to be sent in the small packets.  The default and minimum
               value is 8.

       -S packetsize
               Specifies the number of data bytes to be sent in the big packets.  The default is 108.  The  size
               should  be  chosen  so  that big packet roundtrip times are long enough to be accurately measured
               (depending on clock resolution and number of hops).

       -u size increment
               Specifies that bing should start sending packets  of  the  size  of  small  packetsize  and  then
               increase the size by size increment until it reaches big packetsize.

       -v      Verbose output.  ICMP packets other than ECHO_RESPONSE that are received are listed.

       -V      Very verbose output.  The roundtrip time of each received echo is displayed.

       -w      Display  possible  warnings about roundtrip times all the time.  By default, warnings are printed
               only at the end.

       -z      Fill packets with uncompressible (pseudo-random) data.

       Round-trip times and packet loss statistics are computed.  If duplicate packets are  received,  they  are
       not  included  in  the  packet loss calculation, although the round trip time of these packets is used in
       calculating the minimum/average/maximum round-trip time numbers.  When the specified number of loops have
       been made or if the program is terminated with a SIGINT, a brief summary is displayed.

       This program is intended for use in network testing, measurement and management.  Because of the load  it
       can impose on the network, it is unwise to use bing during normal operations or from automated scripts.

BUGS

       Many Hosts and Gateways ignore the RECORD_ROUTE option.

       The maximum IP header length is too small for options like RECORD_ROUTE to be completely useful.  There's
       not much that that can be done about this, however.

       Some of the final stats (average throughputs) almost never give a even marginally correct result.

SEE ALSO

       netstat(1), ifconfig(8), ping(8), routed(8), traceroute(8)

AUTHOR

       Pierre Beyssac <pb@fasterix.freenix.fr>

Debian                                            April 3, 1995                                          BING(8)