How do I ping a domain name?

Ping lets you quickly verify whether your connection is valid. Here are instructions to ping a domain name on both Windows and Mac.

To Ping a Domain name on Windows

To ping a domain name using Windows, follow these instructions:

  1. From your Start menu, select Run.
  2. Type cmd and press Enter.
  3. At the prompt, type ping domainname.com (where domainname.com is the domain name you want to ping) and press Enter.

The response is either Reply from nn.nn.nn.nn if the ping reached the IP address of the domain name or Request timed out if it did not. For Request timed out messages or if the IP address returned does not match the Zone File Editor for the domain name, there's a DNS issue.

To Ping a Domain Name on Mac

  1. Open a Finder window, and browse to the Applications folder.
  2. Go to the Utilities folder.
  3. Click Network Utility.
  4. Type ping domainname.com where domainname.com is the domain name you want to ping.

The response is either Reply from nn.nn.nn.nn if the ping reached the IP address of the domain name or Request timed out if it did not. For Request timed out messages or if the IP address returned does not match the Zone File Editor for the domain name, there's a DNS issue.