| PING6(8) | System Manager's Manual | PING6(8) | 
ping6 —
| ping6 | [ -dfHmnNoqtvwW] [-aaddrtype] [-bbufsiz] [-ccount] [-ggateway] [-hhoplimit] [-Iinterface] [-iwait] [-lpreload] [-Ppolicy] [-ppattern] [-Ssourceaddr] [-spacketsize] [-Xdeadline] [-xmaxwait] host | 
ping6 uses the ICMPv6 protocol's mandatory
  ICMP6_ECHO_REQUEST datagram to elicit an
  ICMP6_ECHO_REPLY from a host or gateway.
  ICMP6_ECHO_REQUEST datagrams (``pings'') have an IPv6
  header, and ICMPv6 header formatted as documented in RFC 2463. The options are
  as follows:
-a
    addrtypeacgslA-b
    bufsiz-c
    countECHO_RESPONSE packets.-dSO_DEBUG option on the socket being
    used.-fECHO_REQUEST sent a period “.” is
      printed, while for every ECHO_REPLY received a
      backspace is printed. This provides a rapid display of how many packets
      are being dropped. Only the super-user may use this option.
    -g
    gateway-Hping6 command does not try reverse-lookup unless
      the option is specified.-h
    hoplimit-I
    interface-i
    wait-f
    option.-l
    preloadping6 sends that many packets as fast as possible
      before falling into its normal mode of behavior. Only the super-user may
      use this option.-mping6 asks the kernel to fragment
      packets to fit into the minimum IPv6 MTU. -m will
      suppress the behavior in the following two levels: when the option is
      specified once, the behavior will be disabled for unicast packets. When
      the option is specified more than once, it will be disabled for both
      unicast and multicast packets.-Nff02::2:xxxx:xxxx). host
      must be string hostname of the target (must not be a numeric IPv6
      address). Node information multicast group will be computed based on given
      host, and will be used as the final destination.
      Since node information multicast group is a link-local multicast group,
      outgoing interface needs to be specified by -I
      option.-n-o-P
    policy-p
    pattern-p ff” will
      cause the sent packet to be filled with all ones.-q-S
    sourceaddr-s
    packetsize-b as well to
      extend socket buffer size.-t-s has no effect if
      -t is specified.-vECHO_RESPONSE that are received are listed.-W-w, but with old packet format based on 03
      draft. This option is present for backward compatibility.
      -s has no effect if -w is
      specified.-w-s has no effect if -w is
      specified.-X
    deadline-x
    maxwaitWhen using ping6 for fault isolation, it
    should first be run on the local host, to verify that the local network
    interface is up and running. Then, hosts and gateways further and further
    away should be “pinged”. 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 round-trip time statistics. When
    the specified number of packets have been sent (and received) or if the
    program is terminated with a SIGINT, a brief summary
    is displayed, showing the number of packets sent and received, and the
    minimum, maximum, mean, and standard deviation of the round-trip times.
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 ping6 during normal operations or from
    automated scripts.
ping6 will report duplicate and damaged packets.
  Duplicate packets should never occur when pinging a unicast address, and seem
  to be caused by inappropriate link-level retransmissions. Duplicates may occur
  in many situations and are rarely (if ever) a good sign, although the presence
  of low levels of duplicates may not always be cause for alarm. Duplicates are
  expected when pinging a multicast address, since they are not really
  duplicates but replies from different hosts to the same request.
Damaged packets are obviously serious cause for alarm and often
    indicate broken hardware somewhere in the ping6
    packet's path (in the network or in the hosts).
This means that if you have a data-dependent problem you will
    probably have to do a lot of testing to find it. If you are lucky, you may
    manage to find a file that either cannot be sent across your network or that
    takes much longer to transfer than other similar length files. You can then
    examine this file for repeated patterns that you can test using the
    -p option of ping6.
ping6 exits with 0 on success (the host is alive), and
  non-zero if the arguments are incorrect or the host is not responding.
ping6 works just like
  ping(8) would work; the following
  will send ICMPv6 echo request to dst.foo.com.
ping6 -n dst.foo.com
The following will probe hostnames for all nodes on the network
    link attached to wi0 interface. The address
    ff02::1 is named the link-local all-node multicast
    address, and the packet would reach every node on the network link.
ping6 -w ff02::1%wi0
The following will probe addresses assigned to the destination
    node, dst.foo.com.
ping6 -a agl dst.foo.com
A. Conta and S. Deering, Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMPv6) for the Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) Specification, RFC 2463, December 1998.
Matt Crawford, IPv6 Node Information Queries, draft-ietf-ipngwg-icmp-name-lookups-09.txt, May 2002, work in progress material.
ping6 command with
  IPv6 support first appeared in the WIDE Hydrangea IPv6 protocol stack kit.
ping6 is intentionally separate from
  ping(8).
| April 23, 2018 | NetBSD 9.4 |