Does anyone know where can find high-level "what happens when" documentation for ping? I mean clear information about what exactly happens from the moment you enter a ping command to the returned message.I don't know any good high-level doc. Most books about TCP/IP will cover it, but you will have to read quite much before you have the picture.I could try a brief description:
Thanks very much for your excellent description Enrique.On a new installation of an old version of Debian, I have a problem reaching any Internet address and, trying to work through the problem on my own, I thought that such a high-level doc for ping would be useful in troubleshooting it; but I couldn't find anything suitable either. I wanted something that concentrates on the user's box rather than getting into the whole network theory; i.e., what happens when you enter the ping command: the chain of processes, what they do, and how to find out if they were successful, and what goes out and what comes into the box. Because ping requires so many other processes to work, this might be a useful way to troubleshoot a connectivity problem like mine. Would this approach be useful to other people do you think? If it would, and I could get some technical help with it, I would be prepared to produce such a document. Would this be useful?
Regards, Dave Whelan.