How to use "Test-Connection" cmdlet in Windows PowerShell?

"Test-Connection" cmdlet in Windows PowerShell is similar to the old "ping" command.

The Test-Connection cmdlet sends Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request packets ("pings") to one or more remote computers and returns the echo response replies. You can use this cmdlet to determine whether a particular computer can be contacted across an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

You can use the parameters of Test-Connection to specify both the sending and receiving computers, to run the command as a background job, to set a timeout and number of pings, and to configure the connection and authentication.

Unlike the traditional "ping" command, Test-Connection returns a Win32_PingStatus object that you can investigate in Windows PowerShell, but you can use the Quiet parameter to force it to return only a Boolean value.

The following example shows how to test connections with multiple remote computers:

PS C:\fyicenter> test-connection www.google.com,www.yahoo.com -Count 1

Destination     IPV4Address      Bytes    Time(ms)
-----------     -----------      -----    --------
www.yahoo.com   98.138.253.109   32       52
www.google.com  172.217.4.164    32       76

You can also test the connection between two remote computers. For example, this command tests the connection from the Webserver to the DBserver:

PS C:\fyicenter> test-connection DBserver -Source Webserver

Note that "test-connection" cmdlet will fail, if the network firewall stops the ICMP protocol between the two computers.

 

⇒ Windows PowerShell Session with Remote Computers

⇐ Remote Computing Overview in Windows PowerShell

⇑ Managing Remote Computer with Windows PowerShell

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