echoping is a small program to test (approximatively) performances of a remote host by sending it requests such as HTTP requests.

Echoping, with its default setting, assumes the remote host accepts such connections. Experience show that most Internet routers or hosts do not. Some Unices are not shipped with this service enabled and, anyway, the administrator is always free to close it (I think they shouldn’t). echoping has therefore less chance to succeed than ping or bing.

Echoping simply shows the elapsed time, including the time to set up the TCP connection and to transfer the data (but excluding the time for the - possible - DNS call). Therefore, it is unsuitable to physical line raw throughput measures (unlike bing). On the other end, the action it performs are close from a HTTP request and it is meaningful to use it (carefully) to measure Web performances.

[ http://echoping.sourceforge.net/ ]

Testing a Web server with an HTTP request for its home page: