What basic network command would you use to test connectivity to a remote host, and what would you look for in the output?

What basic network command would you use to test connectivity to a remote host, and what would you look for in the output?

• A. ping; look for replies, latency, and packet loss; if no response, test DNS, firewall, or connectivity issues.
• B. traceroute; check hop count.
• C. nslookup; resolves domain to IP.
• D. ifconfig; check interface statistics.

Answer: (A)

Start with the idea of testing reachability using a simple live probe. A basic ping command sends small ICMP echo requests to a remote host and waits for echo replies, so you can quickly see if that host is reachable and gauge how long the responses take. In the output you’re looking for responses to the requests, with the round‑trip time for each reply. The summary at the end tells you how many packets were transmitted, how many were received, and the packet loss percentage. If you get no responses or repeated timeouts, it suggests a connectivity problem and you should investigate potential causes such as DNS resolution (if you used a hostname), firewall rules blocking ICMP, or broader network reachability issues. Other commands offer different insights but aren’t as direct for a simple connectivity check: traceroute shows the path to a host and hop counts, nslookup resolves a domain to an IP, and ifconfig shows interface settings and statistics but not whether the remote host responds.