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Network
A ping-like tool that sends ICMP echo requests to many hosts at once to find which are alive.
overview
fping works like ping but built for breadth. Instead of one host at a time, it sends ICMP echo requests to any number of targets in parallel, then reports which answered and which stayed silent. It does not wait on a slow host before moving to the next, so a sweep across a wide range finishes faster than a serial ping loop.
Two input modes drive it. Give it a netmask or a start and end address with -g and it expands the range into individual hosts, skipping the network and broadcast addresses for a CIDR. Point -f at a file and it reads the target list line by line. Either way the result is a clean roster of hosts that responded.
Run it early to turn an IP block into the set of live hosts worth scanning, then hand that set to an HTTP prober or a port scanner so the heavier stages never waste time on dead addresses.
source github.com/schweikert/fping
use cases
Pass a network and netmask with -g and fping expands it into every host, pings them in parallel, and returns the addresses that answered, trimming a /24 down to the machines that exist.
Feed a file of addresses with -f to check liveness across an inventory list at once, instead of looping ping over each entry in a script.
Run fping ahead of a port scanner or HTTP prober so the slower nodes only run against hosts that respond to ICMP, cutting wasted requests on an empty range.
Use the live-host list as a quick reachability snapshot for an IP range, the starting point for mapping which segments are populated.
reference
| Name | Type | Flag | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| generate-list | STRING | -g | Generate a target list from an IP netmask or a starting and ending IP. |
| generate-from-file | FILE | -f | Read the list of targets from a file. This option can only be used by the root user. |
Showing key inputs. fping exposes 2 inputs in total.
example
# fping: expand a documentation CIDR and report live hostsfping -g 198.51.100.0/24198.51.100.10 is alive198.51.100.24 is alive198.51.100.55 is alive203.0.113.8 is alive203.0.113.44 is alive192.0.2.17 is alive# 6 hosts answered ICMP from the swept rangeguidance
Reach for fping when you need to find which hosts in a range or a list are alive, fast, before committing scanner time to them. It is an ICMP liveness sweeper, not a port or service scanner, so pair it with naabu or nmap to enumerate ports and with httpx to probe the survivors over HTTP.
Full host and port scanner. Its -sn host-discovery mode does the same liveness check plus far more, at a higher cost per run.
Fast port scanner with a host-discovery step. Use it when you need open ports, not just whether the host answers ICMP.
HTTP prober, not an ICMP pinger. Run it after fping to classify the live hosts that respond on web ports.
faq
related
Quickly map an organization's network ranges using ASN information.
Maximize your resolver count by combining the target's DNS servers with public resolvers.
Expand CIDR ranges into a list of IP addresses easily.
Expand CIDR ranges into a list of IP addresses easily, from a file.
Maintain a list of IPv4 DNS servers verified against baseline servers for accurate responses.
Patched dnsvalidator that keeps only IPv4 resolvers verified against baseline servers.
An IP range feeds fping, which sweeps it with ICMP and passes the responding hosts to httpx for probing before they land as a queryable output.
Facts on this page come from the live Trickest tool library.