Network
Find live hosts across a range or list
Parallel ICMP echo sweeps for CIDR ranges and host files.
overview
What fping does
fping sends ICMP echo requests to many hosts in parallel and reports which answered. Expand a netmask or start/end range with -g, or read targets from -f.
Reach for it when an IP block must shrink to live addresses before a port scan or HTTP probe. Dead hosts stay out of later stages.
Trickest runs fping as a managed Network node that writes FILE and FOLDER results. Pair survivors with naabu or nmap for ports, or httpx for web probes. Prefer nmap -sn when you need richer host discovery in one tool.
source github.com/schweikert/fping
use cases
Where fping fits
Sweep a CIDR block for live hosts
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.
Ping a curated target file in one pass
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.
Pre-filter an attack surface before scanning
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.
Confirm reachability across an estate
Use the live-host list as a quick reachability snapshot for an IP range, the starting point for mapping which segments are populated.
reference
fping inputs and flags
| 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
Run fping
# 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
Choosing fping
Use fping to find which hosts in a CIDR or file answer ICMP before spending scanner time. It is a liveness sweeper, not a port or service scanner. Follow with naabu, nmap, or httpx.
nmap
Full host and port scanner. Its -sn host-discovery mode covers the same liveness check plus far more, at a higher cost per run.
naabu
Fast port scanner with a host-discovery step. Use it when you need open ports, not just whether the host answers ICMP.
httpx
HTTP prober, not an ICMP pinger. Run it after fping to classify live hosts that respond on web ports.
faq
fping questions
related
More Network tools
asnmap
Map an organization's network ranges from ASN data.
dnsvalidator
Validate public DNS resolvers against trusted baselines.
httprobe
Probe a domain list for working HTTP and HTTPS servers.
httpx
A fast and multi-purpose HTTP toolkit that runs multiple probers with reliable, high-throughput results.
mapcidr
Expand, aggregate, and slice CIDR ranges into host lists.
masscan
Asynchronous SYN port scanner for wide IP ranges; bound runs with --rate and --excludefile.
Run fping yourself
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.