by Joyce Kohl
March 18, 1999
Have you ever wondered who's behind a domain name? If a server is up? Or would you like to retrieve and debug an HTML for a specific page on the Web? Or as a "Power Web User" do you often require the other tools in WS_Ping ProPack by Ipswitch?
Whether you're wanting to snoop as an individual on a regular Internet Service Provider (ISP) or you need to view information on a network host or Intranet, WS_Ping ProPack is THE Internet tool collection you'll want to get. It's small, fast, and reasonably priced.
Fifteen Tabs/Tools
The
tools are an integrated set of Internet diagnostic and information tools providing a
graphical interface to the most popular tools. In this new version, 2.1, four new tools
were added: Info, Time, HTML, and Throughput. Also added in this version is the
ability to print the viewed information from each of the tabs, the option to display the
output from Info, Ping, Traceroute, and Throughput in report format, and improved network
scanning speed in the Scan tool. The tabs and a brief description of their functions:
• Info: View summary information
• Time: Synchronize your local system clock
• HTML: Query a Web address
• Throughput: Test data connections
• Ping: Verify connectivity
• Traceroute: Trace network host or device route
• Lookup: Get info on host names and IP addresses
• Finger: Get info about users on a network host
• Whois: Directory service from Network Information Center
• LDAP: Search info - full names; email addresses, etc.
• Quote: View quotations from a Quote server
• Scan: Poll a range of IP addresses
• SNMP: View Simple Network Management Protocol values
• WinNet: View your Windows Network
• About: Your system info
Info
New in this version, the Info tab is used to view a summary about a network host or
device. This will include the official hostname, IP address, and the contact information.
Each request on a hostname pings/polls the host to verify the connectivity. This is a
quick way to get host information because it runs Lookup and Whois queries.
Type in a fully qualified hostname, click the Start button, and the information will appear in the results area. Toggle the Report/List button to get either a report format or view as a list.
Time
Another new tool allows the user to synchronize a local system clock with a remote time
server, and also accomplish this each time the computer starts by creating a new shortcut
in the Windows Startup folder to run the command. Here's the command for it:
wspingpr.exe -settime time.server.name
[where "time.server.name" is a full hostname such as "navobs1.usnogps.nav.mil"]
If correctly configured, the command will display a popup message indicating that your computer's clock has been updated. For more information on using Time, consult the Help option from the toolbar.
HTML
Supposedly a tool for debugging your Web pages (HTML is the acronym for HyperText Markup
Language), I personally do not see the advantage of this as I validate/debug my code using
my HTML editor's validation feature. But for those people who do not upload their pages
via FTP - such as many Webmasters using free hosting sites, I can see this would be a
tremendous asset. This new tool will also show full header information and all the page's
data.
Though the two options are "Raw" and "Formatted," the testing I did on each of my Websites displayed no differences. Or if they did, I was unable to find any.
Throughput
Ah, this one is probably the most useful to the entire Internet community! I love this new
tool. Whether you access the Internet by modem or the high-speed access modes (I have a
cable modem), knowing the data speed on any connection with a remote host is something we
all like to check now and then. Speeds vary from site to site, and many times when I've
started a download that should be received at around a megabyte a second, I've see the
speed drop to that of a 14.4k modem. If the file is very large, I cancel the operation and
move on.
This one module of WS_Ping Pro Pack may be worth the cost of the entire package of tools for those of us who want the information it provides. If I plan to download a newly purchased software program or want to download some newly arrived shareware or freeware from my favorite source, I can first check with Throughput which will calculate the average bits per second sent over the communications link.
I stopped the sending of packets in this next screenshot because I didn't want 50 of them sent and I neglected to change the option. Also, TCP checks (as my system is set for) will not be as accurate unless this option is disabled. Keep in mind that this is used for quantitatively testing data connections between your computer and a remote system. Tests can vary according to many variables.
Ping
What is "ping?" It's a way to verify connection to a specific host either on a
local network or on the Internet. Requests are sent in the form of a data packet, one
packet per second, and the results are shown for each "echo" reply.
An example of "pinging" would be like standing in your yard then yelling at your nearest neighbor to see if s/he is at home. Pinging a host is checking to see if the host network is up, online, reachable.
Traceroute
Large, massive and complex networks all connected together with routers need a way to
trace and display the actual routes. WS_Ping's Traceroute is for such systems. Note the
options. For EACH remote host or router, Traceroute will display the number of hops from
your computer to the remote host, the average round trip time, the IP address of the
remote host or router, and more.
Check the Help option on the toolbar for step-by-step instructions to initiate this function.
Lookup
A debug tool to query your Internet domain name system for information about the domain
including all of its registered hosts. The Query Type is a drop-down list for specific
options to display.
Finger
This is my favorite! Using the address provided in the Help option, this is what appeared
in my results window. The basic function of Finger is letting you identify and display
information about all users on a host, but it also can request and display any information
contained in the file .plan or the file .project in a
the home directory of a user.
Not all servers have a Finger client. If a server doesn't, then the message displayed will be "Connection not made." This one does have a finger server:
The main purpose of Finger is to obtain infomation about all users on a network host IF supported on the remote host.
Whois
Whenever a Webmaster wants to get a domain name, it's Whois on Internic that will search
for the availability of the name you want from the Network Information Center. For
instance: You've decided to get a domain of your own and you're wondering if the
name is already in use (taken). Type in the search string, and in seconds Internic will
tell you if the name is available.
WS_Ping can give you more options than just a specific name. It will allow a search of a handle, or part of a name, then return a summary for each occurrence of the name. For example, entering in the one word of "Kohl..." (note the trailing dots) found the information about ten domains with my surname in them - in about a second.
LDAP
Networks can use this tool for searching a remote host's LDAP (acronym for Lightweight
Directory Access Protocol) directories and to view the information contained in those
directories. Any email address showing up in the results display can be double-clicked to
launch your email client to send a message to the address you selected.
The sorting order in any column can be toggled between ascending and descending by clicking the column heading. Sorting is only for the standard LDAP attributes.
Quote
Need a "Quote for the Day?" Once again, WS_PING has included a fun module which
is also useful for some Webmasters. This feature works easily without doing anything more
than typing in a fully qualified hostname for a host that contains a quote server.
Ipswitch does contain one and here's a screenshot of the results:
Scan
Just as the name of this tab indicates, Scan can ping/poll a range of IP addresses then
list them. Scan can identify FTP, HTTP, SMTP, etc., running on each host.
Check the Help option for a complete tutorial on using Scan and the steps necessary to set the choices you might want to select.
SNMP
Used for getting the status information from a network on a remote host, SNMP will allow
the user to get the description of the host system, the name of the contact and host
persons, name of the interface and type plus the physical address, the IP connection and
type of route. SNMP is an acronym for "Simple Network Management Protocol."
WinNet
Many people have two or more computers connected using Windows networking. WinNet will
scan your local network and display network resources - domains, hosts, or shared
resources, and workstations. Use the drop-down list to select the options you wish to use.
About
The About screen displays information not only about WS_Ping ProPack, but information
about your local system and network. I'm not on a network, but if I were, information
about the domain, the IP address of domain name servers, the IP address of your default
email gateway, and the netmask for your domain would also be displayed.
No matter how often I launch WS_Ping, the About screen doesn't refresh itself. If there's a way to make it re-read the information, I didn't find it. I launched, closed, rebooted and launched and closed again several times. The figures for the remaining space on my hard drives is inaccurate which I proved by moving around a full GB (gigabyte) from my Drive C, yet WS_Ping still shows the initial readout from my first launching of the program. Actual remaining space on my system for C, D, and E is 3.17 GB; 3.90 GB; and 1.47GB. Therefore, today's figures shouldn't be the same as before I moved those files.
Another inaccuracy: Note the Winsock Status shows "On Win 95." My operating system is Windows 98, but not being a guru of Winsock, I can't comment on the accuracy of this or not. The documentation of WS_Ping plainly states ". . . runs on Windows 95 or Windows NT systems . . ." and I therefore, cannot fault Ipswitch for the information gathered about my Windows 98 system.
A highly reduced screenshot of the program showing all the available tabs [personal info in my About tab is blocked):
Conclusion
The power user can use WS_Ping ProPack to perform queries with fourteen different, yet
integrated, tools for the Internet or for an Intranet. It's the easiest and fastest way
for those who have a need to know as well as the curious home user.
Though the average home user will not need or even use some of the tools, this program is something to have on any system for those times you DO need one of the tools and wish to save valuable time. Why search the Internet for hours on end when WS_Ping ProPack allows you to get the information you want and display it after only a couple of seconds.
Each module in this integrated set of Internet tools is a superbly fast and visual aid to any user of the Internet, and Intranet, or a home network center. Because I cannot downgrade a program for Windows 95 which might not act or react the same as my Windows 98 OS, I am certain WS_Ping ProPack deserves and gets five out of five Go Inside Review Lights.
Copyright © 1999