what is vmkping

[vmwaredude1]

Hi,

can anybody please tell me what is vmkping and how to use the options in that command ?

Thanks

[rpartmann]

hi,

vmkping sends a icmp_echo_request over the vmkernel interface.

-c how many packets

-i timeout

-s packte size

regards,

reinhard.

[mcowger]

vmkping issues pings from the vmotion interface (as opposed to the service console's vswif interface if you were to do a regular ping). It can be use to verify connectivity between the kernel interface and other hosts or IP storage arrays.

--Matt

[TomHowarth · Accepted solution]

vmkping stands for vmkernelping and uses the vmkernel ip rather than the service console ip address to send ping packets.

usage is as follows

vmkping -<option> address

-c how many packets

-i timeout

-s packte size

Tom Howarth

VMware Communities User Moderator

[JonRoderick]

I know this is an old post but...why does using vmkping fix problems with HA on ESX hosts (as pointed out in other forum posts)?

Ta.

[maishsk]

I think for two reasons.

1. it can firstly test if the connectivity between the vmkernel devices works or it doesn't..

2. sometimes just the reconnection of vmkiping to the other vmkernel device seems to solve some issues.

Go figure!!

Maish

Systems Administrator & Virtualization Architect

[palkot]

If I have multiple vmkernel interfaces on my ESX, how would I know which one "vmkping" is using?

Lets say I have 2 vmkernel interfaces on my ESX. vmk0 and vmk1.

I guess I could use -I option to specify which interface to use for sending the ICMP packets?