What command would you issue from the command prompt to test whether your computer has connectivity to the gateway?
a. Ping 192.168.254.254
b. Ping 192.168.256.254
c. Ping 192.168.0.256 /t
d. Ping 255.255.255.255 /t
The correct answer and explanation is:
The correct answer is a. Ping 192.168.254.254.
To test whether a computer has connectivity to its gateway, the ping command is used to send ICMP Echo Request packets to a specified IP address. This helps determine if the computer can communicate with the destination address, which, in this case, would be the gateway.
The IP address 192.168.254.254 is commonly used as a default gateway address in many private networks. By pinging this address, the computer checks whether it can reach the gateway, which acts as the access point to other networks, including the internet. If the ping is successful, the computer can communicate with the gateway and, by extension, other network resources.
Here’s why the other options are incorrect:
- b. Ping 192.168.256.254: The IP address 192.168.256.254 is invalid because the last octet (256) exceeds the maximum value allowed in an IP address (255). Therefore, this address would not respond to a ping request.
- c. Ping 192.168.0.256 /t: Similarly, 192.168.0.256 is an invalid address because the last number (256) is outside the allowable range for an IP address. Also, the /t flag is used to make the ping request continuous, but the address itself is not valid, so it would not work.
- d. Ping 255.255.255.255 /t: The IP address 255.255.255.255 is a special broadcast address used to send messages to all devices on the local network. While this could test if the computer can reach other devices on the network, it is not used to test connectivity specifically to the gateway. The /t flag would make the ping continuous, but it is not the right approach for testing the gateway.
By pinging the correct gateway address, the system can confirm whether it has a direct connection to the network gateway, which is essential for routing traffic to external networks.