When a service starts lagging, an API times out, or a client insists that “the Internet is broken”, many ops teams still look only from their own side: internal graphs, firewall logs, traceroute from the DC or office. Useful, yes — but incomplete.

To really understand what’s going on, you need an external point of view. That’s where ping.pe comes in: a free web tool that has quietly become a kind of distributed mini-NOC for system and network administrators.

This article explores how sysadmins can use ping.pe in day-to-day operations: from validating ISP issues and routing problems to generating evidence for carriers, clouds and demanding customers.

Why ping.pe matters when you already have ping, mtr and observability

The key difference is perspective.

Ping.pe runs tests (ping, MTR, TCP, BGP, DNS…) from dozens of locations worldwide, many of them single-homed to Tier-1 or Tier-2 providers. That allows you to:

See whether an issue affects only one region or is global
Determine whether the bottleneck is on the user’s ISP, in transit, at the DC or at the SaaS provider
Check how BGP announcements for a prefix are propagating
Attach neutral, third-party evidence to tickets and incident reports

Instead of debating “is it your fault or mine?”, ping.pe gives you neutral data from the wider internet.

Simple interface, powerful commands

The web interface uses a command + subject format:

<COMMAND> <SUBJECT>
Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

Where the subject is usually an IP, domain or CIDR.
If you omit the command, ping is implied by default.

Typical examples:

example.com → runs ping example.com (full ping + mtr test)
ping 1.2.3.4 → same, but explicit
tcp example.com:443 → tests TCP access to port 443

For sysadmins, the nice part is that it bundles several classic tools (ping, traceroute/MTR, TCP checks, BGP, DNS) into a single, browser-based panel with multiple origins.

Core commands every sysadmin should know

1. `ping` – full connectivity test (ping + MTR)

ping example.com
ping 1.2.3.4
ping6 google.com
Code language: CSS (css)

Runs ping and mtr from multiple nodes:

Min/avg/max latency per location
Packet loss percentages
Full path (hops) to the destination

Great for:

Seeing which regions are affected by degradation
Distinguishing loss near the destination vs loss in intermediate transit
Comparing IPv4 vs IPv6 behaviour (with ping6)

2. `mtr` – focusing on routing and hops

mtr example.com
mtr 8.8.8.8
mtr6 google.com
Code language: CSS (css)

When what you really care about is routing, mtr shows hop-by-hop latency and packet loss.

Common scenario:
a user in one region reports slowness, things look fine from your DC, but mtr from ping.pe reveals congestion or loss in a specific upstream carrier outside your control.

3. `chart` – latency as graphs

chart example.com
chart 1.2.3.4
chart6 example.com
Code language: CSS (css)

Runs pings but presents the results with latency charts, which is very handy when you need to:

Show non-technical people that a connection is unstable
Spot jitter patterns at a glance
Attach readable visuals to incident reports or provider tickets

4. `tcp` / `port` – port checks from outside

tcp example.com:443
port 203.0.113.10:22
tcp6 google.com:443
Code language: CSS (css)

Checks whether a TCP port is reachable from ping.pe’s locations. Perfect for:

Verifying firewall changes or cloud security groups
Seeing whether a port is filtered somewhere along the path
Confirming that a newly deployed service is visible from the public internet

If you omit the port, 80 is assumed by default.

5. `dig` – quick DNS checks

dig example.com
dig example.com:AAAA
dig example.com:MX:1.1.1.1
dig 1.2.3.4:PTR:1.0.0.1
Code language: CSS (css)

Performs DNS lookups for common types (A, AAAA, CNAME, TXT, MX, NS, PTR, CAA), optionally against a specific resolver (default is 8.8.8.8).

Typical use cases:

Checking whether a DNS change has propagated
Comparing answers from different public resolvers
Verifying PTR records for your own or third-party IPs

6. `bgp` – a handy lightweight looking glass

bgp example.com
bgp 198.51.100.0/24
bgp 203.0.113.10

Shows real-time BGP information for domains, IPs or networks.

For teams managing their own prefixes or working with multiple carriers, this helps to:

Validate announcements and preferred routes
Detect propagation issues or suspicious paths
Back up discussions with transit providers using neutral data

Command shortcuts and team workflows

Ping.pe also lets you use subdomains as shortcuts, which is convenient when sharing links in chat or tickets:

https://ping.pe/example.com → ping
https://chart.ping.pe/example.com → chart
https://tcp.ping.pe/example.com:443 → tcp
https://dig.ping.pe/example.com → dig

A realistic workflow in a NOC might look like:

A customer reports issues with api.example.com.
You verify from your DC: ping, curl, app logs. Everything looks fine.
You run chart api.example.com on ping.pe and share the link.
You see packet loss or high latency from specific regions and complement it with mtr.
With those captures, you open a ticket with the affected carrier, cloud or CDN, attaching ping.pe screenshots as proof.

Design philosophy: fewer nodes, better signal

The project’s goal isn’t to collect hundreds of random VPS endpoints. Instead, it focuses on single-homed endpoints connected to Tier-1 and Tier-2 IP transit providers, which gives better diagnostic value:

Less noise from complex multihoming
Routes more representative of “real” internet transit
Clearer visibility into propagation issues and congestion

For sysadmins, that means higher-quality data when escalating to transit providers or large clouds.

Limitations and best practices

Ping.pe is a diagnostic tool, not a monitoring system or load generator:

It does not replace your own observability stack or synthetic probes.
It’s not meant for load testing or amateur DDoS.
Tests are lightweight: standard pings, traceroutes and TCP checks.

Its strength is being an external, independent helper when something doesn’t make sense:

Confirm whether an incident is local, regional or global.
Add neutral evidence to tickets with providers.
Document intermittent routing or latency issues that you can’t reproduce from your own network.

FAQ for sysadmins

Is ping.pe still useful if I already have distributed probes and monitoring?
Yes. Precisely because it’s a third-party service, it’s great for cross-checking your own data and attaching neutral evidence to tickets. And its endpoints, single-homed to major carriers, give you a slightly different (often clearer) view of transit behaviour.

Can I automate queries to ping.pe from scripts or tools?
The interface is designed for interactive, browser-based use, but the command-style URLs make it easy to integrate at a basic level (for example, linking from internal runbooks or incident docs). For continuous monitoring, you should rely on your own probes.

Will tests from ping.pe generate significant traffic against my services?
No. The tests are lightweight diagnostics: basic pings, traceroutes and single TCP connection attempts. It’s nowhere near a stress tool.

Is it useful for IPv6-only environments?
Yes. There are ping6, mtr6, chart6 and tcp6 aliases to force IPv6, so you can diagnose v6-specific issues as well.

For sysadmins and network engineers, ping.pe is one of those tools that deserves a permanent place in the toolbox: lightweight, independent and extremely useful when the network behaves strangely and you need evidence from outside your own infrastructure to show where the problem really lies.