How to Perform a Ping Test

A Ping Test will determine if an IP address or hostname is online as well as the latency between your computer and the remote address. It's important that you have a low ping time to any game server you have, as a high ping can result in lag caused by increased latency, or delayed gameplay.

You first need to understand how to open a console window. You can find a link to a related article below/in the sidebar, which will explain how to do this. Once your console is open, you will need to send the following command:

ping <IP-ADDRESS>

Make sure you replace <IP-ADDRESS> with the IP address of the IP or hostname you are trying to test. For example, if your server's hostname was test.nodecraft.gg and you wanted to perform a ping test, you would input the following:

ping test.nodecraft.gg

When your ping test is completed, you will see output similar to the following:

Pinging test.nodecraft.gg [173.236.8.83] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 173.236.8.83: bytes=32 time=143ms TTL=47
Reply from 173.236.8.83: bytes=32 time=148ms TTL=47
Reply from 173.236.8.83: bytes=32 time=144ms TTL=47
Reply from 173.236.8.83: bytes=32 time=142ms TTL=47

Ping statistics for 173.236.8.83:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 142ms, Maximum = 148ms, Average = 144ms

Be sure to notice the time reported by these ping tests. In this example, the longest time it took to ping test.nodecraft.gg was 148ms. The smaller the number, the better, and for game servers, you ideally want this number to be around 120ms or lower, depending on your location, for optimal gameplay. We offer various locations and recommend choosing a location closest to you for the lowest latency.