Ping is a computer network management software utility, which is used to find the availability of a host on an Internet Protocol (IP) network. Functionally systems in a Network, can be detected, using Ping Command.
The Ping function is based on sending ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) Echo Request packets to a central Computer destination and waiting for ICMP Echo Reply messages.
TTL values are those that specify the amount of time a resolver will cache a DNS query before it expires and another one needs to be done.
These TTL values are different for each operating system and so they can help locate them through Ping Command. You can see the various TTL values for operating systems here.
How can operating systems be detected via Ping Command?
First, the traceroute command should be executed to determine the hops between the target and the destination, as shown in the example below:
In this case, the total number of hops is 11
Then we execute Ping Command with the desired Domain:
Here we see that the TTL value is TTL = 53. By finding the sum of the TTL value and the number of hops (53 + 11 = 64), we can figure out what the operating system is. In this case it is a machine running Linux. This is the process by which operating systems can be detected using Ping Command.
