NAME

psping − POSTSCRIPT language version of ping(8C) that measures roundtrip packets sent to a NeWS server running on any valid network host. 
 

SYNOPSIS

psping hostname
[ -display host:display ] [ -sleep seconds ] [ -usage  ]
 

DESCRIPTION

Psping pops up an XView window, on a specified X display, that displays statistical output of roundtrip POSTSCRIPT language requests to the NeWS server running on the network host hostname.  Command buttons Start and Stop and Quit display on the control panel. 

The name of the specified NeWS server display in the panel in the format:

address.2000;hostname

where address is the decimal address of the network host, 2000 is the portnumber, and hostname is the name of the network host. 

The local host must be allowed to make connections to the specified NeWS server, which can be done via newshost(1) or xhost(1), if the security mechanism in the remote NeWS server has not been disabled.  The variable /NetSecurityWanted (in the NeWS systemdict) may be set to false to disable the security mechanism. 

If access is denied, the following error message will display:

psping: Network access denied by: address.port;hostname
 

The control panel currently contains the following command buttons:

Begins a session of roundtrip requests to the NeWS server.  The roundtrip information will be displayed in the panel in the format:

host:  received #, time = #. ms

where the first recieved number is a counter of the roundtrip requests in the current session, and the second time number is time in milliseconds that the roundtrip request took. 
 

Ends the current session of requests to the NeWS server.  The session statistical information will be displayed in the panel in the format:

host statistics: # messages, round-trip (ms) min/avg/max = #/#/#

where the first number is total number of roundtrip requests in the current session, and the last three numbers are the minimum, average, and maximum times in milliseconds of the roundtrip requests in the current session. 
 

Quit Closes all windows currently displayed and exits the program. 
 

COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS

hostname Send roundtrip requests to the NeWS server running on this network host.  Valid host names are those found in the network host data base.  There is no default value; this must be specified on the command line.  If the NeWS server on the network host cannot be contacted, the following error message will display, and the program will exit. 

psping: Cannot contact NeWS server: address.port;hostname
 

−display display
Specifies the X display.  If the display is not specified, psping first attempts to use the DISPLAY environment variable, and following that, attempts to open the display on the local host.  If the display cannot be opened,  the following error message will display, and the program will exit.

psping: Cannot contact X display: displayname
 

−usage Displays help information. 
 

ENVIRONMENT

DISPLAY − the default display to use.   

SEE ALSO

X11(7), ping(8C), newshost(1), xhost(1)

AUTHOR

Martha Zimet, mzimet@Sun.COM
 

OpenWindows Version 3  —  Last change:  7 February 1991