Saint Louis University

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

LABORATORY MANUAL

ACTIVITY NO. 8
BASIC NETWORKING COMMANDS

ACTIVITY OBJECTIVE:
At the end of the activity, the students should be to use of common networking commands and
interpret the results.

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT NEEDED:

PC with internet connection

LABORATORY ACTIVITIES:
1. Research on the following networking commands:
 hostname
 ipconfig
 ipconfig /release
 ipconfig /renew
 ipconfig /flushdns
 ping
 tracert
 nslookup
 netstat -e
 arp -a
2. Type each of the networking commands at the command prompt and take a screenshot of the
displayed results.
Submit a report that includes:
(a) Syntax for the networking command
(b) Use of the networking command
(c) Screenshot of the displayed result in using the networking command.
(d) Interpretation of the displayed results.

DATA AND RESULTS:

1. Network command syntax: hostname

hostname command is used to obtain the DNS (Domain Name System) name and set the
system’s hostname or NIS (Network Information System) domain name. A hostname is a name

ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT ECE 521FL: DATA COMMUNICATI0NS LABORATORY

 Saint Louis University
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

LABORATORY MANUAL

which is given to a computer and it attached to the network. Its main purpose is to uniquely
identify over a network.

The interpretation of the displayed result “LAPTOP-D9PIHUQH” is a name given to the

device to identify itself in a network.

2. Network command syntax: ipconfig

In computing, ipconfig (internet protocol configuration) is a console application of some

operating systems that displays all current TCP/IP network configuration values and refresh
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Domain Name System (DNS) settings.

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 Saint Louis University
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

LABORATORY MANUAL

The displayed result shows the basic configuration of the device’s IP (internet protocol) which
includes the IP addresses, network adapter connected, and the default gateway.

3. Network command syntax: ipconfig /release

The command is used to immediately give up its lease by sending the server a DHCP
release notification which updates the server's status information and marks the old client's IP
address as "available".

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SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

LABORATORY MANUAL

The displayed results show that the device has been disconnected from the server and the IP
used before disconnection will be marked available at the server for others to use in the future.

4. Network command syntax: ipconfig /renew

The command is used to request an IP address from the sevrer and reconnect the device to
the network.

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SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

LABORATORY MANUAL

The displayed results show that the device has been reconnected to the network and has
received an IP address from the server.

5. Network command syntax: ipconfig /flushdns

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SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

LABORATORY MANUAL

The command is used to used to clear the Domain Name System (DNS) cache to ensure
future requests use fresh DNS information by forcing hostnames to be resolved again from
scratch.

The displayed result shows that the DNS cache was successfully cleared.

6. Network command syntax: ping, ping -t, ping -a, ping -n count, ping -l size, ping -f, ping -i
TTL, ping -v TOS, ping -r count, ping -s count, ping -j host-list, ping -k host-list, ping -w
timeout, ping -R, ping -s srcaddr, ping -c compartment, ping -p, ping -4, ping -6.

Ping is a computer network administration software utility used to test the reachability of a
host on an Internet Protocol (IP) network. It is available for virtually all operating systems that
have networking capability, including most embedded network administration software. Ping
measures the round-trip time for messages sent from the originating host to a destination
computer that are echoed back to the source. Ping operates by sending Internet Control
Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request packets to the target host and waiting for an ICMP
echo reply. The program reports errors, packet loss, and a statistical summary of the results,
typically including the minimum, maximum, the mean round-trip times, and standard deviation
of the mean.

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The displayed results show the different syntaxes added to the “ping” syntax to determine specific
parameters like, but not limted to, the Number of echo requests, buffer size, the actual ping in
milliseconds, type of service, and the timeout in milliseconds.

7. Network command syntax: tracert, tracert -d, tracert -h maximum_hops, tracert -j host-list,
tracert -w timeout, tracert -R, tracert -S srcaddr, tracert -4, tracert -6.

The tracert command is a Command Prompt command that's used to show several details
about the path that a packet takes from the computer or device to whatever destination
specified. The tracert diagnostic utility determines the route to a destination by sending Internet
Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo packets to the destination. In these packets,
TRACERT uses varying IP Time-To-Live (TTL) values. Because each router along the path is

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required to decrement the packet's TTL by at least 1 before forwarding the packet, the TTL is
effectively a hop counter. When the TTL on a packet reaches zero (0), the router sends an
ICMP "Time Exceeded" message back to the source computer.

The displayed results show the different syntaxes to be added after the command “tracert” to
determine different parameters like, but not limited to, the maximum number of hops, timeout,
trace round-trip for IPv6, and source address.

8. Network command syntax: nsloopkup

nslookup is a network administration command-line tool available in many computer

operating systems for querying the Domain Name System (DNS) to obtain domain name or IP
address mapping, or other DNS records. The name "nslookup" means "name server lookup".
nslookup operates in interactive or non-interactive mode. When used interactively by invoking
it without arguments or when the first argument is - (minus sign) and the second argument is a
hostname or Internet address of a name server, the user issues parameter configurations or
requests when presented with the nslookup prompt (>). When no arguments are given, then the
command queries the default server. The - (minus sign) invokes subcommands which are
specified on the command line and should precede nslookup commands. In non-interactive
mode, i.e. when the first argument is a name or Internet address of the host being searched,
parameters and the query are specified as command line arguments in the invocation of the
program. The non-interactive mode searches the information for a specified host using the
default name server.

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The displayed results show the default server that the device is connected to and the gateway
address of the server.

9. Network command syntax: netstat -e

In computing, netstat (network statistics) is a command-line network utility that displays

network connections for Transmission Control Protocol (both incoming and outgoing), routing
tables, and a number of network interface (network interface controller or software-defined
network interface) and network protocol statistics. The syntax netstat- e is used to Displays
ethernet statistics, such as the number of bytes and packets sent and received.

The displayed results show the bytes and packets received and sent from or through the
ethernet interface respectively.

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10. Network command syntax: arp -a

Using the arp command allows the user to display and modify the Address Resolution
Protocol (ARP) cache. An ARP cache is a simple mapping of IP addresses to MAC addresses.
Each time a computer’s TCP/IP stack uses ARP to determine the Media Access Control (MAC)
address for an IP address, it records the mapping in the ARP cache so that future ARP lookups go
faster. The extended syntax, arp -a, is used to display entries of internet addresses along with their
physical addresses and the IP connective type.

The displayed resulsts show entries of different internet addresses from the device interfaced
address along with their corresponding physical address and connection type.

ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT ECE 521FL: DATA COMMUNICATI0NS LABORATORY

 Saint Louis University
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

LABORATORY MANUAL

OBSERVATIONS:
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ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT ECE 521FL: DATA COMMUNICATI0NS LABORATORY

 Saint Louis University
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

LABORATORY MANUAL

CONCLUSIONS:
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ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT ECE 521FL: DATA COMMUNICATI0NS LABORATORY