$ Linux Command

Network

ping6

Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to IPv6 network hosts.

ipv6pingicmpnetworkconnectivitydiagnostic

Additional Notes

ping6 is the IPv6-specific version of the ping command. It sends ICMPv6 Echo Request packets to an IPv6 address and waits for ICMPv6 Echo Reply packets, measuring round-trip time, packet loss, and network reliability.

On many modern Linux distributions, the ping command handles both IPv4 and IPv6 automatically. When given an IPv6 address, ping uses IPv6. However, ping6 remains available on some systems for explicit IPv6 testing and in situations where the unified ping command is not configured for IPv6.

Syntax

ping6 [options] [hostname-or-IPv6-address]

Parameters

  • hostname-or-IPv6-address: The IPv6 address or hostname to ping.

Common Options

  • -c count: Stop after sending a specified number of packets.
  • -i interval: Wait interval seconds between packets (default 1).
  • -I interface: Source interface or source address (e.g., eth0 or a link-local address).
  • -s packetsize: Specify the number of data bytes to send (default 56).
  • -t ttl: Set the IPv6 hop limit.
  • -W timeout: Time to wait for a response, in seconds.
  • -n: Numeric output only; do not resolve hostnames.
  • -q: Quiet output; show only summary lines.
  • -v: Verbose output.
  • -4/-6: Force IPv4 or IPv6 (on unified ping).

Examples

ping6 ::1

Ping the IPv6 loopback address (localhost).

ping6 -c 4 2001:db8::1

Send 4 pings to an IPv6 address.

ping6 -I eth0 ff02::1

Ping the IPv6 all-nodes multicast address on a specific interface.

ping6 -c 10 -i 0.2 ipv6.google.com

Send 10 pings to google over IPv6, 0.2 seconds apart.

ping6 -n 2001:4860:4860::8888

Ping Google's IPv6 DNS server without hostname resolution.

Practical Notes

  • On modern distributions, just use ping with an IPv6 address. It detects the address family automatically.
  • Some systems require ping6 to be installed separately from the iputils-ping or iputils package.
  • Link-local IPv6 addresses (starting with fe80::) require a scope ID: ping6 fe80::1%eth0.
  • The -I flag is important when pinging link-local addresses to specify the egress interface.
  • ICMPv6 is fundamental to IPv6 neighbor discovery and router advertisement protocols, not just ping.
  • Firewalls may block ICMPv6 Echo Requests. Some networks allow ICMPv4 echo but block ICMPv6 echo.