LAN activity status query

[CurlyWhirly]

When I run the ping command from the RUN console I get the following text:

Pinging website [xx.xx.xx.xx] with 32 bytes of data:

Is 32 bytes of data a packet and if so is this standard internet protocol?

What I mean is that when I left-click my LAN icon (below):

I get this:

I know that I can use a bandwidth monitoring utility but just out of curiosity if I was to multiply the packet amounts by 32 bytes would that be the bandwidth that I have used?

Also in XP I notice that the data can be displayed in bytes or packets (as shown in the yellow notification area in my screenshot above) so is there an option to toggle between the 2 different ways of displaying the data or is the way in which XP displays it decided by the ISP?

[Chris]

There isn't just 'your' data in a packet, there are a few other very important pieces of information that have to be present.

Source IP

Destination IP

TTL

MAC Address [more so on LANS]

Port Number

TCP/UDP [which ever one]

So if anything the ping is just the basics of getting the ping out and where it should come back to, plus the TTL.

However you can also view bytes recieved through perfmon.msc in XP.

As for the Packets/Byte information. I think that is the driver of your NIC or modem in your case.

:P

:P

[CurlyWhirly]

There isn't just 'your' data in a packet, there are a few other very important pieces of information that have to be present.

So there's more to it than I first thought then?

Even though a packet holds lots of information is there a standard size or can the size of packets vary?

However you can also view bytes recieved through perfmon.msc in XP.

I never go into this as it is a bit over my head to be honest :huh:

As for the Packets/Byte information. I think that is the driver of your NIC or modem in your case.

I thought as much but I was just hoping that somewhere there was a way of getting XP to display the info in bytes - apparently not.

By the way, in your screenshot would I be right in thinking that 100 Mbps is the maximum speed that your router will support and not your actual speed? :0

[Chris]

Yup. :P

[CurlyWhirly]

Yup. :P

I thought so :D

Any idea on my query of "Even though a packet holds lots of information is there a standard size or can the size of packets vary?"

Please :hi:

[Chris]

I wouldn't know on that one.

[CurlyWhirly]

I wouldn't know on that one.

Thanks for trying anyway.

[Scarecrow Man]

Yup. :P

I thought so :D

Any idea on my query of "Even though a packet holds lots of information is there a standard size or can the size of packets vary?"

Please :hi:

This question is much more complicated than you realize...

Here is a site that might make some sense of it.

http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-1035-1041907.html

[CurlyWhirly]

This question is much more complicated than you realize...

Yes I see what you mean now after reading the article link.

I have heard of TCP before but never UDP which sounds a lot less reliable.

Would I be right in thinking that UDP isn't used much nowadays because of the unreliability?

When I went into my network connections properties I noticed that the Internet Protocol TCP/IP option was enabled so does this mean that only TCP packets are shown in my received/sent statistics as shown in my screenshot in post #1 ?

After reading the article I now know that actual packet size can vary between 64 to 1,500 characters.

I assume that to find the value in bytes you would divide by 8 so in the first example 64 characters is the same as 8 bytes?

Thanks for the link Scarecrow Man :)