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: Packets to network hosts [Contents][Index]
Ping will report duplicate and damaged packets. Duplicate packets should never occur, and seem to be caused by inappropriate link-level retransmissions. Duplicates may occur in many situations and are rarely (if ever) a good sign, although the presence of low levels of duplicates may not always be cause for alarm.
Damaged packets are obviously serious cause for alarm and often indicate broken hardware somewhere in the ping packet’s path (in the network or in the hosts).