Pinging is a way to tell if a computer is responding on the network. It also can be used to tell which IP address your website lives on.
When you ping a computer, you need to know either the direct IP or domain name.
To perform a ping in Linux-
From the command line type:
ping yourdomain.com and press the enter/return key
To perform a ping in Mac-
Use the program macping or you should be able to use the terminal program and type:
ping yourdomain.com then press the enter/return key
To perform a ping in Windows XP-
Go to the "run" program from the start menu. type "cmd" and a black screen will appear. Type in:
ping yourdomain.com then press the enter/return key.
"yourdomain.com" is of course an example and you will replace this with your actual target domain.
The result should be an IP address and some other useful data.