How To Ping using a specific Network Interface (or a specific source IP Address)?

Question

According to this link: using System.Net.NetworkInformation, is there a way to bind a ping to a specific interface? the ICMP cannot be bound to a Network Interface (unlike socket based stuff):

ICMP is not socket based. The ping will be sent to the appropriate port based on the routing table.https://stackoverflow.com/editing-help

But I can't see any proper way for getting the information about the "pinger". At least, in a shell command I could specify the source IP Address but not when I'm using the Ping class.

I tried to perform programmatically some traceroutes to get which IP Addresses are involved in the Ping route but I did not get the IP Address of the Network Interface (I guess it comes from the fact I cannot set the TTL to 0).

Any idea about how figure out which Network Interface is used for a certain ping? (or a way to specify which Network Interface to use for pinging).

You could try using wireshark to inspect the ICMP packets to see the originating IP address. — ManyRootsofAllEvil, Mar 22 '14 at 09:50
@ManyRootsofAllEvil, well I know plenty of ways to do it, but as indicating in the title, I'm trying to do that using C#. — Perret, Mar 22 '14 at 09:56

score 4 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 18 '16 at 20:40

i know this is a old question but i found a solution and want to share it.

I posted it on CodeProject here is the link: http://www.codeproject.com/Questions/828234/Ping-over-specific-Interface-with-IcmpSendEchoEx?loginkey=false

Edited:

So the solution was to use the IcmpSendEcho2Ex function in Iphlpapi.dll.

This function takes the interface ipaddress to determine on which interface the ping should be sended.

The link includes the p invoke and a reply class which wraps the output of the function.

Code from codeproject:

public static PingReply Send(IPAddress srcAddress, IPAddress destAddress, int timeout = 5000, byte[] buffer = null, PingOptions po = null)
{
    if (destAddress == null || destAddress.AddressFamily != AddressFamily.InterNetwork || destAddress.Equals(IPAddress.Any))
        throw new ArgumentException();
 
    //Defining pinvoke args
    var source = srcAddress == null ? 0 : BitConverter.ToUInt32(srcAddress.GetAddressBytes(), 0);
    var destination = BitConverter.ToUInt32(destAddress.GetAddressBytes(), 0);
    var sendbuffer = buffer ?? new byte[] {};
    var options = new Interop.Option
    {
        Ttl = (po == null ? (byte) 255 : (byte) po.Ttl),
        Flags = (po == null ? (byte) 0 : po.DontFragment ? (byte) 0x02 : (byte) 0) //0x02
    };
    var fullReplyBufferSize = Interop.ReplyMarshalLength + sendbuffer.Length; //Size of Reply struct and the transmitted buffer length.

 

    var allocSpace = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(fullReplyBufferSize); // unmanaged allocation of reply size. TODO Maybe should be allocated on stack
    try
    {
        DateTime start = DateTime.Now;
        var nativeCode = Interop.IcmpSendEcho2Ex(
            Interop.IcmpHandle, //_In_      HANDLE IcmpHandle,
            default(IntPtr), //_In_opt_  HANDLE Event,
            default(IntPtr), //_In_opt_  PIO_APC_ROUTINE ApcRoutine,
            default(IntPtr), //_In_opt_  PVOID ApcContext
            source, //_In_      IPAddr SourceAddress,
            destination, //_In_      IPAddr DestinationAddress,
            sendbuffer, //_In_      LPVOID RequestData,
            (short) sendbuffer.Length, //_In_      WORD RequestSize,
            ref options, //_In_opt_  PIP_OPTION_INFORMATION RequestOptions,
            allocSpace, //_Out_     LPVOID ReplyBuffer,
            fullReplyBufferSize, //_In_      DWORD ReplySize,
            timeout //_In_      DWORD Timeout
            );
        TimeSpan duration = DateTime.Now - start;
        var reply = (Interop.Reply) Marshal.PtrToStructure(allocSpace, typeof (Interop.Reply)); // Parse the beginning of reply memory to reply struct

        byte[] replyBuffer = null;
        if (sendbuffer.Length != 0)
        {
            replyBuffer = new byte[sendbuffer.Length];
            Marshal.Copy(allocSpace + Interop.ReplyMarshalLength, replyBuffer, 0, sendbuffer.Length); //copy the rest of the reply memory to managed byte[]
        }
 
        if (nativeCode == 0) //Means that native method is faulted.
            return new PingReply(nativeCode, reply.Status, new IPAddress(reply.Address), duration);
        else
            return new PingReply(nativeCode, reply.Status, new IPAddress(reply.Address), reply.RoundTripTime, replyBuffer);
    }
    finally
    {
        Marshal.FreeHGlobal(allocSpace); //free allocated space
    }
}
 
/// <summary>Interoperability Helper
///     <see cref="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb309069(v=vs.85).aspx" />
/// </summary>
private static class Interop
{
    private static IntPtr? icmpHandle;
    private static int? _replyStructLength;
 
    /// <summary>Returns the application legal icmp handle. Should be close by IcmpCloseHandle
    ///     <see cref="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366045(v=vs.85).aspx" />
    /// </summary>
    public static IntPtr IcmpHandle
    {
        get
        {
            if (icmpHandle == null)
            {
                icmpHandle = IcmpCreateFile();
                //TODO Close Icmp Handle appropiate
            }
 
            return icmpHandle.GetValueOrDefault();
        }
    }
    /// <summary>Returns the the marshaled size of the reply struct.</summary>
    public static int ReplyMarshalLength
    {
        get
        {
            if (_replyStructLength == null)
            {
                _replyStructLength = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof (Reply));
            }
            return _replyStructLength.GetValueOrDefault();
        }
    }
 

    [DllImport("Iphlpapi.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern IntPtr IcmpCreateFile();
    [DllImport("Iphlpapi.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    private static extern bool IcmpCloseHandle(IntPtr handle);
    [DllImport("Iphlpapi.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    public static extern uint IcmpSendEcho2Ex(IntPtr icmpHandle, IntPtr Event, IntPtr apcroutine, IntPtr apccontext, UInt32 sourceAddress, UInt32 destinationAddress, byte[] requestData, short requestSize, ref Option requestOptions, IntPtr replyBuffer, int replySize, int timeout);
    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi)]
    public struct Option
    {
        public byte Ttl;
        public readonly byte Tos;
        public byte Flags;
        public readonly byte OptionsSize;
        public readonly IntPtr OptionsData;
    }
    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi)]
    public struct Reply
    {
        public readonly UInt32 Address;
        public readonly int Status;
        public readonly int RoundTripTime;
        public readonly short DataSize;
        public readonly short Reserved;
        public readonly IntPtr DataPtr;
        public readonly Option Options;
    }
}

[Serializable]
public class PingReply
{
    private readonly byte[] _buffer = null;
    private readonly IPAddress _ipAddress = null;
    private readonly uint _nativeCode = 0;
    private readonly TimeSpan _roundTripTime = TimeSpan.Zero;
    private readonly IPStatus _status = IPStatus.Unknown;
    private Win32Exception _exception;
 

    internal PingReply(uint nativeCode, int replystatus, IPAddress ipAddress, TimeSpan duration)
    {
        _nativeCode = nativeCode;
        _ipAddress = ipAddress;
        if (Enum.IsDefined(typeof (IPStatus), replystatus))
            _status = (IPStatus) replystatus;
    }
    internal PingReply(uint nativeCode, int replystatus, IPAddress ipAddress, int roundTripTime, byte[] buffer)
    {
        _nativeCode = nativeCode;
        _ipAddress = ipAddress;
        _roundTripTime = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(roundTripTime);
        _buffer = buffer;
        if (Enum.IsDefined(typeof (IPStatus), replystatus))
            _status = (IPStatus) replystatus;
    }
 

    /// <summary>Native result from <code>IcmpSendEcho2Ex</code>.</summary>
    public uint NativeCode
    {
        get { return _nativeCode; }
    }
    public IPStatus Status
    {
        get { return _status; }
    }
    /// <summary>The source address of the reply.</summary>
    public IPAddress IpAddress
    {
        get { return _ipAddress; }
    }
    public byte[] Buffer
    {
        get { return _buffer; }
    }
    public TimeSpan RoundTripTime
    {
        get { return _roundTripTime; }
    }
    /// <summary>Resolves the <code>Win32Exception</code> from native code</summary>
    public Win32Exception Exception
    {
        get
        {
            if (Status != IPStatus.Success)
                return _exception ?? (_exception = new Win32Exception((int) NativeCode, Status.ToString()));
            else
                return null;
        }
    }
 
    public override string ToString()
    {
        if (Status == IPStatus.Success)
            return Status + " from " + IpAddress + " in " + RoundTripTime + " ms with " + Buffer.Length + " bytes";
        else if (Status != IPStatus.Unknown)
            return Status + " from " + IpAddress;
        else
            return Exception.Message + " from " + IpAddress;
    }
}

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 26 '21 at 04:41

The solution provided by Christian Sack was exactly what I needed. Here is how I used the code Christian provided to allow the pinging of a destination IP from a given source IP by using the name of the NIC card.

I created a new static class called IpSupport and added the following two helper methods to it. I then added all of Christian's code from his post. The complete class is shown later.

    public static bool PingIpFromNic(string ipToPing, string nicName)
    {
        var sourceIpStr = GetIpOfNicFromName(nicName);

        if (sourceIpStr == "")
        {
            MessageBox.Show($"Unable to find an ip for the nic name of {nicName}");
            return false;
        }

        var p = Send(
            srcAddress: IPAddress.Parse(sourceIpStr),
            destAddress: IPAddress.Parse(ipToPing));

        return p.Status == IPStatus.Success;
    }

    public static string GetIpOfNicFromName(string nicName)
    {
        string ip = "";

        var adapters = NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces();

        foreach (var adapter in adapters)
        {
            if (!string.Equals(adapter.Name, nicName, StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase)) continue;

            foreach (var uni in adapter.GetIPProperties().UnicastAddresses)
            {
                // Return the first one found
                return uni.Address.ToString();
            }
        }

        return ip;
    }

Here is the complete class.

namespace Helpers.ChristianSack
{
public static class IpSupport
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Pass in the IP you want to ping as a string along with the name of the NIC on your machine that
    /// you want to send the ping from.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="ipToPing">The destination IP as a string ex. '10.10.10.1'</param>
    /// <param name="nicName">The name of the NIC ex. 'LECO Hardware'.  Non-case sensitive.</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static bool PingIpFromNic(string ipToPing, string nicName)
    {
        var sourceIpStr = GetIpOfNicFromName(nicName);

        if (sourceIpStr == "")
        {
            MessageBox.Show($"Unable to find an ip for the nic name of {nicName}");
            return false;
        }

        var p = Send(
            srcAddress: IPAddress.Parse(sourceIpStr),
            destAddress: IPAddress.Parse(ipToPing));

        return p.Status == IPStatus.Success;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Pass in the name of a NIC on your machine and this method will return the IPV4 address of it.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="nicName">The name of the NIC you want the IP of ex. 'TE Hardware'</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static string GetIpOfNicFromName(string nicName)
    {
        var adapters = NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces();

        foreach (var adapter in adapters)
        {
            // Ignoring case in NIC name
            if (!string.Equals(adapter.Name, nicName, StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase)) continue;

            foreach (var uni in adapter.GetIPProperties().UnicastAddresses)
            {
                // Return the first one found
                return uni.Address.ToString();
            }
        }

        return "";
    }

    public static PingReply Send(IPAddress srcAddress, IPAddress destAddress,
        int timeout = 5000,
        byte[] buffer = null, PingOptions po = null)
    {
        if (destAddress == null || destAddress.AddressFamily != AddressFamily.InterNetwork ||
            destAddress.Equals(IPAddress.Any))
            throw new ArgumentException();

        //Defining pinvoke args
        var source = srcAddress == null ? 0 : BitConverter.ToUInt32(srcAddress.GetAddressBytes(), 0);

        var destination = BitConverter.ToUInt32(destAddress.GetAddressBytes(), 0);

        var sendBuffer = buffer ?? new byte[] { };

        var options = new Interop.Option
        {
            Ttl = (po == null ? (byte)255 : (byte)po.Ttl),
            Flags = (po == null ? (byte)0 : po.DontFragment ? (byte)0x02 : (byte)0) //0x02
        };

        var fullReplyBufferSize =
            Interop.ReplyMarshalLength +
            sendBuffer.Length; //Size of Reply struct and the transmitted buffer length.

        var allocSpace =
            Marshal.AllocHGlobal(
                fullReplyBufferSize); // unmanaged allocation of reply size. TODO Maybe should be allocated on stack
        try
        {
            var start = DateTime.Now;
            var nativeCode = Interop.IcmpSendEcho2Ex(
                Interop.IcmpHandle,             //_In_      HANDLE IcmpHandle,
                Event: default(IntPtr),         //_In_opt_  HANDLE Event,
                apcRoutine: default(IntPtr),    //_In_opt_  PIO_APC_ROUTINE ApcRoutine,
                apcContext: default(IntPtr),    //_In_opt_  PVOID ApcContext
                source,                         //_In_      IPAddr SourceAddress,
                destination,                    //_In_      IPAddr DestinationAddress,
                sendBuffer,                     //_In_      LPVOID RequestData,
                (short)sendBuffer.Length,       //_In_      WORD RequestSize,
                ref options,                    //_In_opt_  PIP_OPTION_INFORMATION RequestOptions,
                replyBuffer: allocSpace,        //_Out_     LPVOID ReplyBuffer,
                fullReplyBufferSize,            //_In_      DWORD ReplySize,
                timeout                         //_In_      DWORD Timeout
            );

            var duration = DateTime.Now - start;

            var reply = (Interop.Reply)Marshal.PtrToStructure(allocSpace,
                typeof(Interop.Reply)); // Parse the beginning of reply memory to reply struct

            byte[] replyBuffer = null;
            if (sendBuffer.Length != 0)
            {
                replyBuffer = new byte[sendBuffer.Length];
                Marshal.Copy(allocSpace + Interop.ReplyMarshalLength, replyBuffer, 0,
                    sendBuffer.Length); //copy the rest of the reply memory to managed byte[]
            }

            if (nativeCode == 0) //Means that native method is faulted.
                return new PingReply(nativeCode, reply.Status,
                    new IPAddress(reply.Address), duration);
            else
                return new PingReply(nativeCode, reply.Status,
                    new IPAddress(reply.Address), reply.RoundTripTime,
                    replyBuffer);
        }
        finally
        {
            Marshal.FreeHGlobal(allocSpace); //free allocated space
        }
    }

    
    /// <summary>Interoperability Helper
    ///     <see cref="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb309069(v=vs.85).aspx" />
    /// </summary>
    public static class Interop
    {
        private static IntPtr? _icmpHandle;
        private static int? _replyStructLength;

        /// <summary>Returns the application legal icmp handle. Should be close by IcmpCloseHandle
        ///     <see cref="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366045(v=vs.85).aspx" />
        /// </summary>
        public static IntPtr IcmpHandle
        {
            get
            {
                if (_icmpHandle == null)
                {
                    _icmpHandle = IcmpCreateFile();
                    //TODO Close Icmp Handle appropriate
                }

                return _icmpHandle.GetValueOrDefault();
            }
        }

        /// <summary>Returns the the marshaled size of the reply struct.</summary>
        public static int ReplyMarshalLength
        {
            get
            {
                if (_replyStructLength == null)
                {
                    _replyStructLength = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(Reply));
                }
                return _replyStructLength.GetValueOrDefault();
            }
        }


        [DllImport("Iphlpapi.dll", SetLastError = true)]
        private static extern IntPtr IcmpCreateFile();
        [DllImport("Iphlpapi.dll", SetLastError = true)]
        private static extern bool IcmpCloseHandle(IntPtr handle);
        [DllImport("Iphlpapi.dll", SetLastError = true)]
        public static extern uint IcmpSendEcho2Ex(IntPtr icmpHandle, IntPtr Event, IntPtr apcRoutine, IntPtr apcContext, uint sourceAddress, UInt32 destinationAddress, byte[] requestData, short requestSize, ref Option requestOptions, IntPtr replyBuffer, int replySize, int timeout);
        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi)]
        public struct Option
        {
            public byte Ttl;
            public readonly byte Tos;
            public byte Flags;
            public readonly byte OptionsSize;
            public readonly IntPtr OptionsData;
        }
        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi)]
        public struct Reply
        {
            public readonly UInt32 Address;
            public readonly int Status;
            public readonly int RoundTripTime;
            public readonly short DataSize;
            public readonly short Reserved;
            public readonly IntPtr DataPtr;
            public readonly Option Options;
        }
    }

    [Serializable]
    public class PingReply
    {
        private Win32Exception _exception;

        internal PingReply(uint nativeCode, int replyStatus, IPAddress ipAddress, TimeSpan duration)
        {
            NativeCode = nativeCode;
            IpAddress = ipAddress;
            if (Enum.IsDefined(typeof(IPStatus), replyStatus))
                Status = (IPStatus)replyStatus;
        }
        internal PingReply(uint nativeCode, int replyStatus, IPAddress ipAddress, int roundTripTime, byte[] buffer)
        {
            NativeCode = nativeCode;
            IpAddress = ipAddress;
            RoundTripTime = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(roundTripTime);
            Buffer = buffer;
            if (Enum.IsDefined(typeof(IPStatus), replyStatus))
                Status = (IPStatus)replyStatus;
        }

        /// <summary>Native result from <code>IcmpSendEcho2Ex</code>.</summary>
        public uint NativeCode { get; }

        public IPStatus Status { get; } = IPStatus.Unknown;

        /// <summary>The source address of the reply.</summary>
        public IPAddress IpAddress { get; }

        public byte[] Buffer { get; }

        public TimeSpan RoundTripTime { get; } = TimeSpan.Zero;

        public Win32Exception Exception
        {
            get
            {
                if (Status != IPStatus.Success)
                    return _exception ?? (_exception = new Win32Exception((int)NativeCode, Status.ToString()));
                else
                    return null;
            }
        }

        public override string ToString()
        {
            if (Status == IPStatus.Success)
                return Status + " from " + IpAddress + " in " + RoundTripTime + " ms with " + Buffer.Length + " bytes";
            else if (Status != IPStatus.Unknown)
                return Status + " from " + IpAddress;
            else
                return Exception.Message + " from " + IpAddress;
        }
    }
}
}

Here is a way to get all the names of the NIC cards on your machine along with the their IP addresses

    var adapters = NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces();

        foreach(var adapter in adapters)
        {
            cmbNicNames.Items.Add(adapter.Name);

            foreach (var uni in adapter.GetIPProperties().UnicastAddresses)
            {
                Debug.WriteLine($" IPv4 : {uni.Address}");
                cmbSourceIP.Items.Add(uni.Address);
            }
        }

Here is the call to Christian's code.

var bSuccess = Helpers.ChristianSack.IpSupport.PingIpFromNic("10.10.10.1", "TE Hardware");

How To Ping using a specific Network Interface (or a specific source IP Address)?

2 Answers2

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