# How can I enable pings on my VMs?

**URL:** <https://community.cloudbank.org/t/how-can-i-enable-pings-on-my-vms/143>\
**Category:** General Cloud\
**Created:** [February 23, 2023, 6:49pm UTC](https://community.cloudbank.org/t/how-can-i-enable-pings-on-my-vms/143 "2023-02-23T18:49:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![NLAlterman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.cloudbank.org/nlalterman/32/11_2.png) [@NLAlterman](https://community.cloudbank.org/u/NLAlterman)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 6:49pm UTC](https://community.cloudbank.org/t/how-can-i-enable-pings-on-my-vms/143/1 "2023-02-23T18:49:51Z")

</div>

The terminal ‘ping’ command is often used to see whether or not a server at a given IP address is running and responsive. This is accomplished by sending data packets using the IP/ICMP protocol between your computer and the destination server (which then mirrors them back again).

Most clouds, however, block inbound ICMP packets as a security measure. If you would like to be able to ping your VMs, you need to edit the VM’s external firewall to allow receiving of ICMP type 8 packets.

What follows is an example of how to do so on Microsoft Azure, though the process will look very similar regardless of what cloud you are using:

- Click the name of the VM you want to allow ICMP traffic to:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/cloudbank1/original/1X/1ed96af7a884475a8a4ebaa911ed82d32e50b971.png)

- Click the ‘Networking’ item on the left menu:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/cloudbank1/original/1X/a2d0922aa9334e9b1c7576878cee21f3265c0ca3.png)

- Click the blue ‘Add inbound port rule’ button:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/cloudbank1/original/1X/36af9bd5c353a6280ec7351f10d4b41161127f72.png)

- In the pane that slides in on the right, select ‘ICMP’ from protocol and click ‘Add’ to allow all ICMP traffic:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/cloudbank1/original/1X/84d03225230d5660ef75d6a73aa29813792327b1.png)

- Replace the “\*” in both the ‘Source port ranges’ and ‘Destination port ranges’ fields with the value 8. You can also skip this step, to allow _all_ ICMP traffic to reach your VM.