Troubleshooting scenarios when ping localhost fails

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Troubleshooting scenarios when ping localhost fails

In this article, we will explore different scenarios where and all the ‘ping localhost’ fails

Scene 1: invalid entries in /etc/hosts

To explain this scenario, I voluntarily made incorrect entry in the ‘/etc/hosts’ file as below,

[root@ centos7-test-01 ~]# cat /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 localhost_error

[root@ centos7-test-01 ~]#

And I have modified ‘/etc/nsswitch.conf’ file for ‘hosts’ entry as below

[root@ centos7-test-01 ~]# cat /etc/nsswitch.conf  | grep -i hosts | grep -v ^#

hosts:      files

[root@ centos7-test-01  ~]#

Now we are getting “Name or service not known” error message when we ‘ping localhost’ as below,

[root@ centos7-test-01 ~]# ping localhost

ping: localhost: Name or service not known

[root@ centos7-test-01 ~]#

Scene 2: net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_all = 1 in /etc/sysctl.conf

When we set the value ‘net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_all’  to 1 in sysctl, server will disable all ping replies.

Current value:

[root@centos7-test-01 ~]# sysctl -a | grep -i icmp_echo_ignore_all

net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_all = 0

 [root@centos7-test-01 ~]#

To set it to 1, [root@centos7-test-01 sysctl.d]# vi /etc/sysctl.conf

To make it persistent and effect, execute ‘sysctl -p’

[root@centos7-test-01 sysctl.d]# sysctl -p

net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_all = 1

[root@centos7-test-01 sysctl.d]# sysctl -a | grep -i icmp_echo_ignore_all

net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_all = 1

 [root@centos7-test-01 sysctl.d]#

Now, we will try ping localhost and see the output,

[root@centos7-test-01 sysctl.d]# ping localhost

PING localhost (127.0.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.

^C

— localhost ping statistics —

6 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 4999ms

[root@centos7-test-01 sysctl.d]#

Scene 3: Checking iptables firewall rules

With below, iptables rules, we can block icmp traffic

[root@centos7-test-01 ~]# iptables -A INPUT –proto icmp -j DROP

[root@centos7-test-01 ~]#

[root@centos7-test-01 ~]# iptables -L

Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT)

target     prot opt source               destination

DROP       icmp —  anywhere             anywhere

Now we can test ‘ping localhost’

[root@centos7-test-01 ~]# ping localhost

PING localhost (127.0.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.

^C

— localhost ping statistics —

4 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 3000ms

[root@centos7-test-01 ~]#

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