Loopback IP or WAN IP to check issues ?

[Anup Sasikumar]

Hello All , 

When checking if you have any packet drops to a link , Should we ping to WAN IP or Loopback IP ( in a typical PE-CE setup ) ?
Does it make any difference ?

Please help !

Anup

[Richard Burts · Accepted solution]

Anup

If you are checking for packet drops then it is a matter of how many packets are received compared to how many are sent. I do not see that it would make any difference whether you were pinging the connected interface or a loopback, other than the fact that with pinging the connected interface the route would automatically be in the routing table and with the loopback you would have to create a route. But once the route is created then the behavior would be the same whether it was connected interface or loopback.

HTH

Rick