Ping networks and find out what networks address are available

[Horacio Gutierrez]

Hello,

Is it possilbe to ping a network address to find out if that network address exist on the network or it has been advertise from any router or switch.  Also, what is the easiest way to determine what subnets have not been created and advertise on the network.  For example say I want create network 10.77.2.0  with subnet mask 255.255.255.248 how can I determince quickly if its not been created or advertise by any other switch or router on the network?

Thanks,

[Reza Sharifi]

Usually if you log in to one or multiple core switches/routers on the network and do a "sh ip route 10.77.2.0 255.255.255.248" it will tel you if the subnet is being advertised. In addition, You can also try pinging a few IP addresses in that subnet e.g the gateway to make sure the subnet is not being used.

HTH