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Asked: 2026-06-04T04:55:34+00:00

I’m using Ruby to run an nmap -sP ping scan on my home network

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I’m using Ruby to run an nmap -sP ping scan on my home network continuously to check for new hosts connecting. A couple of questions:

  • Is there a better way to do this?
  • How effective is -sP at finding new hosts?
  • Will running this over and over on a loop create any problems for my home network which is used just for casual web browsing?
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  1. Editorial Team

    Is there a better way to do this?

    This is good enough if hosts are guaranteed to accept pings; however, sometimes nmap -sP can spew packets faster than wifi networks can deal with them. If you see issues like this, just lower the rate with nmap --scan-delay 0.1 -sP.

    How effective is -sP at finding new hosts?

    As good as ping is; however, fresh Windows installations often block ping by default. You could run nmap -sT -P0 just to be sure you got everything…

    The ultimate host detection scheme is to poll your ethernet switch for new mac-address entries.

    Will running this over and over on a loop create any problems for my home network which is used just for casual web browsing?

    Nope

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