Tracert/traceroute

tracert/traceroute - how it works explained best

tracert/traceroute is the utility in windows and other operating system to understand the internet connection problems, if you’re having trouble connecting to a website, traceroute can tell you where the problem is. It can also help visualize the path traffic takes between your computer and a web server.


C:\Users\srohila>tracert google.com

Tracing route to google.com [216.58.220.206]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms     3 ms  192.168.0.1
  2     4 ms     2 ms     2 ms  43.239.204.218
  3     8 ms     5 ms    10 ms  43.239.204.217
  4     5 ms     5 ms     5 ms  14.141.116.165.static-Delhi.vsnl.net.in [14.141.116.165]
  5     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  6     4 ms     4 ms     5 ms  14.140.113.238.static-Delhi-vsnl.net.in [14.140.113.238]
  7     4 ms     5 ms     4 ms  108.170.238.13
  8     5 ms     4 ms     5 ms  del01s08-in-f14.1e100.net [216.58.220.206]

Trace complete.

C:\Users\srohila>


When we connect to a website the traffic has to go through several intermediaries before reaching the website. The traffic goes through your local router, your Internet service provider’s routers, onto larger networks, and so on.


1. It shows the all intermediate hops (Routers)

2.  It also displays the delays that occur at each stop

f you’re having issues reaching a website and that website is working properly, it’s possible there’s a problem somewhere on the path between your computer and the website’s servers. Traceroute would show you where that problem is.

The format of each line is as follows:

Hop RTT1 RTT2 RTT3 Domain Name [IP Address]

• Hop: Whenever a packet is passed between a router, this is referred to as a “hop.” For example, in the output above, we can see that it takes 8 hops to reach the google.com servers from my current location.
• RTT1, RTT2, RTT3: This is the round-trip time that it takes for a packet to get to a hop and back to your computer (in milliseconds). This is often referred to as latency, and is the same number you see when using ping. Traceroute sends three packets to each hop and displays each time, so you have some idea of how consistent (or inconsistent) the latency is. If you see a * in some columns, you didn’t receive a response – which could indicate packet loss.
• Domain Name [IP Address]: The domain name, if available, can often help you see the location of a router. If this isn’t available, only the IP address of the router is displayed.