Traceroute - Traceroute is a utility that comes with Windows. It records the route through
the Internet between your computer and a specified destination computer.
The recording shows each hop* along the way. It also calculates and displays the amount of time each hop took. Traceroute is a handy tool both for understanding where problems are in the Internet network and for getting a detailed sense of the Internet itself. * hop - Bits and pieces of data pass through a number of different computers along the route to a web server. These computers are called Routers. One purpose of a Router is to forward data to the next hop in the most efficient manner. |
How To Do a Traceroute |
Traceroute can be used to troubleshoot software downloading, network connectivity issues and to locate exactly where the slow(s) may be on a network or internet. This is especially useful when troubleshooting FTP transfering of files (Publishing webpages). The route to ANY website or ANY computer can be recorded using Traceroute. If you have difficulty downloading the Cool Page program use Traceroute with this address: www.downloadfast.com If you have difficulty Publishing using the Cool Page program use Traceroute with this your Host's FTP server. example: ftp.tripod.com |
What to do with this information? If there is a slow or delay (times above 150 ms) on your ISP Network then contact your ISP Customer Support to see if there is a known network problem or for help in troubleshooting YOUR connection. If there is a slow or delay at a Hop outside of your ISP Network then there is not much you can do about it except maybe try reconnecting to the internet using a different dialup access phone number, in which case the route to your desired destination may be different. If there is a slow or delay with the destination website then you can copy the Traceroute text and email it to the webmaster of that website so that he may contact his Host and help to speedily resolve any problem his Host is having. Note - Your ISP Network and the Internet are not constantly running at the same efficiency and speed. Many things affect their performance therefore it is best to do numerous Tracroutes to determine exactly where a slow or delay is coming from. see example below |
What's it Mean? The first column is the number of each Hop on the route to the Yahoo website. The next three columns show the round trip time in miliseconds to each Hop. The next column is the name of the computer (router) at that Hop and it's IP number. (An IP address that uniquely identifies a computer on the internet.) As can be seen, the ISP network was faster than the rest of the internet when this Traceroute was recorded. (lower times in miliseconds) |
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The Traceroute above was recorded at 8:00AM and the one below at 7:00PM. Notice that the Internet was more congested in the early evening than in the AM. C:\WINDOWS>tracert www.yahoo.com Tracing route to www.yahoo.akadns.net [64.58.76.225] over a maximum of 30 hops: 1 156 ms 80 ms 91 ms 10.xx.xx.xx 2 58 ms 66 ms 105 ms ffaxvamtc-gsr1-srp0-0.cox.rr.com [24.28.222.1] 3 72 ms 96 ms 120 ms ffaxvamtc-gsr2-srp0-0.cox.rr.com [24.28.222.2] 4 108 ms 114 ms 124 ms herva-rdc-gsr3-pos2-0.her.rr.com [24.30.192.141] 5 266 ms 112 ms 82 ms herva-rdc-gsr2-pos4-0.her.rr.com [24.30.192.53] 6 197 ms 96 ms 173 ms pop3-rtc-P2-0.atdn.net [66.185.140.141] 7 104 ms 280 ms 186 ms bb1-rtc-P14-0.atdn.net [66.185.140.129] 8 91 ms 126 ms 149 ms bb1-dtc-P3-0.atdn.net [66.185.152.253] 9 92 ms 104 ms 94 ms pop2-dtc-P14-0.atdn.net [66.185.140.26] 10 88 ms 246 ms 109 ms exodus.atdn.net [64.236.2.174] 11 181 ms 149 ms 139 ms dcr04-g7-0.stng01.exodus.net [216.33.99.100] 12 144 ms 94 ms 73 ms csr22-ve241.stng01.exodus.net [216.33.98.19] 13 181 ms 102 ms 82 ms 216.35.210.126 14 89 ms 73 ms 131 ms www.yahoo.akadns.net [64.58.76.225] Trace complete. |
1. Click on the Start Button|Run... (or on the keyboard press the Windows Key + r). |
command or cmd |
2. Open: Win95/98/98SE/ME - Type: command WinNT/2K/XP - Type: cmd |
3. Press the OK button or press the Enter buton on keyboard to open a Command window. (the MSDOS Prompt program also available in the Programs Menu in some versions of Windows) |
Microsoft(R) Windows 98 (C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1981-1998. C:\WINDOWS\Desktop>tracert www.yahoo.com |
4. At the command prompt (blinking underscore cursor) type: tracert www.yahoo.com (note - there is a space between the word tracert and the website address) 5. Press the Enter button on keyboard to begin the Traceroute recording. |
Example Traceroute to Yahoo.com C:\WINDOWS\Desktop>tracert www.yahoo.com Tracing route to www.yahoo.akadns.net [64.58.76.224] over a maximum of 30 hops: 1 12 ms 17 ms 18 ms 10.xx.xx.xx 2 36 ms 73 ms 13 ms ffaxvamtc-gsr1-srp0-0.cox.rr.com [24.28.222.1] 3 15 ms 29 ms 19 ms ffaxvamtc-gsr2-srp0-0.cox.rr.com [24.28.222.2] 4 49 ms 44 ms 27 ms herva-rdc-gsr3-pos2-0.her.rr.com [24.30.192.141] 5 29 ms 49 ms 14 ms herva-rdc-gsr2-pos4-0.her.rr.com [24.30.192.53] 6 26 ms 56 ms 18 ms pop3-rtc-P2-0.atdn.net [66.185.140.141] 7 35 ms 76 ms 20 ms bb2-rtc-P14-0.atdn.net [66.185.140.133] 8 89 ms 11 ms 25 ms bb2-dtc-P3-0.atdn.net [66.185.153.9] 9 14 ms 59 ms 11 ms pop2-dtc-P15-0.atdn.net [66.185.140.30] 10 42 ms 120 ms 63 ms exodus.atdn.net [64.236.2.174] 11 42 ms 12 ms 15 ms dcr03-g6-0.stng01.exodus.net [216.33.99.83] 12 170 ms 58 ms 61 ms csr22-ve241.stng01.exodus.net [216.33.98.19] 13 85 ms 118 ms 63 ms 216.35.210.126 14 77 ms 55 ms 53 ms www.yahoo.akadns.net [64.58.76.224] Trace complete. Gold Text = Hops on ISP Network White Text = Hops on Internet Blue Text = Destination |