traceroute outputs the list of traversed routers in simple text format, together with timing information

traceroute is a computer network tool used to determine the route taken by packets across an IP network. An IPv6 variant, traceroute6, is also widely available. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Computer networks may be classified according to the network layer at which they operate according to some basic reference models that are considered to be standards in the industry such as the seven layer OSI reference model and the four layer Internet Protocol Suite model. ... In information technology, a packet is a formatted block of information carried by a computer network. ... The Internet protocol suite is the set of communications protocols that implement the protocol stack on which the Internet and most commercial networks run. ... Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is a network layer protocol for packet-switched internetworks. ...

The traceroute tool is available on practically all Unix-like operating systems. Variants with similar functionality are also available, such as tracepath on modern Linux installations and tracert on Microsoft Windows operating systems. Windows NT-based operating systems also provide pathping, which provides similar functionality. Diagram of the relationships between several Unix-like systems A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. ... This article is about operating systems that use the Linux kernel. ... “Windows” redirects here. ... An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer. ... Windows NT (New Technology) is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. ... Pathping is a network utility supplied in Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. ...

Implementation

Traceroute works by increasing the "time-to-live" value of each successive batch of packets sent. The first three packets have a time-to-live (TTL) value of one (implying that they make a single hop). The next three packets have a TTL value of 2, and so on. When a packet passes through a host, normally the host decrements the TTL value by one, and forwards the packet to the next host. When a packet with a TTL of one reaches a host, the host discards the packet and sends an ICMP time exceeded (type 11) packet to the sender. The traceroute utility uses these returning packets to produce a list of hosts that the packets have traversed en route to the destination. The three timestamp values returned for each host along the path are the delay (aka latency) values typically in milliseconds (ms) for each packet in the batch. If a packet does not return within the expected timeout window, a star (asterisk) is traditionally printed. traceroute may not list the real hosts. It indicates that the first host is at one hop, the second host at two hops, etc. IP does not guarantee that all the packets take the same route. Also note that if the host at hop number N does not reply, the hop will be skipped in the output. Time to live (sometimes abbreviated TTL) is a limit on the period of time or number of iterations or transmissions in computer and computer network technology that a unit of data (e. ... The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is one of the core protocols of the Internet protocol suite. ... The Time Exceeded Message is an ICMP message which is generated by a gateway to inform the source of a datagram that the datagram has been discarded due to the time to live field reaching zero. ...

On modern Unix and Linux-based operating systems, the traceroute utility by default uses UDP datagrams with destination ports number from 33434 to 33534. The traceroute utility usually has an option to specify use of ICMP echo request (type 8) instead, as used by the Windows tracert utility. If you have a firewall and if you want traceroute to work from both machines (Unix/Linux and Windows) you will need to allow both protocols inbound through your firewall (UDP with ports from 33434 to 33534 and ICMP type 8). Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ... This article is about operating systems that use the Linux kernel. ... User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is one of the core protocols of the Internet protocol suite. ... A packet is the fundamental unit of information carriage in all modern computer networks. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Computer port (software). ...

There are also traceroute implementations that use TCP packets, such as tcptraceroute or Layer Four Trace. pathping is a utility introduced with Windows NT that combines ping and traceroute functionality. mtr (My traceroute) is an enhanced version of ICMP traceroute which is available for Unix and Windows systems. All implementations of traceroute rely on ICMP (type 11) packets being sent to the originator. Tcptraceroute is a traceroute implementation using TCP packets. ... Layer Four Traceroute (LFT) is a fast traceroute engine, that also implements numerous other features including AS number lookups through several reliable sources, loose source routing, netblock name lookups, etc. ... Pathping is a network utility supplied in Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. ... Windows NT (New Technology) is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. ... mtr or My traceroute is a computer program which combines the functionality of the traceroute and ping programs in a single network diagnostic tool. ...

Example

Estonia to the United States. 195.80.96.219 (kauge.aso.ee) to 130.94.122.199 (larousse.wikipedia.org).

Windows command : tracert 130.94.122.199 “Windows” redirects here. ...

Linux or Mac OS X command : traceroute 130.94.122.199 This article is about operating systems that use the Linux kernel. ... Mac OS X (IPA: ) is a line of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ...

AS/400 command : QSYS/TRCTCPRTE RMTSYS('130.94.122.199') i5 Model 570 (2006) The Application System/400 (also known as AS/400, iSeries (since 2000) and System i5 (since 2006)) is a type of minicomputer produced by IBM. It was first produced in 1988 and, as of 2006, is still in production. ...

• 1 et-gw.aso.ee
• 2 kjj-bb2-fe-0-1-4.ee.estpak.ee
• 3 noe-bb2-ge-0-0-0-1.ee.estpak.ee
• 4 s-b3-pos0-3.telia.net
• 5 s-bb1-pos1-2-0.telia.net
• 6 adm-bb1-pos1-1-0.telia.net
• 7 adm-b1-pos2-0.telia.net
• 8 p4-1-2-0.r00.amstnl02.nl.bb.verio.net
• 9 p4-0-3-0.r01.amstnl02.nl.bb.verio.net
• 10 p4-0-1-0.r80.nwrknj01.us.bb.verio.net
• 11 p4-0-3-0.r00.nwrknj01.us.bb.verio.net
• 12 p16-0-1-1.r20.mlpsca01.us.bb.verio.net
• 13 xe-1-2-0.r21.mlpsca01.us.bb.verio.net
• 14 xe-0-2-0.r21.snjsca04.us.bb.verio.net
• 15 p64-0-0-0.r21.lsanca01.us.bb.verio.net
• 16 p16-3-0-0.r01.sndgca01.us.bb.verio.net
• 17 ge-1-2.a03.sndgca01.us.da.verio.net
• 18 larousse.wikipedia.org

Uses

Traceroute is often used for network troubleshooting. By showing a list of routers traversed, it allows the user to identify the path taken to reach a particular destination on the network. This can help identify routing problems or firewalls that may be blocking access to a site. Traceroute is also used by penetration testers to gather information about network infrastructure and IP ranges around a given host. It can also be used when downloading data, and if there are multiple mirrors available for the same piece of data, one can trace each mirror to get a good idea of which mirror would be the fastest to use.

Security concerns

Supplying such detailed information about the pathways taken was considered acceptable and convenient in the early days of the Internet, but later was considered questionable for privacy and security reasons. Traceroute information has been frequently used by hackers as a way to acquire sensitive information about a company's network architecture. By using the traceroute command, a hacker can quickly map out what nodes are available on a company's network architecture and exploit vulnerable or compromised nodes/computers. This article is about computer hacking. ...

For these reasons, while traceroute was widely used during the early days of Internet, by the 1990s many Internet sites have blocked traceroute requests, however, in general one may still perform a traceroute up to the borders of such blocked sites. This allows one to see the path taken to a given site, but in many cases not the network within that site. For the band, see 1990s (band). ...

Origins

The traceroute man page states that the original traceroute program was written by Van Jacobson in 1987 from a suggestion by Steve Deering, with particularly cogent suggestions or fixes from C. Philip Wood, Tim Seaver and Ken Adelman. The man page on man Almost all substantial UNIX and Unix-like operating systems have extensive documentation known as man pages (short for manual pages). The Unix command used to display them is man. ... Van Jacobson is currently chief scientist at Packet Design LLC. Prior to that, he was Chief Scientist at Cisco Systems and group leader for the Network Research Group at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. ... Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ...

See also

• Layer Four Trace, a more modern traceroute (IP network tracing) implementation that supports a multitude of layer-4 protocols
• mtr (My traceroute)

Layer Four Traceroute (LFT) is a fast traceroute engine, that also implements numerous other features including AS number lookups through several reliable sources, loose source routing, netblock name lookups, etc. ... mtr or My traceroute is a computer program which combines the functionality of the traceroute and ping programs in a single network diagnostic tool. ...

External links

• RFC 1393 - Traceroute using an IP Option Internet RFC
• RFC 792 - Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
• traceroute man page
• traceroute.org — Monthly updated list of online traceroutes
• BGP4.net Traceroute Wiki — Hundreds of traceroute links, sorted by Autonomous System Number.
• VisualTraceroute, online Visual Traceroute based on Google Maps
• mapulator.com Combines traceroute with Google Maps
• VisualRoute, online traceroute, shows connection path and IP locations on global map
• Paris traceroute, allows routes to be traced correctly in the presence of routers that balance traffic across multiple links
• Layer Four Traceroute (LFT),a traceroute program with TCP and UDP tracing support
• How-to Traceroute from Windows Easy step-by-step tutorial with screenshots on how to Traceroute from Windows
• Traceroute online tool

This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL. In the Internet, an autonomous system (AS) is a collection of IP networks under control of a single entity, typically an Internet service provider or a very large organisation with redundant connections to the rest of the Internet, that adhere to a single and clearly defined routing policy. ... Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ... A command line interface or CLI is a method of interacting with a computer by giving it lines of textual commands (that is, a sequence of characters) either from keyboard input or from a script. ... This is a list of UNIX utilities as specified by IEEE Std 1003. ... 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