Traceroutes & MTR’s

  • Worldstream
  • Network

What is a Traceroute and MTR?

Traceroute:

Traceroute is a network diagnostic tool which can be convenient when troubleshooting network problems. When you perform a traceroute it will display the route/ path from source to destination and measures the delay or latency of packets across the path to it’s destination.

MTR:

The MTR tool is very similar to the well-known traceroute command, however the MTR tool gives you a better insight of fluctuations in network paths as it sends much more packets. The output of the MTR tool also gives a better oversight of the complete network path.

How do I perform these applications?

Windows:

Traceroute: open the command prompt and enter the following command:

tracert <destination IP address> (without <> marks)

MTR: There is a convenient program called “winmtr” which can be found at the following webpage wintmtr.

After installing this application you can enter the destination IP address  as “host” and press start. It will run an MTR to the destination until you manually stop the process.

Linux:

Traceroute:  open your terminal and enter the following command:

traceroute <destination IP address> (without <> marks)

MTR:

mtr -n <destination IP address> (without <> marks)

Mac:

Traceroute:  open your terminal and enter the following command:

traceroute <destination IP address> (without <> marks)

MTR:

mtr -n <destination IP address> (without <> marks)

Examples:

Windows:

Linux:

traceroute linux
image-105

MTR linux
image-106

Mac:

traceroute Mac
image-107

Please note!

Packet loss  on Worldstream routers ór transit HOPS may occur. Please note this does not indicate there is packet loss of your services, as long as the destination has a 0% packet loss indication. The packet loss displayed on these HOPS and routers are caused due to “ping limiters” which are configured on these routers. To determine if this has any effect on your services we advise you to check the next HOP, if it shows a 0% packet loss it is caused by “ICMP limiting”.

If you need any assistance with creating a traceroute or MTR feel free to email us here. 

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