How to Run a Traceroute?

Running a Traceroute

Traceroute is a program available on most computers that shows you the path (route) between your computer and a server. It will indicate all the intermediate routers (points) your connection passes through to reach a server. It’s a helpful tool to determine if your connection to a specific server is problematic, and where the problem lies. Alternatively, run a MTR.

Running a traceroute is different for each Operating System. Here are the steps for the most common Operating Systems:

Windows XP:

  1. Click ‘Start’
  2. Select ‘Run’
  3. In the Run dialog box next to ‘Open’ type: cmd
  4. Click ‘OK’ or press Enter. A Command Prompt window should open
  5. In the Command Prompt type, ‘tracert’ and the domain name or IP address, e.g. tracert smarthost.net or tracert 199.43.206.3

Windows Vista or Windows 7:

  1. Click ‘Start’
  2. In the ‘Start Search’ box type: cmd
  3. Click the search icon (that little magnifying glass) or press Enter. The command prompt should open.
  4. In command prompt, type ‘tracert’ and the domain name or IP address, e.g. tracert smarthost.net or tracert 199.43.206.3

Windows 8:

  1. Open the Charm Bar by moving your mouse cursor to the top-right of the screen. If you are using a touch screen open the Charm Bar by swiping from the right-hand side of the screen
  2. Select ‘Search’
  3. In the ‘Search box’ type: run
  4. Select ‘Run’ then type: cmd
  5. Select ‘OK’
  6. In command prompt, type ‘tracert’ and the domain name or IP address, e.g. tracert smarthost.net or tracert 199.43.206.3

Apple Mac OS X:

  1. Go to ‘Finder’
  2. Open the ‘Applications’ folder
  3. Click ‘Utilities’
  4. Select or double click ‘Terminal’
  5. In Terminal type ‘traceroute’ and the domain name or IP address, e.g. traceroute smarthost.net or tracert 199.43.206.3

Linux:

  1. Open ‘Terminal’
  2. In Terminal type ‘traceroute’ and the domain name or IP address, e.g. traceroute smarthost.net or tracert 199.43.206.3

Example of What your Traceroute will look like:

traceroute to google.com (142.251.32.110), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 1xxxx (xxxx) 0.148 ms 1xxxx (1xxxx) 79.546 ms 79.548 ms
2 ae-1.br01.nyc-01.us.xxxxx0.241 ms
3 nyk-b9-link.ip.twelve99.net (62.115.168.46) 0.736 ms nyk-b9-link.ip.twelve99.net (62.115.167.132) 0.754 ms 0.727 ms
4 nyk-bb2-link.ip.twelve99.net (62.115.140.98) 1.495 ms 1.489 ms nyk-bb1-link.ip.twelve99.net (62.115.140.96) 1.258 ms
5 nyk-b2-link.ip.twelve99.net (62.115.115.145) 1.732 ms 3.591 ms 3.597 ms
6 72.14.218.254 (72.14.218.254) 1.349 ms 1.420 ms google-ic326117-nyk-b2.ip.twelve99-cust.net (213.248.87.233) 1.348 ms
7 * * *
8 142.251.60.238 (142.251.60.238) 2.032 ms 142.251.65.110 (142.251.65.110) 1.359 ms 142.251.60.238 (142.251.60.238) 2.361 ms
9 142.251.60.181 (142.251.60.181) 1.538 ms 142.251.60.179 (142.251.60.179) 2.028 ms 108.170.248.52 (108.170.248.52) 2.065 ms
10 lga25s77-in-f14.1e100.net (142.251.32.110) 1.986 ms 108.170.227.148 (108.170.227.148) 2.767 ms 142.250.57.145 (142.250.57.145) 2.548 ms

 

 

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