The tracert command will help in diagnosing communication problems

The tracert command is used to run a diagnostic utility that determines the route of traffic passing through the network. This program is present in most modern operating systems. The utility is used mainly for testing and identifying a problematic location on the network.

What does the tracert command check?

Tracert sends requests to the destination point like the ping command. Noticing that the user typed the command tracert, Windows sends specially tagged packets that, after reaching the first gateway, are returned back to the user's computer. In this case, the received data contains information about the node that returned it. After that, the following request is sent, in the body of which there is already an instruction to skip to its previous gateway.

Sequential sending of packets allows you to get a complete route for passing information from the user's computer to any node on the Internet or a local network. Thus, the tracert command becomes an essential tool for diagnosing problems, allowing you to identify the area on which packets are lost.

Run the tracert command in Windows

You can run the Network Route Check utility in Windows from the command line. In versions of the operating system below 8, to open the command line interface, just click "Start-Run" and type cmd. In Windows 8, you need to access the "All Programs" menu and find the "Command line" item there. In any version of the OS, you can also use the keyboard shortcut Win + R.

Once in the command line, you must enter tracert domen.ru, where instead of domen.ru you can specify any domain name or IP address. This will start the utility with the standard settings.

Tracert command keys

Launched by an experienced user, the tracert command contains a description of the keys. You can call it by simply typing the tracert command with the-? Option.

Here is a brief description of the parameters that the tracert command supports:

• -h specifies the maximum number of transitions that can be performed when searching for the end node.
• -d forbids the team from attempting to turn the IP address of the middle gateway into a name.
• -j allows the utility to make a free search for a route along the list of nodes. A maximum of 9 routers can be specified.
• -w is used to specify the time to wait for a response from a node. If no answer is received, an asterisk will be displayed. It is specified in milliseconds.

By default, the maximum number of jumps is limited to 30, and the waiting time is 4 seconds.

Analog in Linux

Users of the Linux operating system have a utility with a wider functionality than the tracert command has. It is called traceroute. This application differs from the analog for Windows by the presence of a variety of modes, which are set using parameters.

The tracertroute command with the -I switch runs tracing using ICMP. It is worth noting that this operation requires administrator rights. With standard settings in most distributions, the launch of the tracertroute command can be performed by any user. In this case, they will use UDP-packages, you can also force the utility to specify them using the -U option.

Asterisks in the derivation of routes

Very often the command tracert or its analog for Linux in a number of places displays instead of information about the response of the star node. Do not consider this as an error. This means only one thing: a particular router did not respond to the request for a given period of time. There is nothing bad in this, as there can be quite a lot of reasons. One of them is the installation of firewalls or other security measures that block the passage of certain packets.

What should I know about route routing?

Tracert is a command that is very important in diagnosing network problems. However, it's worth considering that it's quite easy to make a mistake when considering the output of the tracert command. Therefore, you do not need to use route tracing as the only troubleshooter.

Another reason that the trace can only indirectly indicate a problem is the difference in the routes of passing packets on the Internet in a different direction. Typically, the package sent by the user to the server goes through one node, and sent back - completely different.

Packet delays present in the tracert or traceroute output have nothing to do with delays for transit packets. This is due to the specifics of their processing on the router. Therefore, to orient them, you must be able to correctly read the output of the command, which is quite difficult.

MTR Utility

The MTR program exists in versions for most operating systems. The principle of its operation is very similar to the tracer (traceroute) command. It polls the given node for a certain period of time, while allowing for fixing changes in delays.

The version of the utility for Windows is called WinMTR and is distributed free of charge.

The user is given the opportunity to work with a graphical interface in which to specify the IP address or domain of the destination node, to start collecting statistics. Typically, for analysis, you must send a minimum of 100 packets.

Linux users will also have to install MTR additionally from the repositories. These operating systems usually use the console version of the utility. A variety of options are available to the user, allowing you to specify the number of packets to be sent, record a report to a file, and timeout. Also, the Linux version can use specific ports or TCP packets for testing.

What should I send to the ISP to diagnose network problems?

The administrator of the server or the provider, as a rule, is better to send the tracert (traceroute), ping and MTR utility reports. You can, of course, try to do only the latter, but the more information is provided, the easier it is for the specialist to find and fix the problem.