How to Troubleshoot Network Connections with Tracert Command
Tracert is a command-line utility that was designed to perform a very basic task: to determine the path taken by a data packet to reach its destination. Sometimes, you encounter a connection problem over your network or the Internet not because your final destination is down, but because there’s a problem with a router somewhere between you and your final destination. For troubleshooting those kinds of problems, use Tracert command.It displays the path that data takes en route to the server or service you’re trying to reach, either on your network or across the Internet. As with ping, it does this by sending ICMP Echo Request messages to the destination you’re checking on.
This is different from using the Ping utility. The Ping utility will give you a response if the address you have pinged is up and running. Tracert will send you a response with each router that is hit on the way. This will help you understand the number of networks, or hops, between you and the destination. This could be useful in a scenario where you know that from the Boston office to the New York office there are 13 hops normally, but one day users start complaining that the network is slow, and when you do a Tracert you notice that there are 19 hops. This means that your packets are taking a different route than usual, and it could be because networks along the usual route are down and your packets are taking a roundabout route to get to the destination.
To use it, type Tracert destination at the Command Prompt, where destination can be either an IP address or a hostname. Following is a typical response from a Tracert command.
If the destination can’t be reached, you will get the message “Destination unreachable.”
As you can see, Tracert shows the IP address and hostname address of each hop, along with timing data for each hop. If you’re having problems on your network, this can help you locate the source of the problem; if a hop has a particularly long delay, you know that’s the cause.
You can use several switches with Tracert, like this:
This command traces to dost-tech.com, displaying only the IP addresses of each router and specifying a maximum number of 45 hops en route to the destination.
The Tracert command has a wide variety of useful switches that you can use for all kinds of troubleshooting.
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This is different from using the Ping utility. The Ping utility will give you a response if the address you have pinged is up and running. Tracert will send you a response with each router that is hit on the way. This will help you understand the number of networks, or hops, between you and the destination. This could be useful in a scenario where you know that from the Boston office to the New York office there are 13 hops normally, but one day users start complaining that the network is slow, and when you do a Tracert you notice that there are 19 hops. This means that your packets are taking a different route than usual, and it could be because networks along the usual route are down and your packets are taking a roundabout route to get to the destination.
To use it, type Tracert destination at the Command Prompt, where destination can be either an IP address or a hostname. Following is a typical response from a Tracert command.
If the destination can’t be reached, you will get the message “Destination unreachable.”
As you can see, Tracert shows the IP address and hostname address of each hop, along with timing data for each hop. If you’re having problems on your network, this can help you locate the source of the problem; if a hop has a particularly long delay, you know that’s the cause.
You can use several switches with Tracert, like this:
Code:
tracert -d -h 45 dost-tech.comThis command traces to dost-tech.com, displaying only the IP addresses of each router and specifying a maximum number of 45 hops en route to the destination.
The Tracert command has a wide variety of useful switches that you can use for all kinds of troubleshooting.
Did you find helpful? Don’t forget to share your views with us.