`traceroute` Command: Understanding Network Path to a Destination¶

The traceroute command helps map the path that packets take to reach a destination. It shows each router (hop) along the way, along with the response time.

Basic Usage¶

Run the following command to trace the route to Google's server:

traceroute google.com

OR, if traceroute is not installed, you can use mtr:

mtr google.com

Example Output¶

traceroute to google.com (142.250.183.238), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
 1  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  1.321 ms  1.220 ms  1.105 ms
 2  10.24.11.254 (10.24.11.254)  10.721 ms  11.084 ms  10.987 ms
 3  103.5.12.1 (103.5.12.1)  19.876 ms  18.655 ms  20.455 ms
 4  209.85.242.101 (209.85.242.101)  35.684 ms  34.987 ms  33.456 ms
 5  142.250.183.238 (142.250.183.238)  38.231 ms  36.998 ms  35.877 ms

Understanding the Output¶

[Your Computer]
     │
     ▼
[Router (192.168.1.1)]
     │
     ▼
[ISP Gateway (10.24.11.254)]
     │
     ▼
[ISP Backbone (103.5.12.1)]
     │
     ▼
[Google Network (209.85.242.101)]
     │
     ▼
[Google Server (142.250.183.238)]

Hop	IP Address / Hostname	RTT 1	RTT 2	RTT 3
1	`192.168.1.1` (Router)	1.3 ms	1.2 ms	1.1 ms
2	`10.24.11.254` (ISP Gateway)	10.7 ms	11.0 ms	10.9 ms
3	`103.5.12.1` (ISP Backbone)	19.8 ms	18.6 ms	20.4 ms
4	`209.85.242.101` (Google Network)	35.6 ms	34.9 ms	33.4 ms
5	`142.250.183.238` (Google.com)	38.2 ms	36.9 ms	35.8 ms

Each row is a hop (router) along the path.
The first hop is usually your local router (192.168.1.1).
The second hop is your ISP’s gateway.
The final hop is the destination (Google in this case).
The RTT (Round Trip Time) values (in ms) show the latency for each hop.
If you see * * *, it means the hop did not respond (firewall, packet filtering, etc.).

Useful Options¶

Limit the number of hops (default is 30)
```
traceroute -m 20 google.com
```
Use ICMP instead of UDP (better for firewalls)
```
traceroute -I google.com
```
Use TCP (useful when ICMP/UDP is blocked)
```
traceroute -T google.com
```

Set timeout per hop

traceroute -w 2 google.com  # 2 seconds timeout

`mtr` (My Traceroute) – A Real-Time Network Diagnostic Tool¶

mtr is an advanced version of traceroute that continuously updates results in real-time, showing packet loss, latency, and jitter for each hop.

1️⃣ Installing `mtr`¶

📌 Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)¶

sudo apt update && sudo apt install mtr -y

📌 Linux (RHEL/CentOS)¶

sudo yum install mtr -y

📌 Linux (Arch)¶

sudo pacman -S mtr

📌 macOS (Homebrew)¶

brew install mtr

📌 Windows¶

Use WSL (Ubuntu on Windows) or install WinMTR (GUI version).

2️⃣ Using `mtr`¶

🔹 Basic Usage¶

mtr google.com

This continuously updates the latency, packet loss, and jitter for each hop.

3️⃣ Understanding the Output¶

                             My traceroute  [v0.95]
yuvaraj (192.168.1.100) -> google.com (142.250.183.238)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Host                    Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
 1. 192.168.1.1         0.0%    10   1.2ms  1.1   1.0   1.5  0.1
 2. 10.24.11.254        0.0%    10  10.7ms 10.9  10.5  11.3  0.2
 3. 103.5.12.1          0.0%    10  19.8ms 18.6  18.0  20.5  0.3
 4. 209.85.242.101      0.0%    10  35.6ms 34.9  33.9  36.7  0.4
 5. 142.250.183.238     0.0%    10  38.2ms 36.9  35.8  39.5  0.5

Column	Meaning
Loss%	Packet loss percentage
Snt	Number of packets sent
Last	Last recorded round-trip time
Avg	Average round-trip time
Best	Lowest round-trip time
Wrst	Highest round-trip time
StDev	Standard deviation (jitter)

4️⃣ Useful Options¶

✅ Run `mtr` Once and Exit¶

mtr -r google.com

✅ Limit the Number of Packets Sent¶

mtr -c 5 google.com

✅ Show Detailed Report¶

mtr -rw google.com

✅ Use TCP Instead of ICMP (for Firewalls)¶

mtr --tcp google.com

5️⃣ `mtr` vs. `traceroute`¶

Feature	`traceroute`	`mtr`
Real-time updates	❌ No	✅ Yes
Continuous monitoring	❌ No	✅ Yes
Packet loss detection	❌ No	✅ Yes
Jitter measurement	❌ No	✅ Yes
TCP mode	✅ Yes	✅ Yes

traceroute Command: Understanding Network Path to a Destination¶