To use the traceroute command on Linux, follow these steps:
- Open a terminal: Launch the terminal application on your Linux system. You can usually find it in the applications menu or by searching for “terminal” in the system’s search function.
- Run the traceroute command: In the terminal, type the following command and press Enter:
css
traceroute [destination]
Replace [destination] with the IP address or domain name of the target server or website you want to trace the route to.
- Observe the traceroute results: The traceroute command will start sending packets with increasing Time-To-Live (TTL) values to the destination. It will display information about each hop (router) along the route, including the IP address and round-trip time (RTT) for each hop. It will continue until it reaches the destination or reaches the maximum number of hops.
The output typically includes columns showing the hop number, IP address, RTT, and host name (if available). You can analyze the output to identify any latency or network issues along the route to the destination.
- Interpret the results: Each line in the traceroute output represents a different hop along the route to the destination. The hop number increases as the packets travel through routers. The IP address and RTT information can help identify delays or connectivity problems at specific network nodes.
Note that some systems might use a different command name like tracert, so if the traceroute command doesn’t work, you can try using tracert instead.
That’s it! You have now used the traceroute command on Linux to trace the route and observe network hops to a destination server or website.