TRACERT is a TCP/IP utility in Microsoft Windows for diagnosing and troubleshooting router connections in an internetwork such as the Internet. The term “tracert” stands for trace route. The tracert utility uses Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo packets that are similar to those used by the ping utility. These ICMP echo packets are assigned a steadily increasing Time to Live (TTL) to test network connectivity with routers and other hosts that are farther and farther along the network path until connectivity fails or the target host is finally contacted and successfully responds.
If you run
tracert www.yahoo.com
from Winnipeg via a local Internet service provider (ISP), you might get a display similar to the following, depending on the route your packets take:
Tracing route to www.yahoo.com [204.71.177.75] :
1 193 ms 188 ms 192 ms www.ciberforma.pt [212.13.33.130]
2 195 ms 189 ms 199 ms ... [212.13.33.129]
3 216 ms 575 ms 248 ms ... [212.13.32.1]
4 227 ms 239 ms 531 ms ... [212.12.26.54]
5 211 ms 210 ms 358 ms ... [19.122.33.244]
6 269 ms 251 ms 244 ms ... [205.207.238.45]
7 224 ms 240 ms 269 ms ... [205.207.238.154]
8 249 ms 274 ms 251 ms ... [204.70.179.117]
9 238 ms 304 ms 258 ms ... [204.70.179.65]
10 315 ms 310 ms 365 ms ... [166.48.176.1]
11 701 ms 677 ms 360 ms ... [166.48.177.254]
12 389 ms 384 ms 357 ms www.yahoo.com [204.71.177.75]
Trace complete.
The destination host was reached after a distance of 12 hops. Note the gradually increasing response times.
The UNIX version of this utility is typically called traceroute.