What is a trace route (or tracert) command?
A tracert (or trace route) command tells you all the routers between your PC and the place you want to trace to (can be either an IP address or a URL e.g. www.smokeyjoe.com ) To run a tracert command: • Click start->programs->Command Prompt (or Start->run enter cmd then OK) • Enter: tracert www.xxx.xxx.xxx -d’ (or www.smokeyjoe.com -d) Replace the IP address with the one you want or use the URL of the site if you know it. NOTE: The -d in the command line stops a DNS lookup and speeds up the command considerably. • tracert outputs the following display: a bbbb cccc dddd ee.ee.ee.ee Where: a is the hop number starting from 1 bbbb is the time is milliseconds that the first attempt took to reach the site. Asterisk means it timed out. cccc is the time is milliseconds that the second attempt took to reach the site. Asterisk means it timed out. dddd is the time is milliseconds that the third attempt took to reach the site. Asterisk means it timed out. ee.ee.ee.ee is the IP address of the rout
