How do i use trace route?

Traceroute is a powerful network diagnostic tool that works by drawing out the path taken by data traveling across the Internet. It can be used to determine the latency of various hops between two points, and it can also help diagnose where bottlenecks in your internet connection originate from. With this tutorial, you'll learn how to use trace route to gain insight into your network latency.

First, you'll need access to a command line application such as Windows Command Prompt or Mac OSX's Terminal window. Open up either one and you'll be ready to begin.

The syntax for executing a trace route will depend on your command line application. In both Windows and Mac OSX, typing "traceroute" followed by a space will display the options available for the command in your given environment. On Windows this will be displayed as "tracert [hostname]" while Mac OSX users should use "traceroute -n [hostname]" (note: "-n" is a flag).

Once you have entered the appropriate syntax, hit enter and traceroute will begin its work. You should see information about each hop along the way with an estimated ms for latency (the amount of time it takes for data to travel from one point to another). If there is an issue with any hop along the way, it will be highlighted in red or otherwise indicated accordingly.

Keep in mind that traceroute works by sending out ICMP packets which are sometimes filtered by various devices on your network or beyond it. As such, not every hop along our trace may respond – however, this doesn't necessarily mean there is a problem at that location; traceroute simply cannot detect activity when certain devices are filtering out those ICMP packets.

Once traceroute has finished gathering data about your route hops it will display this information at the end of the list – making everything easy to view and analyze all at once. This list can then be used as a starting point when diagnosing potential issues with your internet connection or troubleshooting speed/latency concerns.