 The traceroute command | |
| Original author(s) | Van Jacobson |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1987 |
| Platform | Unix-like systems |
| Type | Command |
| Developer(s) | Microsoft, ReactOS Contributors |
|---|---|
| Platform | Windows, ReactOS |
| Type | Command |
| License | Microsoft Windows: Proprietary commercial software ReactOS: GNU General Public License |
In computing, traceroute and tracert are diagnostic command-line interface commands for displaying possible routes (paths) and transit delays of packets across an Internet Protocol (IP) network.
The command reports the round-trip times of the packets received from each successive host (remote node) along the route to a destination. The sum of the mean times in each hop is a measure of the total time spent to establish the connection. The command aborts if all (usually three) sent packets are lost more than twice.
Ping, on the other hand, only computes the final round-trip times from the destination point.
For Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), the tool sometimes has the name traceroute6[1] and tracert6.[2]