Advanced Computer Technology

A common networking tool used in troubleshooting is known as a "Traceroute." Computers are constantly communicating with each other, sending information back and forth. A traceroute shows a list of routers that the messages travels past before they arrive at the intended destination.

Here is an example of a traceroute that I did from my computer at home to openhighschool.org.

Each line you see on your screen is another checkpoint that the data stopped at on it’s way from your computer to the server computer at openhighschool.org. Think of it like this:

You’re sending a message on a road trip from your computer, to the school’s computer. When the message leaves your computer, the message doesn’t know where it’s going, so it has to stop several times along the way to ask other network devices (such as computers and routers) for directions. Each of the entries you see on your screen is another stop (or as they are called in networking “hops” ) between your computer and the school’s computer. In this example, the message was routed through 6 total devices before it reached openhighschool.org.


Why is this important to understanding networks?

We have just witnessed a network command executed live. In many cases, the server you are accessing (via webpage for example) can be across the country or even in an international location. Take a moment to imagine how long it would have taken for the same message to be delivered over regular mail. Speed and efficiency is the driving force between network technologies.

Specifically, the trace route command can be used to identify bottlenecks (or slow points) in a network, or to figure out where a break in network coverage has occurred if the network message is not being received at its intended destination.