Traveling Through a Network

 Ping Activity 

 

Traceroute Activity 

 

    Packets travel across the Internet through a process called “routing.” When you send data across the Internet, the data is broken down into small chunks known as packets. Each packet contains data and is assigned an identifier that is used to route it through the network of routers and networks that make up the Internet. Ping and traceroute are common commands you can use to troubleshoot network problems. Ping is a simple command that can test the reachability of a device on the network. Traceroute is a command you use to 'trace' the route that a packet takes when traveling to its destination. It's useful for tracing network problems, discovering where connections fail, and tracking down latency problems. When I used ping for the different websites, I received results instantaneously. When I used traceroute or tracert, the results took a little longer to populate. I also received more positive results with ping than traceroute. I believe the roundtrip time depends on the geographical location. The further away the location is from where you are when you use the ping or traceroute commands, the longer it will take for the results to show up.  

    Traceroute can be used to troubleshoot network problems and determine the cause of slow or erratic network performance. Windows users can use the tracert command. When troubleshooting network problems, the traceroute command can be used to see the path that packets take from the source to the destination. The first step in any connectivity troubleshooting with ping is to simply try and ping the remote host. Not all devices are configured to respond to a ping request, so you need to be sure that what you are trying to ping can even respond. If the ping is returned, then the network is working, and any issue you are having lies somewhere else. A couple of reasons why the command might time out or return with an error message is it might have problems on the return path or the destination’s security device is blocking your request.